PUBLIC
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RECORD OFFICE
Reference :--
C.O.
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ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
IR.
108
No. 107.
WAR OFFICE to COLONIAL OFFICE.
War Office, October 27, 1876. In reply to your letter of the 10th instant, I am directed by Mr. Secretary Hardy to acquaint you, for the information of the Earl of Carnarvon, that in accordance with the representation made by the Governor of the Straits Settlements, orders have been given to the General Officer Commanding at Hong Kong for sending back to India the Battery of Artillery at present in the Malay Peninsula as soon ments can be made by the Admiralty for its transport.
as arrange-
The necessary communication has been made on the subject to the Admiralty and India Office, and the consent of the Marquis of Salisbury to the retention in the Settle- ments, for a few months, of one officer of the Battery, as desired by Sir W. Jervois, has been asked for.
The Under Secretary of State,
Colonial Office.
No. 108.
I have, &c. (Signed)
J. C. VIVIAN.
The EARL OF CARNARVON to GOVERNOR SIR W. F. JERVOIS,
(Telegraphic.)
K.C.M.G., C.B.
Downing Street, October 30, 1876. TELEGRAPH if inquiry as to Abdullah closed, and the substance of your recom- mendations. Pending my consideration of the papers, may I conclude that you do not expect difficulty as to his detention ?
SIR,
No. 109.
CARNARVON.
The EARL OF CARNARVON to GOVERNOR SIR W. F. D. JERVOIS,
(No. 249.)
K.C.M.G., C.B.
Downing Street, October 31, 1876.
I HAVE recently received from you various communications relating to the present financial position of the Colonial Government to the expenditure that has been already incurred in connexion with military operations in the Native States in the Malay Peninsula, and also to the expenditure that you consider will be necessarily incurred in organizing and equipping a police force, in opening up certain communications, and in accomplishing other objects antecedent to the withdrawal of H.M.'s forces from the Native States, which, as you are aware, H.M.'s Government are anxious should not be deferred for longer than is absolutely necessary.
2. In my Despatch of the 4th of February last,† 1 intimated that application might hereafter be made to the Treasury for the payment from Imperial funds of some portion of the expenditure connected with the actual expedition of the military and naval forces into the Native States, but H.M.'s Government will not be prepared to defray any expenses involved in carrying out the permanent policy to be adopted in the case of Perak and the other Native States, as that policy is, in the opinion of H.M.'s Govern- ment, a matter more immediately of Colonial than of Imperial interest. And as it is necessary to avoid making applications to the Treasury for temporary assistance (which cannot be given without considerabie inconvenience), except in cases of extreme urgency, I hesitate to accede to your recent suggestion that an advance of 25,000/. should be made from Imperial funds to meet the expenditure I have alluded to.
3. Though at present I have no detailed account from you as to the mode in which it is proposed to expend this sum, I am prepared to sanction your Government borrowing it, the interest and repayment of such loan being made a charge on Colonial Revenues.
109
4. Provision has also to be made for the cost of a new prison which is much required at Singapore, and has been estimated at 40,000Z., and it is suggested that this work should be defrayed from money borrowed at the same time.
5. I have further to observe that since the date of my despatch above quoted, the Crown Agents for the Colonies have already incurred on behalf of your Government temporary advances to the extent of 60,0002, and I am now informed that charges for postal and other services now awaiting payment, will short render necessary an addition of 5,000l. to this sum. You have, moreover, recently represented to me that there will probably be no money in the Colonial Treasury available for ordinary remittances up to the close of the present year.
6. Owing to the cheapness of money which has prevailed in the London market throughout the last nine months, your Government have been fortunate enough to obtain these advances at a comparatively light cost, but I need not remind you that it is impossible to say, with any certainty, that this cost may not soon be materially increased.
7. On the whole, I am convinced that the finances of your Government, owing partly to the large advances which have been made to the Native States, and the probability of recovering which is, I apprehend, renote, are generally in a straitened condition; and it is clear that the further charges now to be incurred, which I have already alluded to, are not likely to be met from current Revenue.
8. I am compelled, therefore, to come to the conclusion that the only resource now open to your Government is to raise a loan, which will be most cheaply provided for by the issue of debentures on the London market.
9. I transmit to you herewith a copy of an ordinance which has recently been passed by the Government of Ceylon to provide for raising funds required for the Colombo Harbour works.
10. Though the objects for which your Government will incur this loan, and which should be fully set out in the enactment of the legislature authorising the loan, will be by no means similar to those for which Ceylon is borrowing, I am advised that the provisions of this ordinance, as to the payment of interest and the redemption of debentures, are such as are considered by those who have had the greatest experience in the issue of Colonial Loans to be most likely to meet the present requirements of capitalists in the London money market, and, therefore, also calculated to throw the lightest possible burden on Colonial Revenues.
11. Though it may not be necessary to issue at once debentures to the whole extent which may be authorised by the legislature, I am of opinion that you will do well to provide at once for the creation of debentures to an amount not exceeding 150,000, and I have to instruct you to take immediate steps for the introduction of an ordinance such as I have described.
12. In the meantime I shall give the Agents the necessary authority to borrow temporarily from the Bank of England whatever sums may be required for the due discharge of the services of your Government, and you will be at liberty to draw on them, to an extent not exceeding 25,000l., for immediate requirements in the Native States.
13. When I am in receipt from you of an ordinance duly enacted authorising such an issue of debentures as I have described, I shall consult the Agents as to the course which will be most favourable to the Colony with regard both to the time and manner of issuing any such debentures, and with regard to the adjustment of the present temporary advances.
14. In authorising you to draw upon the Agents for such sums as you may require, not exceeding in the aggregate 25,000!., I have only had before me your telegram stating that this sum would be necessary to enable you to set on foot such an organi- zation in the Native States as would permit the withdrawal of the troops within a period of six months. I desire, therefore, to impress upon you the importance of exercising the utmost economy in whatever you inay undertake, and to defer to more prosperous times every improvement which can safely be postponed consistently with the object in
view.
Governor Sir W. Jervois,
&c.
&c.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
CARNARVON.
• No. 90.
↑ No. 138 of Eastero No. 17.