PUBLIC RECORD
OFFICE
لسلسياسيينا
Reference :-
C.O. 882
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
5 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
p 31.
need scarcely remind you that another and more powerful safeguard is pro- vided by the ships of Her Majesty's navy, whose duty would be to prevent any hostile force from approaching the place, and in whose absence alone would any attack upon it become possible. The combination of the two forms of defence will, it may be hoped, effectively secure the safety the trade of the Colony, and of the population which lives and thrives upon it.
17. I frankly recognise that the merchants of the Settlements have always P. P. 1860, been ready to acknowledge the value of the navy to them; and, indeed, so far back as September 19, 1864, I find them stating in a memorial addressed to this department, that "in time of peace a very slender garrison is equal to any duty which can be required, and in war the only effective defence of "the Straits Settlements must rest on the navy.' But I think the merchants of to-day will be ready to admit that this statement is no longer correct. The Suez Canal, which brings such vast accession of wealth to Singapore, also brings increased facilities of attack by an enemy, while the large stores of coal which your trade requires of themselves invite attack. At the same time the changed conditions of warfare, and the sudden and rapid nature of the opening operations have made it necessary for Singapore, like other important Colonial ports, to be always ready to repel an attack in case of the absence of the fleet, and to have its garrison permanently at full strength, and not dependent upon the doubtful possibility of receiving reinforcements on the outbreak of war.
18. It will doubtless be urged in some quarters, as has been urged before, that the defence of Colonial ports is a matter of Imperial concern, and that the maintenance of their garrisons should be mainly borne by the taxpayers of the United Kingdom. Her Majesty's Government have, however, never admitted, and cannot now admit, this plea. Self-preservation is the first Jaw of nature, and if the capture of Singapore would be a serious blow to the Empire in loss of prestige, and by weakening its powers in the Eastern Seas, the capture would mean ruin to many inhabitants of the Colony, and serious loss and hardship to all. The Straits Settlements, in common with every other British_possession, are directly benefited by their connexion with the rest of the Empire, and while enjoying the benefits, cannot escape from the responsibilities, entailed by that connexion. The larger dependencies, such as the Australian Colonies, accept their responsibilities without demur, and not only provide the whole of their land defence, but contribute to the cost of the navy in order to strengthen the squadron, and obtain more complete protection for their shipping and floating trade.
19. The estimated cost of the navy to the Imperial Exchequer is, as you will see from the Statesman's Year Book (page 247), over 13,000,0001,"for the year 1888-9, and as the population of the United Kingdom (page 255) is more than 37,000,000, these figures show that the mother country contributes 78. per head of its population to the naval defence of the Empire, and it might reasonably expect its dependencies to make provision for their own defence to an equal amount. Questions of jurisdiction beyond the three miles limit, of the flag, and of discipline stand in the way of Colonial war ships, so that the navy will always be that of the mother country, and in dealing with the great question of the defence of the Empire it is difficult to lay down any other broad principle for dividing the cost of Colonial defence, except that of the mother country undertaking the sea defence of the Colonies by means of her navy, and the Colonies, so far as their means allow, respectively pro- viding for their own land defence. But even this principle admits of extension, as, for instance, when a Colony agrees to contribute, as most of the Australian Colonies now do, to the cost of additional ships to be employed in local waters for the protection of the floating trade within those waters,
20. In some cases, as I need scarcely inform you, the poverty of the Colony renders any realisation of the general principle laid down in the preceding paragraph practically unattainable; in others, the contribution, though sub- stantial, falls short of the full cost owing to the inability of the Colony to provide more; and in both cases the difference is borne by the heavily taxed mother country. The Army Estimates (p. 245 of the Year Book) are con siderably over 16,000,000, or more than 8s. 9d. per head of the population.
And this, added to the naval charges, makes a payment by the mother country of 15. 9d. per head per annum, for the defence of the Empire in 1888-9. But I am informed by the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury that the corresponding payment for the current year may be estimated at 16r. 5d. per head. These are the net amounts, after allowing for contributions received from India and the Colonies, but are exclusive of a very large expenditure chargeable to special defence loans.
21. If these payments are contrasted with the contribution asked from the Colony under your Government, you will see that 100,000%, a year 18 not only a very much smaller charge per head of the population, but, as I shall proceed to show, its payment is well within the ability of the flourishing Colony of the Straits Settlements. There are possibly other objects on which the money might usefully be spent, but self-protection is the first duty of a community, to which other matters should be postponed, and it is hardly necessary to point out that, unless that is secured, very much of the other outlay may prove to have been undertaken in vain.
22. In 1858, when the transfer was first mooted, the public revenue of the Settlements was 132,3367., and their military charges 77,055.; they also main- P. P. of tained a local naval force for the suppression of piracy, costing on an average May 1862, more than 10,000l. a year. These military charges absorbed 58 per cent. of the No. 269, pp. revenue, and, combined with the marine expenditure, amounted to 66 per cent. and 67.
14, 18, 46, of the yearly revenue.
In 1863 Sir Hercules Robinson found the total revenue of the Straits Settlements to be 165,4501., and their military expenditure to be 53,0964., and
he estimated their future revenue at 200,6501. and their military expenditure P. P. 1866, at 63,000%, or about 31 per cent. In 1866, the year before the transfer, the p. 10. revenue had risen to 260,000%, and the military expenditure appears to have been 70,000%, or 27 per cent.
23. I attach to this Despatch (Appendix D.) a table showing the military charges borne by the Colony, exclusive of fortifications, during each of the 20 years from 1868 to 1887; and you will observe that the payments actually made, which were 58 per cent. of the revenue in 1858 and 27 per cent. in 1866, have dwindled in the last 20 years to less than 7 per cent. in 1887, or to about per cent. if the figures are taken of the full nominal contribution of 50,1451. instead of the actual payment of 39,3291. years the trade (imports and exports) of the Colony has risen from a little During the same period of 20 more than 80 millions of dollars to more than 263 millions, and the population from the 273,000 of 1866 to no less than 537,000 souls.
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24. The revenue for 1888 amounted to $3,858,108, and 100,000%. (the contri- bution proposed for the next four years) taken only at 3. a dollar amounts to about 17 per cent, of the revenue, and to not quite $1.25 (say 3s. 9d.) per head of the population of the Colony, the whole of which is vitally interested in the security of Singapore. It cannot be said that such a payment is excessive, either as a charge upon the people who throng to the Settlements to seek the protection to life and property afforded by the British flag, or in ita proportion to the total public revenue of the Colony, or by comparison with the expenditure on similar purposes in the United Kingdom.
25. I will only further point out in reference to the annual payments, what doubtless you will not have failed to notice, that the 100,00%, which the Colony will pay in each of the next four years includes the maintenance and repair of works and buildings, an item which has hitherto been borne by the Colony in addition to the charges for troops. It is decided that this work shall be undertaken by the military engineer staff, and that, in accordance with the wishes of your Government, the Colonial Engineer shall in future be relieved of this duty.
New Barracks.
26. A separate correspondence has dealt with the details of the additional barracks which will be required for the increased garrison, and I do not propose