*
146
might be entertained, with a view to increasing the garrison of Ceylon; but for the present, there being no immediate prospect of war, the Committee are of opinion that it would be prudent to limit the action to the extent required for placing the defences of Hong Kong on a better footing.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
No. 259.
HENRY BARKLY, Acting President.
Governor Sir H. St. G. Ord, R.E., K.C.M.G., C.B., to the Right Hon. Sir M. E. Hicks Beach, Bart.-(Received July 29.) (Secret and Confidential.) Sir,
Government House, Perth, June 17, 1878.
I HAD the honour to receive yesterday your despatch, Secret and Confidential, of the 26th April, 1878,* covering the second Report of the Colonial Defence Committee on the temporary defence of the Australian Colonies.
2. I notice that it is stated in this Report that the attention of the Committee has been called by Sir W. Jervois to the fact that if the mail steamer, which sometimes contains very valuable freights of gold, are required to call at King George's Sound, it will become a point at which, in time of war, an enemy's cruiser or privateer might lay in wait for them with a view to their capture.
3. On this the Committee remark that as they cannot recommend permanent defeuce and a large garrison at Imperial cost for the protection of King George's Sound, they suggest for consideration whether, in the event of war, the mail steamers should not cease to call at King George's Sound, aud some other arrangements be made for the trans- shipping of the mails to Perth.
4. In the second paragraph of your despatch you inform me-I presume in reference to this suggestion that you are in communication with the Admiralty on the subject of King George's Sound.
5. You will have received, long before this despatch reaches you, a telegram from me, stating that I felt called upon to bring to your notice that, in the present state of public feeling in the Colony, the announcement of any intention on the part of the Government to deprive them of their present mail communication would almost certainly lead to a pronouncement in favour of responsible Government. As I have not lately made any communications to you on this subject, you will, perhaps, be surprised at this statement, but the explanation of this omission is attributable to the extreme rapidity with which the feeling in favour of a change in the constitution has proceeded within the last few weeks, and is still, I fear, proceeding. As I have stated in a former despatch, I noticed on my arrival that there existed, especially in the rural districts, a wide spreading belief that the administration of its affairs by the Colonial Office was very injurious to the Colony, and this led to the cry being raised for responsible Government. When I arrived I thought I saw a disposition to give the Government a fair trial and not to press the point unless it failed to remedy the grievances under which the Colony was supposed to labour, and I directed my efforts to securing this result; and so far as some of the leading promoters of the scheme were concerned, I met with considerable success, but no sooner did this success become apparent from their remarks at public entertainments where I was received, than the two newspapers which have fostered the movement took alarm, and have recently availed themselves of every opportunity of impressing on the public that the Governor, with the best intentions, can do nothing beneficial for the Colony so long as it remains under its present form of Government, and that there is but one course open to it, to insist during the present Session on a Bill being introduced for its
alteration.
6. There have been three elections during the past three months, and in each case a candidate favourable to responsible Government has been returned; the last is Mr. Parker, who has been elected for Perth (which has hitherto supported two candidates opposed to the measure), under a pledge to introduce a Bill for altering the constitution during the present Session.
7. What the result of this proposal will be I cannot venture to predict; parties are still somewhat evenly balanced, but the constant repetition of the statement that a change is absolutely needed and should be no longer deferred can hardly be without its effect upon some of the more nervous members, and it will not surprise me if it should be carried.
• No. 53
147
8. Strongly impressed as I am with these views I trust you will think I am justified in desiring to avoid being compelled to lay before the Legislature or the public any proposal on the part of the Home Government which could be converted by the opponents of the present system of Government into a plea for its abolition, and acting under such convictions. I venture with great respect to express a hope that it may be found possible to avoid suggesting the arrangement put forward in your despatch.
9. I regret much that the necessity of sending off this despatch by mounted express at once to be in time to catch the mail at King George's Sound, 250 miles distant, deprives me of the opportunity of going into the question at the length I desire, and which its importance demands.
10. I would, however, observe that the knowledge of the fact that the mail steamer will be at King George's Sound at a given time is not likely to be a greater inducement for an enemy to lie in wait for her there than at any other point on her route between it and the eastern Colonies. The Peninsular and Oriental Company's time-tables give the exact hour at which she will be entering and leaving the other ports, and the cruizer would have just as good an opportunity of picking her up at them as at the Sound. In fact, if the mail-steamers are to be allowed in war time to carry gold as a temptation to an enemy to seize them, they must be convoyed all the way along the Australian coast. Doubtless, however, it would be arranged, as has been done on previous occasions, that mail steamers carrying only letters should be exempted from molestation.
11. The refusal to allow mails to be landed at King George's Sound would, under present circumstances, be equivalent to depriving the Colony of postal communication with Europe. I have, however, received within the last hour a proposal from an influential member of the Legislative Council which, if carried, would provide a way out of the difficulty created by the Committee's suggestion.
12. This proposal is made by a gentleman interested in the Freeniantle trade, and is to the effect that the Government shall be empowered to purchase a good-sized steam tug to be used for the service of that port, for laying down buoys, communicating with Rottnest Prison, and for general surveying duties, and that the Government should then suggest to the Peninsular and Oriental Company that in their new contract, shortly to be entered into, the mail steamers should call at Freemantle in place of Albany, and without anchoring, if thought desirable, should deliver their mails and passengers into, and receive them from, this vessel.
13. It is curious that this suggestion should be made just at this particular moment; but as I have reason to suppose, from what its originator, Mr. Shenton, tells me, that there is a fair probability of its being accepted by the Council, I think I am justified in bringing it under your notice.
14. I have to apologize for the imperfections in this despatch, which, as I have mentioned, has been written under circumstances requiring great baste.
(Secret and Confidential.)
Šir,
I have, &c.
(Signed) H. ST. GEORGE ORD.
No. 260.
Colonial Office to War Office.
Downing Street, July 30, 1878.
I AM directed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to transmit to you a copy of a telegram received through the Governor of Hong Kong from the General commanding the troops there to the Secretary of State for War on the subject of the defences of that Colony.
2. I am to request that you will state to Secretary Colonel Stanley that Sir Michael Hicks Beach, while desirous that no expense should be incurred that is not necessary for the defence of Hong Kong, and that the fullest consideration should be given to the works to be executed, he would much regret to find that the present opportunity is not taken in order to place the Colonial defences in a thoroughly satisfactory condition without waiting for future complications which might necessitate immediate measures, probably of a less efficient and more expensive character than might now be adopted.
am, &c.
(Signed)
• No. 944.
ROBERT G. W. HERBERT.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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