3
connect themselves with any temporary measures of the kind already suggested as suitable
to meet a sudden emergency.
(Secret.) Sir,
of
have, &c.
(Signed)
M. E. HICKS BEACH.
No. 16.
Colonial Office to Admiral Sir A. Milne, Bart., G.C.B.
Downing Street, March 21, 1878.
I AM directed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to acknowledge the receipt your ·Confidential letter of the 18th instant;* and, in reply, I am to submit the following remarks relative to local forces in Hong Kong, Singapore, Penang, and Ceylon, which may be taken as approximately correct.
There is no militia force in any of these Colonies; in Hong Kong and Singapore there is a small force of volunteers, though the numbers cannot be given.
As to police. In Ceylon the force is composed of natives and is about 1,000 In Hong Kong there is a police strong, with some 20 European sergeants and constables. force, consisting of 100 European inspectors and constables, chiefly from the London and Glasgow police; 162 Indians, with the proper complement of sergeants and inspectors; 180 Chinese, with the due number of sergeants, &c.; and 150 Chinese water police.
It would probably be found difficult to increase this force.
In the Straits Settlements there is a native police force, of which the head- quarters are stationed in Singapore, consisting of about 450 constables, with some European inspectors and sub-inspectors. The detachment quartered in Penang numbers about 400. This force is capable of increase. The men are armed, and fought together In the native States of the Malay with the Imperial troops in the late Perak war, Peninsula there is a force of armed police, in part Malay and in part Sikhs and others from India.
extent.
The number of Indians is at present probably 500, and might be increased to any Lastly, Sir M. H. Beach supposes that such a force as the late Ceylon Rifle Regiment might again be raised in the Colony if a real necessity existed.
1
I am, &c.
(Signed) ROBERT G. W. HERRERT.
No. 17.
The Right Hon. W. H. Smith to the Right Hon. Sir M. E. Hicks Beach, Bart.
Admiralty, March 22, 1878. My dear Beach,
WE have ordered fifty torpedoes for the Colonies, but it will be some months before they are delivered, and it will therefore be impossible to pay for them under the existing vote of credit. Under these circumstances, I must look to you to obtain a vote to pay for them. If it appears advisable that you should have some or even the whole of them before Mr. Whitehead can complete his order, I have no doubt we shall be able to lend you some from our store.
No. 18.
Yours very truly, (Signed)
W. H. SMITH.
War Office to Colonial Office.
War Office, March 22, 1878. ⚫ Sir,
I AM directed by the Secretary of State for War to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 9th instant, and to acquaint you in reply, for the information of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, that he has instructed Lieutenant H. Jekyll, R.E., to act as Secretary to the Departmental Committee on the defence of the Colonies, as therein requested.
• No. 14.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
EUSTACE CECIL.
+ No. 7.
9
No. 19.
Governor Hennessy, C.M.G., to the Earl of Carnarvon.—(Received March 25.)
(No. 20.) My Lord,
Government House, Hong Kong, February 13, 1878. HAVING had an opportunity at St. Paul's College of addressing the Portuguese community of Hong Kong, I said a few words to them on the formation of a volunteer corps.
I inclose an extract from one of the local papers containing the remarks I made (on the subject.
2. My suggestions were very well received, and the project is now on foot. 3. Long since I had consulted with Mr. Lowcock, Mr. Keswick, the managers of the banks, and other leading gentlemen, as to re-establishing the volunteer corps which was disbanded and given up by Sir Richard MacDonnell, and on all sides I found the greatest willingness to co-operate with me in providing this popular arm of Colonial defence.
4. The commercial community in this Colony are fully alive to the fact that the events in South-Eastern Europe may directly affect their interests; and as the leading men here have, over and over again, expressed their views to me on the subject, I am bound to inform your Lordship that, as far as I know, they are unanimous in desiring unequivocally and loyally to support the policy announced in Her Majesty's Speech and carried into effect by the Government.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
Inclosure in No. 19.
Newspaper Extract.
J. POPE HENNESSY.
PERHAPS I may be permitted, my Lord, to take this opportunity, as I have said so much about the Portuguese, of saying one word to them on another subject, though connected with it. The teaching of English is one of those things that bind the Portu- guese to the Crown of England. They appreciate and are proud of the Government of England when they can speak and read in the language of England. Is there nothing else the Portuguese community can do for us? We live in critical times; and I am about to ask the Portuguese community to do that which loyal subjects in other parts of Her Majesty's Empire are doing or have done. I ask them to assist me in forming in this Colony a volunteer corps for the defence of their own homes and the defence of this Colony. (Applause.) Already, indeed, I have received, from trustworthy and influential sources of information, accounts that lead me to believe that there will be no difficulty in forming two or three good, working, substantial companies of Portuguese riflemen; and although the pupils who are here to-day are too young to take a part in anything of that kind now, yet when they see their elder brothers or their fathers joining the volunteer movement I have no doubt they themselves will look forward to the time when they will be enrolled in the volunteer force of Hong Kong, Perhaps, my Lord, I ought to apologize for intro- ducing to your notice to-day a subject somewhat foreign to that which brought us here; but you all understand the gravity of affairs in Europe, and you know that I am but discharging my duty as Representative of the Queen in rallying around Her Government every element of loyal strength that this Colony possesses. (Applause.)
No. 20.
Governor Sir W. C. F. Robinson, K.C.M.G., to the Right Hon. Sir M. E. Hicks Beach, Bart.-(Received March 25.) (No. 43.) My Lord,
Government House, February 16, 1878.
WITH reference to your Lordship's Circular despatch of the 5th December, 1877, I have the honour to inclose the return required by the War Office of Colonial forces in this Colony, and to state that a similar return will be furnished annually in future.
I have, &c.
(Signed) WILLIAM C. F. ROBINSON.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
muwdummim C.O. 885
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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