PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :--
C.O. 882
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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(no further demand for expenditure un barracks should be made, at kast until the War Depart- ment had surrendered the sites in the centre of the town.
Thud..
The War Office demurred and the correspondence was referred to the Colony, when the Governor reiterated the views expressed by the Council and in December, 1890, X. 31, the Unofficials protested against the vote of £40,000 for Enclosure, 1891 on the ground that the garrison had not yet been No. 37. En-
closure 5.
increased. However, the Secretary of State in March, 1891, insisted, in the name of the Imperial Government, that the money must be paid; but he urged the War Office to No. 42, En- bring the garrison up to the full strength or to reduce the closure 2. contribution pending the arrival of the additional troops,
g
'..
as a means of softening down the discontent in the Colony. In 1892 the War Office proposed that payment at the existing rate should continue up to the end of 1894, but No. 61. the Treasury would only agree to the original proposal of the Inter-Departmental Committee, viz., that £40,000 A. 254, should be paid each year up to the end of 1893.
No. 72.
1894.
The Committee was accordingly reassembled in 1894 to Report of report as to the contribution for the five years 1801 to 24th May,
A. 298. 1898. They recommended the continuance of the contri- bution at £40,000 to be paid in sterling. The unofficiale had suggested that the sum should be paid in dollars para. 38. equivalent in number to the amount which represented £10,000 in 1890. The War Office and Treasury con- A, 354, curred, but the Secretary of State withheld his final Nos. 78, 79, decision, owing to a severe outbreak of plague in the Colony 82 (Enclo-
The amount appears to and consequent loss of revenue, have been paid in 1894. In 1895 the Inter-Departmental Committee recommended a new system of charging contributioni.
V. THE STRAITS SETTLEMENTS.
(1) The Perton to 1888.
The Straits Settlements came under the control of the Secretary of State in 1867: up to that date they had been administered by the officers of the Honourable East India Company, or, in the last few years of Indian control, It may be by officers of the Government of India. premised that the problem of the incidence of the cost of defence has always been difficult because the transfer from the Indian Government was made in response to the urgent petitions of the European community, and because the Imperial Government, through the lips of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, only agreed to the transfer on the distinct and often expressed condition that it should cost the Exchequer nothing. Consequently, Although the period of Colonial Office control has lasted barely forty-five years as against over one hundred in the case of Ceylon, the history of the contribution is almost as complicated and requires as much study.
Bures
259, 1862. p. 3.
The first record that I can trace is a petition to the House of House of Commons presented in 1858 by the European Common- inhabitants of Singapore. The petition urged that the Paper, No. Settlements were governed with a systematic disregard of the wants and wishes of their inhabitants; that ainongst other imprudent measures steps had been taken to destroy the freedom of the port of Singapore; to force the Indian currency on the Settlements, which tor
Hlad, p. 6.
Thad., p. 7.
Thid., p. 9.
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years had used the dollar; that nothing was done to check piracy a
that Singapore, though established exclusively as a commercial emporium, had been from early days turned into a conviet station without adequate protection for life and property; and it asked that the Straits Settlements should be constituted a separate Government directly under the Crown.
J
In Notes on the proposal of annexing the Settlements in the Straits of Malacca to the Colonial Administration "of the Crown which he furnished for the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Mr. J. Crawfurd, an ex-Governor of the Straits Settlements, reiterated these points, adding that the Supreme Government of India also saddled the local revenue with military, naval, and convict charges never imposed in the Crown Colonies east of the Cape of Good Hope. He asserted that if administered as a Crown Colony, the Straits Settlements revenue would be amply sufficient to meet every local charge. As to the large military expenditure, he said that under any circum- stances it is obvious that a large share of it ought to have been borne by the countries sending the convicts, no small part of it being kept up for their safe custody. Although it is believed that it is not the usual practice of Her Majesty's Government to debit a Colony with the "whole of its military charges, yet they are of opinion that "the expense of such portion of the military force as is "native, ought, in justice and fairness, to be borne by the "Straits Settlements." He argued for the substitution of local irregular corps on Indian lines in place of the expensive Madrassee garrison, and for the abolition of the "Marine charges" for the suppression of piracy, which consisted chiefly of an old, slow, steamer which could neither catch a Malay pirate in the open nor follow him into shallow water; the charges came to about £13,500
a year.
The Secretary of State for India, in March, 1859, asked for the views of the Governor-General in Council, showing by his despatch that he was in sympathy with the proposed Ibid., p. 12. transfer. Lord Canning replied in a long and lucid minute entirely in favour of the transfer. The following passage is of importance as showing the views then held as to the value of Singapore and the responsibility for its defence :-
Para. 10.
"Another very important point to be considered is the "defence of the Straits Settlements, for which, in the " event of danger from any formidable enemy, the Govern-
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ment of India could not with justice be made answerable.
"The past security which these Settlements have enjoyed
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"affords no guarantee of our capacity to defend them, for we have not been at war with any great Power in these tt seas since the Government of India held the Settlements. "It is necessary, of course, that Singapore should always "be garrisoned; and this can be done by India in ordinary "times without difficulty; but it is certain that the "Settlements if threatened with external danger must be "protected mainly by ships, and that of these, India bas "none to give. The defence therefore of the Straits "Settlements in case of a rupture with any maritime "Power, must be provided by the naval strength of Great "Britain. It may be said that this is in a great degree "true of India itself. So it is, but with this material "difference, that whereas our Indian Empire cannot, so long as we are strong in the interior of it, suffer from "au enemy's ships anything worse than temporary insult
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