327
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
TITLTICO. 885
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
5 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
326
that case the lighthouse and signal station might, with the priority of the Government of Western Australia, be established, and rendered, as to its first cost and maintenance, completely self-supporting, if not a source of profit to the contributories. If this can be done, I think you will be induced to think that your own views in connexion with local defence will have received a large measure of practical support.
If we assume, as I have said, that Western Australia remains neutral, she will, I have no doubt, grant permission to the other Colonies to extend the telegraph system from Albany to the Leeuwin-a distance, say, of 200 miles. To that extension must be added the cost of a lighthouse of the first class. I think, at the time to which I refer, I was informed that the sum required would be, at the most, 15,000l., but, of course, the expense will be. governed by the point selected for the site. If an island is selected rather than the mainland, the cost will be somewhat increased, but not to any .great extent.
I propose to send a copy of this letter to the respective Colonies represented at the Sydney Conference, 1881, as, also, to the Secretary of State.
SIR,
I have, &c., (Signed)
HENRY T. WRENFORDSLEY.
ADMIRAL TRYON to Sir HENRY WRENFORDSLEY.
H.M.S. "Nelson," at Sydney,
December 28, 1886.
I HAVE to express my best acknowledgments for your letter of 20th December. The informal meeting which took place at Sydney a few months ago was for the purpose of discussing what are now generally called naval defence questions, and that solely from the point of view represented by the nature and amount of the force on the station.
Then the discussion was limited in its area, and did not embrace questions affecting the promotion of trade and commerce, or lighthouse, or other safeguards to mariners, questions which, permit me to say, are referred to with comprehensive appreciation in your letter.
SIR,
I have, &c.,
(Signed) G. TRYON, Rear-Admiral and Commander-in-Chief.
SECRETARY OF CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, Melbourne, to Sir HENRY WRENFORDSLEY.
Melbourne, January 11, 1887.
I HAVE the honour, by the direction of the committee of the Melbourne Chamber of Commerce, to acknowledge receipt of the correspondence forwarded by you on the subject of a proposal for erecting a lighthouse and signalling station at Cape Leeuwin.
The matter (as you are aware) was taken in hand by this chamber in 1881, and the opinions of commanders of vessels, both sailing and steam, were obtained as to the probable advantages of the light and signal station in question.
I am now desired to say that if, as the result of the representations which are being made to the several Australian Governments on this subject, they should be found willing to contribute their fair share of the cost of erecting and maintaining the light- house and station in question, my committee will be prepared to urge upon the Victorian Government the advisability of their co-operating in the matter, and contributing the proper proportion of this Colony to the necessary outlay.
I have, &c., (Signed) B. COWDEROY,
Secretary.
SECRETARY OF SYDNEY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE to Sir HENRY WRENFORDSLEY.
SIR,
Sydney, January 17, 1887. REFERRING to my letter of the 13th inst., acknowledging yours of the 31st ult. and 5th inst., I have now the honour to inform you that the committee of this chamber, whilst recognising that, to a certain extent, a signal station and lighthouse at Cape Leeuwin would be of advantage, are not prepared to advocate the expenditure of this Colony's money on works which rightly should be undertaken by the Colony in which they are situated. The committee note that you have addressed the various Colonies represented at the Sydney Conference, as also the Secretary of State, on the subject.
I have, &c., (Signed) HENRY C. MITCHELL,
SIR,
No. 71.
Secretary.
PORT DARWIN (SOUTH AUSTRALIA) AS A HARBOUR AND COALING STATION. LETTER from the Government Resident in the NORTHERN TERRITORY in SOUTH AUSTRALIA-Handed in by Sir J. DOWNER (SOUTH AUSTRALIA).
Singapore, March 7, 1887. I HAVE the honour, in compliance with your instructions received by telegraphic conversation, to place before you some considerations and facts relating to the Northern Territory in general and Port Darwin in particular, which may possibly be of service to you at the Imperial Conference in London.
I have already, by telegraph, placed briefly before you the main points which con- stitute the claim of Port Darwin to Imperial consideration as a coaling station for Her Majesty's Navy, an arsenal, a dock, and a harbour for refuge and rendezvous.
As you are well aware, the geographical position of Port Darwin, with its magnificent and perfectly safe harbour, lying about the centre of the north coast line of Australia, and fronting South-eastern Asia and the Eastern, Archipelago, gives it a pre-eminent claim. There is, so far as I can learn, along the entire north coast of Australia, no harbour that can for a inoment be compared with it for size and safety. In fact, there is no second harbour.
It is already the terminus of the cable of the Eastern Extension Company and of the overland telegraph line. It is also the terminus of the Palmerston and Pine Creek Railway; and as a Royal Commission has been appointed by your Government to inquire whether the Trans-Australian Railway shall be constructed by the Government or by grants of land, it may be accepted as settled that the Railway will be constructed, and that Port Darwin will be the terminus.
In the event of more rapid communication with Europe, which, whether by the Euphrates Valley, or any other route, sure to be, Port Darwin will of necessity be the port to which the mails will come when the Trans-Australian Railway is authorised. I respectfully, therefore, venture to press this upon your attention when any questions of mail subsidies and future routes are being considered.
The colonising projects of Germany, and its actual occupancy of the north-eastern portion of New Guinea, and the récidiviste policy of the French in New Caledonia and the New Hebrides, together with the position of France in relation to Tonquin and Annam, will, I venture to think, make the establishment of some Imperial station on the north coast of Australia an absolute necessity.
It appears to me, looking at Imperial interests from the threefold point of view of China, Australia, and the Western Pacific, Port Darwin offers and secures advantages possessed by no other harbour.
was
I beg to remind you that already the Imperial Government have had their attention fixed upon Port Darwin. At the close of 1885 Her Majesty's ship "Myrmidon instructed to make a survey of Port Darwin Harbour, and the survey was completed by Commander Hoskyn, R.N. Last year Her Majesty's ship "Flying Fish," Captain Maclear, made a survey of Clarence and Dundas Straits, the eastward passage from Port Darwin, and I am informed the "Egeria" is to follow and complete the connexion between the two surveys.
You will be aware that these surveys were unsolicited by the Government of South Australia, and have been made at the sole cost of the Imperial Government, which is significant as expressing the interest felt by the English Admiralty.
4 $1431.
3 A