:
130
No. 133.
Colonial Office to Foreign Office.
Sir,
Downing Street, February 19, 1880. I AM directed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 5th instant, inclosing information with regard to the strength of the Russian squadron in the Pacific under the command of Admiral Aslanbegow and the objects for which it is supposed to have been reinforced, together with a copy of the instructions which the Marquis of Salisbury has addressed to Her Majesty's Repre- sentatives at Yedo and Peking, and I am to request that you will inform Lord Salisbury that Sir Michael Hicks Beach will forward copies of your letter and of its inclosures to the Governor-General of Canada as regards the Province of British Columbia, to the Governors of the Australasian Colonies, and to the Governor of Hong Kong, with a request that they will furnish him with any information which may reach them respecting, the movements of the Russian fleet. Copies will also be transmitted to the Royal Commission on the Defence of British Possessions and Commerce abroad for its information.
I am, &c.
(Signed)
R. H. MEADE.
131
3. What should be the financial arrangements between the Colonial and Imperial Governments, whether in time of peace or in time of war.
The Royal Commission would suggest, for the consideration of Sir Michael Hicks Beach, whether it would not be desirable, without loss of time, that an intimation to this effect should be given to the Colonies concerned, in order that, if they desire it, they should each depute some one to speak on their part to the Commission.
Among the questions with which it would be desirable to be informed of the views entertained by the Governments of the several Colonies are the following
1. The defences of ports and their armaments.
2. The raising and maintaining of local forces, and with whom the responsibility
of command, military and naval, should rest.
3. Naval defence.
The Commission desire to suggest that it should be pointed out to the Colonial Governments that a great part of the evidence taken by the Commission will be strictly confidential.
I havé, &c.
No. 136.
(Signed)
HERBERT JEKYLL.
Sir,
No. 134.
Colonial Office to the Secretary to the Royal Commission on the Defence of British Possessions and Commerce Abroad.
Downing Street, February 19, 1880.
I AM directed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to transmit to you, for the information of the Royal Commission on the Defence of British Possessions and Commerce Abroad, a copy of a letter from the Foreign Office,* inclosing a copy of a despatch from Mr. Plunkett, containing information with regard to the strength of the Russian squadron in the Pacific under the command of Admiral Aslanbegow and the objects for which it is supposed to have been reinforced, together with a copy of the instructions which the Marquis of Salisbury has addressed to Her Majesty's Representatives at Yedo and Peking, directing them to keep the Governors of the Australian Colonies informed of the move- ments of the Russian fleet.
Copies of the correspondence will be transmitted to the Governor-General of Canada as regards British Columbia, to the Governors of the Australasian Colonies, and to the Governor of Hong Kong, with a request that they will furnish Sir Michael Hicks Beach with any information which may reach them respecting the Russian flect.
I am, &c.
(Signed) R. H. MEADE.
(Confidential.)
Sir,
Foreign Office to Colonial Office.
Foreign Office, February 20, 1880.
I AM directed by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to transmit to you, for the information of Secretary Sir M. Hicks Beach, the accompanying copy of despatch, respecting the contemplated dispatch to the Pacific of certain vessels of the Russian Volun teer Fleet, and the mission of M. Skalkofsky to investigate the condition of Russian trade with China and Japan.
I am, &c.
(Signed)
JULIAN PAUNCEFOTE.
Inclosure I in No. 136.
The Earl of Dufferin to the Marquis of Salisbury.
My Lord,
St. Petersburgh, February 10, 1880. I HAVE the honour to forward a translation furnished to me by Mr. Law, from the "Novoi Vremyia" of the 7th instant, concerning the contemplated dispatch of certain vessels of the Russian "Volunteer Fleet" to the Pacific, and the mission of M. Skalkofsky to investigate the condition of Russian trade with China and Japan.
No. 185.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
DUFFERIN.
The Secretary to the Royal Commission on the Defence of British Possessions and Commerce Abroad to Colonial Office.
13, Delahay Street, February 20, 1880.
(Confidential.) Bir,
I AM directed by the Royal Commission on the Defence of British Possessions and Commerce Abroad to inform you that they hope to arrive at a stage of their inquiry by the beginning of June, when they will desire to hear any opinions which the Governments of Canada, the Australian Colonics, New Zealand, and the Cape of Good Hope may entertain on the important matters referred to them by Her Majesty.
That reference may be briefly divided, so far as the Colonics are concerned, into the following beads:-
1. What steps towards the permanent defence of Colonies and Colonial commerce should now be taken by or in the Colonies.
2. What steps would have to be taken by or in the Colonies in the event of a maritime war, and under whose responsibility.
* No. 120.
Inclosure 2 in No. 136.
7th February
ACCORDING to the "Novoi Vremyia" of the by, 1880, the Society of the Volunteer Fleet intends to dispatch several of its steamers to the Pacific.
The "Moscow" will leave Odessa about the end of February, and proceed straight to Vladivostok, thence to Nagasaki and Hankoy; the "Russia" will start from Cronstadt for Vladivostok and Fuchoy. The Ministries of the Interior and of Imperial Domains, and the Society for the Promotion of Russian Trade and Industry in China, Japan and Eastern Siberia, have instructed M. Skalkofsky to proceed in one of these steamers in order to investigate the condition of Russian trade in the Pacific.
to
The "Novoi Vremyia" is further informed that M. Skalkofsky is to collect informa- tion on the following points:
1. Respecting the possibility of stimulating commercial relations between Eastern Siberia and the ports of China, and especially Japan.
2. The cause of the unsatisfactory condition of regular steam communication in the northern parts of the Pacific.
3. The possibility of establishing regular communication between San Francisco and
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