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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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C.O. 885
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country of military and civil officers, and other gentlemen possessing special Colonial experience, and they are invited to give information when questions affecting the Colonies to which they belong are under discussion.
A meeting is arranged as soon as there are a sufficient number of subjects to be dealt with, and the results of the discussion are embodied in the printed Memoranda and Remarks above referred to, or in Minutes on papers.. Drafts of all the printed documents are sent before final issue to the members of the Committee for them to see that their views are represented. If the matter dealt with in any particular document lies within the administrative powers of the Department of State to which, when approved by the Committee, it is sent, action is taken by that Department. Where inter-Departmental agreement is required, it is sent by the Office receiving it to the other two for their concurrence. If a Treasury question is involved, the War Office, Admiralty, or Colonial Office as the case may be, addresses the Treasury as soon as this concurrence has been obtained.
When the Committee was first formed, at a time when war was imminent, a somewhat simpler and quicker procedure was adopted, and this would probably be reverted to if it again became necessary.
6. It is thought, however, that the conditions which obtained in 1885, and resulted in the reference home of many questions from various Colonies at a time when war was daily expected, have now permanently passed away. Every Colony now knows, or Those should know, the extent to which it may rely on protection from the Imperial Navy, and how far it is expected to provide for its own defence from its own resources. Colonies that have not made the defensive provisions that have been within their power are aware that no dislocation of Imperial forces will be made to the detriment of the Imperial Scheme of Defence for the protection of local interests against raiding attack. All parts of the Empire should now be able to organise their defence with rapidity, with completeness, and with confidence.
If this result has been even partially achieved, a long step has been taken towards enabling the Empire to put forth its full strength in a great struggle.
Much yet remains to be done. In the organisation of land forces, some Colonies are far below the average standard, while in others various conditions have contributed to make it difficult to keep up even the small number of troops which represent the minimum of safety. The additional strength which would be derived from the federation of neighbouring Colonies for mutual defence, though acknowledged in principle, has not yet, except in Canada, been brought into existence by practical legislation. Again, conditions which may doubtless arise in the wars of the future, when troops of various Colonies will work together, and with Imperial forces, make it advisable that their training, organisation, and armament should be further assimilated, while those differences which enable the forces to develop best in their special local circumstances are still maintained. Finally, the vast influence which the British Navy, wielded by a central authority, exercises on the destinies of the Colonies, requires to be yet more fullly and more practically recognised.
upon
The Colonial Defence Committee have in view these developments in the future, as well as the maintenance of the great advances that have already been made from the conditions of the past. They are fully aware, however, that the best interests of the Colonies demand that their military and naval expenditure should be moderate, and they consider that moderate expenditure if wisely directed is sufficient to secure safety. They it as one of their chief funotions to prevent the Colonies from spending money look on measures of defence not absolutely necessary, and to advise them, so that available resources for these purposes are entirely expended in the most profitable manner. They have evidence, from papers that now come to them that this fact is realised by several of the self-governing Colonies, and also that, both with regard to these Colonies and those directly under the Crown, the Committee are becoming more and more in a position to render effective aid to Her Majesty's Government towards the perfection of a uniform, sufficient, and complete Scheme of Colonial Defence.
M. NATHAN,
June 11, 1897.
Secretary,
Colonial Defence Committee.
201
TABLE I.
LIST of MEMBERS of COLONIAL DEFENCE COMMITTEE since its Constitution in 1885.
PRESIDENT.
The Inspector-General of Fortifications. Major-General (afterwards Lieut.-General) Sir Andrew Clarke Lieut. General Sir Lothian Nicholson Major-General (now Lieut.-General Sir) Robert Grant -
MEMBERS.
•
The Director of Military Intelligence.
Major-General (afterwards Lieut.-General) H. Brackenbury
General) E. F. Chapman
77
Sir John Ardagh
The Director of Naval Intelligence (before 1888, the Naval Adviser to the I.G.F.).
From.
To.
22.4.85 8.7.86 18.4.01
25.6.86
17.4.91
27.6.87
31.3.91
1.4.91 1.4.96
31.3.96
Captain T. S. Jackson, R N.
22.4.85
"
C. C. Drury, R.N.
0.4.86
6.4.86 10.1.88
23
Hall, R.N.
11.1.88
9.11.88
11
(afterwards Rear-Admiral) C. A. G. Bridge, R.N.
10.11.88
31.8.94
39
L. A. Beaumont, R.N.
1.9.94
Representative of the Colonial Office.
The Honourable (afterwards Sir) R. H. Meade E. Wingfield, Esq.
22.4.85
28.2.97
1.3.97
Representative of the Treasury.
G. L. Ryder, Esq.
1.3.88
The Assistant Adjutant-General for Mobilisation (before 1891, Assistant Quartermaster General),
11.85
1.10.88
23.5.90
25.5.91
30.0.88 2.10.89 24.5.91 16.11.91
:
5.12.94
Colonel Lord W. F. E. Seymour
"
Sir Francis de Winton
J. W. Crealock
37
C. Grove
"
Honourable N. G. Lyttelton
The Deputy Inspector General of Ordnance (before 1995, Assistant Director
ע
of Artillery).
22.4.85
0.1.00
10.1.90
9.1.93
10.1.93
9.1.97
10.1.97
Colonel H. le G. Geary
C. H. F. Ellis
N. L. Walford -
R. A. Montgomery
Secretary.
Captain H. Jekyll
22.4.85
8.7.85
(afterwards Major) G. 3. Clarke
9.7.85
11.92
Major (afterwards Lieut.-Colonel) W. Peacocke Captain M. Nathan
2.11.92
30.495
1.5.95
C c
E 97837.
202
TABLE II.
MEMORANDUM by the COLONIAL DEFENCE COMMITTEE from No. 1 to No. 107,
1885 to 1897.