(Secret and Confidential.)
Sir,
194
Inclosure 2'in No. 208.
H.M.S. "Iron Duke," off Hong Kong, March 15, 1880.
I HAVE carefully read and considered your Secret and Confidential letter of the 12th March, 1880, forwarding to me the Report of a Secret Committee appointed by your Excellency, under instructions from Sir Michael Hicks Beach, to consider the possibility of raising certain supplementary forces for the defence of Hong Kong, together with the observations of General Donovan, commanding the forces, upon it.
2. Your letter also covers the following despatches and papers :-
(1.) Letter from Sir Michael Hicks Beach, dated the 23rd June, 1879, under which your Excellency appointed the Committee.
(2.) Despatch from Sir Thomas Wade, K.C.B., dated the 30th September, 1878. (3.) Despatch from the War Office, dated the 8th January, 1879.
(4.) Letter from the Colonial Office to the War Office, dated the 4th September, 1878; and
JJ
(5.) Your Excellency's letters of the 22nd November, 1879, and the 6th March, 1880, to Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies.
3. I observe that Sir Michael Hicks Beach, in his letter dated the 23rd June, 1879, states that "it is proposed to appoint a Local Committee to report as to the possibility of supplementing from European, Malay, and other material, as well as Chinese, the small Imperial force ordinarily maintained in the Colony, and of turning any and every available and local means to account by organizing it so as to make up the garrison to what is requisite for an effective defence in time of war." Moreover, the Secretary of State adds, that the question for the consideration of the Committee is "to be confined to the enlist- ment of auxiliary forces for service within Hong Kong."
4. It appears, therefore, to me that the present inquiry is confined to the subject of the protection of Hong Kong by military operations, and the question of its defence by a naval element is not intended to be dealt with in the present instance.
5. On the subject of the military requirements for the effective defence of Hong Kong against a hostile force, I cannot venture to express a professional opinion; and as to the desirability or otherwise of raising a local force to supplement the small Imperial force usually maintained in the Colony, I regret I am not sufficiently conversant with the
• Chinese and other inhabitants of Hong Kong (nor will time now permit me to acquire an adequate knowledge) to express a decided opinion.
6. Broadly speaking, however, I concur in the views put forward by the Committee in their Report, and more especially in the Hakkalis forming the best available material amongst the Chinese for combatant purposes on a small scale.
7. The inclosures to your letter under reply are returned herewith, in accordance with your Excellency's request.
I have, &c. (Signed)
R. COOTE,
Vice-Admiral and Commander-in-Chief.
His Excellency John Pope Hennessy, C.M.G.,
Governor and Commander-in-Chief, Hong-Kong.
Sir,
-195
No. 210.
Colonial Office to Treasury.
Downing Street, April 26, 1880. I AM directed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to transmit to you, to be laid before the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, a copy of the correspondence noted with reference to the establishment of telegraphic communication between this country and Bermuda, and I am to request that a Report may be obtained from the tele- graph authorities at the post office as to the terms and conditions upon which telegraphic communication could be established between this country, Bermuda, Halifax, and the West Indies by a route which would be under the control of this country in time of war.
I am to add that Sir M. Hicks Beach suggests this course in order to obtain a professional opinion, and not as recommending, at the present moment, the adoption of any particular scheme, much less the acceptance of the proposals of any particular
h
person.
Sir,
I am, &c.
(Signed)
JOHN BRAMSTON.
No. 211.
Colonial Office to the Secretary to the Royal Commission on the Defence of British
Possessions and Commerce Abroad.
Downing Street, April 27, 1880.
I AM directed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 2nd instant respecting the proposed abandonment of King George's Sound as a coaling station by the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, and I am 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 which has been sent to the Company in reply to their communication on the subject.‡
I am also to inclose, for the information of the Commission, copies of two despatches which Sir M. Hicks Beach has addressed to the Governor of Western Australia, § with the view of ascertaining the wishes of his Government as to acquiring the Company's station at King George's Sound.
I am, &c.
ROBERT G. W. HERBERT.
(Signed)
No. 212.
No. 209.
Colonial Office to the Secretary to the Royal Commission on the Defence of British
Possessions and Commerce Abroad.
Sir,
Downing Street, April 23, 1880. WITH reference to the letter from this Department of the 30th ultimo," I am directed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to transmit to you, to be laid before the Royal Commissioners on the Defence of British Possessions and Commerce Abroad, a copy of a letter from Mr. Broome, Colonial Secretary of Mauritius, relative to the proposed extension of telegraphic communication to Mauritius, and I am to observe that Sir M. Hicks Beach has no doubt that, when the Royal Commission have considered the subject, they will favour Her Majesty's Government with their views on this important question.
• Not printed.
I am, &c. (Signed) JOHN BRAMSTON.
+ No. 201.
Colonial Office to the Secretary to the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company.
Downing Street, April 27, 1880.
Sir,
WITH reference to your letter of the 14th and to the reply from this Department of the 24th February last, I am directed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to request that you will acquaint the Directors of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company that the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty do not desire to acquire the Company's coaling station at Albany, King George's Sound.
The Governor of Western Australia has, however, been instructed to report the wishes of his Government as to acquiring the property, and, on the receipt of his reply, a further communication will be made to you.
I am, &c.
(Signed)
ROBERT G. W. HERBERT.
• Nos. 112, 118, 127, 131, 143, 153, 155, 164, 165, 168, 171, 183, 194, 199, 207. + No. 193.
No. 212.
§ Nos. 214 and 215.
Nos. 125 and 141,
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
6
TITLE CO. 885
4PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO