PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 885
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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No 38,
The Right Hon. Sir Michael Hicks Beach, Bart., to Governor Sir G. F. Bowen, G.C.M.G. (Secret.) Sir,
I HAVE the honour to transmit to you a copy of a letter which has been received
Downing Street, October 16, 1879. from the Admiralty,* inquiring whether certain vessels and boats which the Admiralty, under an agreement with the War Department, is required to provide for the submarine defence of Mauritius, could be provided locally, or whether they would have to be sent out from this country, and inclosing drawings and specifications of the torpedo lighter and steam-launches.
I have to request that you will take this matter into consideration, and furnish me, as soon as you conveniently can, with replies to the queries contained in the 3rd and 4th paragraphs of the inclosed letter, in order that they may be communicated to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty.
I am, &c.
Sir,
of
(Signed)
No. 39.
ROBERT G. W. HERBERT,
For Secretary of State.
Colonial Office to Admiralty.
Downing Street, October 17, 1879.
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I AM directed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to acknowledge the receipt your letter of the 13th instant,* relative to the provision locally of certain vessels and boats which the Admiralty, under an agreement with the War Department, is required to provide for the submarine defence of Mauritius, and in reply I am to state, for the infor mation of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, that a copy of your letter has been transmitted to the Governor, with a request that he will furnish the information required by their Lordships as soon he conveniently can.
I am to take this opportunity to express a hope that the Lords Commissioners and the Secretary of State for War will cause full information of this nature to be furnished to the Royal Commission which, as you were informed in the letter from this Department
of the 13th ultimo,† has been appointed to inquire into the subject of Colonial Defences.
No. 40.
am, &c. (Signed) R. H. MEADE.
Governor Sir A. Kennedy, C.B., K.C.M.G., to the Right Hon. Sir Michael Hicks Beach, Bart.-(Received October 18.) (No. 80.) Sir,
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I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your cypher telegram on the subject of Colonial Defences to his Excellency Sir William Jervois (22nd August, 1879).
Government House, Brisbane, August 28, 1879.
2. Colonel Scratchley, R.E., C.M.G., being here on a tour of inspection, I thought it would be satisfactory to you, and to Sir William Jervois, to have his Report, and I therefore requested him to draw up the accompanying memorandum, which embraces all the information I am able to afford.
3. Great contrariety of opinion exists in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland on the subject of defences generally, and the salary proposed by my Ministers for the pay- ment of a competent Imperial officer as Commandant of the volunteer force has been struck out of the Estimates for 1879-80.
4. The reasons which influence a popular Assembly on questions of this kind are not always apparent, but I have made no secret of my opinion (based upon some military experience) that, without a competent head, the organization of any reliable defence force cannot be expected.
* No 3o.
+ No. 21.
No. 16.
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5. I have, in compliance with your desire, transmitted a copy of Colonel Scratchley's memorandum, with accompanying papers, to his Excellency Sir W. Jervois, G.C.M.G.
I have, &c. (Signed) A. E. KENNEDY.
Inclosure in No. 40.
Memorandum by Colonel Scratchley, R.E., C.M.G., on the Defences of Queensland.
1. THE Legislature has sanctioned the commencement of Sir W. Jervois' scheme of defence for Brisbane, Maryborough, and Rockhampton, and has voted for the purpose 22,0001. (Loan Acts, 41 Vict., No. 22; 42 Vict., No. 10). A sum of 10,000l. appears on Loan Estimates for 1879-80, as a further instalment towards the capital cost of the scheme.
2. An Act (42 Vict., No. 7) to amend the law relating to the volunteer forces in Queensland has been passed, and Regulations for the government of the forces have been approved.
3. Establishments for the volunteer forces have been authorized (“Gazette," 24th June, 1879). The total strength being 1,000 artillery, engineers, and infantry, distributed at Brisbane, Ipswich, Toowoomba, Warwick, Rockhampton, and Maryborough.
Supernumeraries, 25 in excess of the strength stated, are permitted to be enrolled without a claim to capitation allowance. Cadet corps, numbering 300 boys, have also been formed.
4. Taking into account the warlike stores purchased prior to Sir W. Jervois' Report, and those which have been provided out of the Loan Estimates, the following is a brief statement of the armaments of the Colony :-
Four 64-pounder muzzle-loading rifled guns, ou naval wood carriages. Four 9-pounder muzzle-loading rifled guns and carriages, with harness. Ten 24-pounder smooth-bore cast-iron guns, on garrison standing carriages. Two 6-pounder breech-loading guns, with carriages and harness.
Two 12-pounder S.P. howitzers.
Four 6-pounder S.P. gune.
1,000 Snider rifles.
600 Martini-Henry rifles.
Ammunition for the guns and rifles.
Accoutrements.
Camp equipage.
Torpedo stores.
Equipments incomplete.
Explosives for ditto.
5. Drill-sheds, with orderly-rooms and rifle ranges, have been provided at nearly all the stations where volunteer corps have been raised, and arrangements are in progress for their completion,
6. The provision made for the year 1879-80 for the maintenance of the volunteer forces amounts to 10,000, and a supplementary estimate for the payment of a Staff Officer is to be brought forward.
7. The following are the defensive measures contemplated, the cost of them being defrayed out of the balance of 32,0001. raised by lonn (ride paragraph 1), of which about 16,500/. is unexpended :——
(a.) Four-gun battery at Lytton for the defence of the river leading to Brisbane. (b.) Purchase of two additional rifled guns for its armament, together with carriage platforms and ammunition.
(c) Purchase of further supply of torpedoes.
(d.) Mounting of guns at Maryborough, Rockhampton, and Townsville on suitable platforms, in order to train the volunteers at those places.
8. The estimate on capital expenditure of Sir W. Jervois' scheme was £5,000, which included provision for a gun-boat and armament for Moreton Bay (10,0001.), and a torpedo vessel (3,000%), these two items representing that part of the defence scheme which relates to floating defences for co-operating with the land forces to prevent landings on the coast inside Moreton Bay.
9. The swift gun-vessel recommended for the protection of places on the coast
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