!
68
also as to whether there is any further question connected with the defenoc of Colonial ports which should be referred for the consideration of the Committee.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
BURY.
69
The only recommendation, therefore, that the Committee have to make is that no special encouragement should be given to increase the output of coal during the present emergency, and that the stock in hand should be kept as low as possible.
(Signed)
ALEX. MILNE. HENRY BARKLY. J. L. A. SIMMONS.
No. 145.
No. 146.
Admiral Sir A. Milne, Bart., G.C.B., to Colonial Office.
(Secret and Confidential.) Sir,
Committee Room, Whitehall, May 29, 1878.
I AM requested by the Colonial Defence Committee to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 14th May," inclosing a copy of a letter from Mr. Ussher, Governor of Labuan, with reference to the position, capabilities, and defence of that Colony.
I am to transmit, for the information of the Secretary of State, a report containing the opinion of the Committee on the various points raised in Mr. Ussher's letter.
(Signed)
I have, &c.
Inclosure in No. 145.
Labuan.
ALEX. MILNE, President.
THE Committee have had before them Mr. Ussher's letter of the 7th May, and have subsequently had the advantage of hearing from him personally his views as to the advisability of defending Labuan.
The strategical importance of this Colony lies in its position, nearly mid-way between Singapore and Hong Kong, and in its natural resources in coal. The existence of coal- fields in the island has long been known, and attempts have been made at different times to work them, though these attempts have not hitherto been attended with commercial Until recently the operations were confined to working the surface coal, which is of inferior quality; but deeper seams have now been reached, from which, Mr. Ussher states, a different and very excellent description is now being produced, and that negotia- tions are in progress for the importation of skilled coalcutters from India, and that there is every prospect of a considerable production being shortly realized--from forty to sixty tons a-day.
success.
The mines are confined to the northern end of the island, in the vicinity of Raffles Bay, and are distant ten miles from the harbour and town of Victoria, to which all the coal raised is conveyed by sea; but the anchorage at Raffles Bay is much exposed, and the traffic is interrupted during the prevalence of north-easterly winds.
८.
The harbour of Victoria affords a secure and commodious anchorage at all times, and there would be no serious difficulty in making it safe against attack; but while fully admitting the importance of position and resources claimed for it by Mr. Ussher, the Committee are of opinion that its defence is scarcely a necessity of immediate importance, however desirable it may become hereafter, when large stores of coal may have been accumulated in convenient positions for shipment.
At the present time the production of the mines is so small, that there is at no time such a supply available for use as would be likely to invite attack, or warrant a large expenditure, and the maintenance of a permanent garrison of Imperial troops for its defence.
Mr. Ussher dwells upon the possibility of an enemy taking possession of the island, and working the mines by forced labour, but the Committee are unable to regard such apprehensions as well grounded, considering that so long as Great Britain retains command of the sea, it would be improbable that an enterprize of so hazardous a nature and of such questionable advantage would be undertaken; especially as the anchorage in such case would require works and guns for its protection, and any vessels going there for supplies would be liable to be blockaded.
Mr. Ussher also urges the importance of the supply of provisions, which, unless the island be protected, might be made available by an enemy's cruizers. On this point the Committee have to observe that the supply is limited, and that hostile ships could obtain supplies of this nature with equal facility from neutral ports, of which there are many in adjacent territories.
* No. 98 of Miscellaneous, 35 E.
Colonial Office to War Office.
(Secret and Confidential.) Sir,
I AM directed by the Secretary of State for the Colónies to request that you will state
Downing Street, May 30, 1878. to Secretary Colonel Stanley, that he has received a telegram from the Governor of the Straits Settlements, reporting the arrival of the General, and requesting to be informed when the guns recommended by the Colonial Defence Committee may be expected to reach the Colony, and I am to request to be informed what answer should be telegraphed to Sir W. C. F. Robinson in reply.
17
I
am, &c.
(Signed)
R. H. MEADE.
No. 147.
>
Governor the Right Hon. Sir H. B. Frere, Bart., G.C.B., G.C.S.I., to the Right Hon. Sir M. E. Hicks Beach, Bart.—(Received May 30.)
(No. 105.)
Sir,
WITH reference to previous correspondence on the subject of the defence of the Colony, I have the honour to forward three copies of the "Government Gazette,"* contain- ing the draft Bills on the following subjects, which, by the advice of my Ministers, I have authorized being published, with a view to their early consideration by the Colonial Parliament :-
Government House, Cape Town, May 6, 1878.
(1.) For the better protection of the Colony by disarming all who are not licensed to carry arms in certain districts.
(2.) For raising a Yeomanry force.
(3.) For the better regulation of volunteer forces.
(4.) For organizing the Cape Mounted Rifles in lieu of the frontier armed and mounted police.
I also forward two copies of the "Cape Argus" of the 24th ultimo, giving an abstract of these measures.
2. It would be premature, in their present shape, to say more of these Bills than that they afford evidence of the intention of the present Ministers to take practical steps to provide for the defence of the Colony from its own resources.
I have, &c. (Signed)
Inclosure in No. 147.
Extract from the “Cape Aryus” of April 24, 1876.
!
H. B.-E. FRERE.
ABSTRACT OF THE PROVISIONS OF THE PROPOSED DEFENCE MEASURES.—In addition to the Peace Preservation Bill, which has been already published, four Bills were pub lished in yesterday's "Gazette," having for their object the establishment of a system of Colonial defence.
The first of these is a Cape Mounted Yeomanry Act, which provides generally for the raising of three regiments of cavalry within districts neighbouring to the Colonial frontier, and thus available for rapid operation in case of disturbance of the peace. Ry the regiments proposed to be raised and distributed as in the Act provided, lines of defence will be formed, and a kind of permanent advance guard will be furnished by the
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