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Estimate. Estimate.
28
3. Besides the causes of variation referred to in the first paragraph above, it was difficult in the early years afters the war to maintain the Straits Settlements garrison at its full establishment, and the average strength each year was below the establishment. Thus in the years of high prices, 1920 and 1921, the cost was lower than it would have been if the establishment had been full. From 1922-27, although prices fell further the average strength increased, and excluding the large variation in 1925 the average annual cost of the garrison was £420,000.
4. From 1928 onwards the cost of the garrison shows a considerable increase. If the detailed make-up of the cost of the garrison in the year 1927 is taken as a datum line the expenditure by Votes in the years 1927-31 compares as follows:-
29
outside any expenditure on the new defences of the Naval Base, has been started at defended ports abroad and will be proceeded with at home and abroad in the future. The following table shows the various important changes in armament at Singapore that have taken place since 1926 and their effect, in round figures, on the cost of the garrison, exclusive of the Base defences:-
20,000
384
1927.
1928.
1929.
1930 onwards.
(a) Charges.
£
£
£
£
Replacement of 6-in. Q.F. guns by 6-in.
B.L. guns (and ammunition)
30,000
Replacement of 18-pdr. gun carriages
by newer patterns
6,000
1927. £
Vote 1. Pay, etc.
3.
Medical Services...
1928. £ 151,599 148,770 13,643 13,130
1929.
£ 142,424
1930. £
¡ 1931.
Replacement of condemned 9-2-in. gun
ammunition
30,000
£
147,700
151,500
12,330
13,800
13,400
Replacement of 4-5-in. Howitzers by 3.7-in. Howitzers and ammunition Additional 6-in. Howitzers
and
"
"
4. Army Education...
1,464
1,688
1,629
1,500
2,000
5. Quartering and
ammunition Change of 9-2-in. gun bodies for relining
18,000 15,500
36,000
27,000 48,000
Movements
7,482
7,880
14,421
17,800
17,000
Sea Transport
20,469
35,550
24,992
36,000
33,000
30,000
36,000
54,000 110,500
Vote 6. (Supplies, Road
(b) Credits*.
Transport and
Remounts)
58,052
59,705
58,791
60,200
65,400
For 4-5-in. Howitzers returned home
for further use
7. Clothing
13,139
13,578
14,131
12,400
11,400
8.
General Stores
6,714
13,048
15,018
12,800
18,600
For 9-2-in. gun bodies returned home
for further use
10,000
33,000
9.
Warlike stores
30,471
56,642
62,315
36,500
5,000
10. (Works, Buildings
and Lands)
40,595
44,683
72,045
11. Miscellaneous
5,400
"
Charges for Home Effective and Non-Effective Services
69,152
4,004
68,694 68,555
3,857
Average strength, all ranks
417,667
1,492
1,479
50,000 57,800 4,600 4,900
67,700
66,000
467,885 (a)490,508 461,000 (b)446,000
1,462 (c)1,466 (c)1,494
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O.882/11
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
|ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
5. It will be seen that the average strength of the garrison has remained practically unchanged and that correspondingly the amount for the pay, maintenance, etc., of the personnel is, apart from minor variations, due to difference in rates of pay, allowances, and prices, substantially the same over the period. There are normal periodical fluctuations on the cost of sea transport. Otherwise the increase in the cost of the garrison is almost entirely due to extra expenditure on Vote 9 (Warlike Stores) and Vote 10 (Works -Construction and Maintenance).
6. Dealing with Vote 10 first, the increase has been due to the necessity for replacing accommodation which is dilapidated through age and damage by white ants, and to improvements in drainage. Large unforeseeable replacement services crop up from time to time. An extra sum of about £66,000 will have been spent during the years 1927-31 and it is anticipated that barracks expenditure will continue on the high side for several years.
7. As regards Vote 9 expenditure the explanation is that the movable armament and fixed defences (quite apart from those of the Base) are being modernized and brought up to the standard of the latest views of the Overseas Defence Committee. New types of howitzers and guns, improved patterns of shell and fuze, and guns and searchlight for defence against aircraft are being provided. This process of modernization, which is
(a) The estimated cost was £444,000 and the Colony made advances on that basis. The differ- ence of £46,508 between the estimate and the actual cost is payable by the Colony in 1991 in ordinary course as an arrear adjustment.
(b) The estimated cost for 1931 includes a credit of £21,000 for four 9.2-in. gun bodies replaced in 1930 and 1931. These gun bodies will not be sent home in 1931, and normally the credit would not be given until the year in which they were shipped home. In view, however, of the heavy arrears from 1929 and 1928, payable in 1931, it is proposed, if the Treasury concur, that the credit for the value of these gun bodies shall be allowed for exceptionally in advance.
(c) Establishment.
£30,000 £36,000 £54,000 £67,500
It is contemplated that as regards Singapore the process will not be completed until after the end of 1932, and its total cost since 1927 will have been about £187,000. The charges for 1927 and 1928, viz., £66,000 were covered by the contributions for those years, and that for 1929, viz., £54,000, will be covered by the contribution for 1929, after Of the including in the latter the arrears of £46,508 (see Note (a) to paragraph 4). remaining net charge of £67,500 from 1930 onwards, approximately £50,000 is not included in the estimates for 1930 and 1931, shown in paragraph 4, and will fall into the cost of the garrison for the years from 1932 onwards.
8. In addition to the changes detailed above in the movable and fixed armament of the existing coast defences, anti-aircraft defences have been provided. Prior to 1928 no anti-aircraft defences existed, other than a small experimental group, but in 1928 anti- aircraft equipment of the latest approved type, consisting of eight 3-in. A.A. guns together with the requisite instruments and ammunition, total value about £52,000, was sent out to the Colony and has been located in the vicinity of the commercial harbour and its coast defences. These eight A.A. guns represent the number necessary for the defence of the commercial harbour irrespective of those for the defence of the new Naval Base, and would be required for the Colony in any case. In connexion, however, with the discussion by His Majesty's Government of the military and financial aspects of the scheme for the military defences of the new Base, the anti-aircraft equipment (twenty-four 3-in. guns) of Singapore, for the old and new defences, has been dealt with by the War Office as a whole. That part of the full anti-aircraft defences which relates to the com- mercial harbour has accordingly been included in the complete picture of the additions to existing military defences, with their estimated cost to Army Funds which has from time to time been placed before His Majesty's Government when considering the scheme for the new Base. When later, from another point of view, it became necessary, in connexion with the proposals of the Peel Committee, to separate all military expenditure on the initial formation of the new defences from the cost of the garrison for contribution purposes. the fact that a portion of the anti-aircraft defences was required for the commercial harbour and not for the new Base was not brought to notice, and the cost of the anti- aircraft equipment sent out to the old defences in 1928 was erroneously included in the total cost of the new defences for that year. The figure of £224,588 shown in Staternent "A" enclosed with War Office letter of 14th February, 1930, as the expenditure
* The credits in respect of the first three items are small as the items replaced are obsolete or useless. They have been disposed of locally (and the local accounts credited) or dumped at sea.