PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
C.O.
Reference :-
885/5 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO
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highest praise. They are armed and equipped for immediate duty, and, according to the estimates as passed for the present financial year, the last Cape Blue Book, and the last report of the senior officer of Colonial forces, the numbers and the expenditure are as follows:--
Non-Com-
missoued
Officers.
Officers and Men.
Expenditure.
£
Cape Mounted Rifles (including Cape infantry
and artillerymen)
40
800
Armed Cape Police (not including the ordinary
municipal or divisional police)
45
804
101,668
115,556
Total of all ranks
1,689
217,224
Volunteers (according to last report of senior
officer), all ranks
3,068
Defence Department (head-quarters)
15,744 8,673
firand total -
4,757
211,641
6. The volunteer force of Cape Colony is likely to be largely increased in every branch of the service, as for instance, by the creation of a torpedo corps in connection with the Cape Volunteer Engineers, and the establishment of a naval defence corps. There is every reason to believe that within a short time the efficient standing forces of the Cape Colony, including a large number of men so much required as effective artillerymen, will amount to no less a number than between 5,000 aud 6,000 trained soldiers, capable of taking their places side by side with Her Majesty's troops.
7. Under the provisions of the Statute law every burgher is bound to serve as a soldier when called out for service by proclamation, and although, as in the case of the Canadian militia, the burghers are not perfectly drilled like regiments of the line, they have amongst them large numbers of young farmers of English and Dutch extraction, who have served in more than one campaign, who are skilled marksmen, and who, if required for active service, would fall into the military system almost as readily as men of the amy reserve. Even the undrilled burghers contain amongst them, as probably so experienced an officer as Lord Wolseley will admit, many men unrivalled as riflemen, scouts, and guides. Native levies are further of great advantage, especially in transport service. 8. The Cape Colony can therefore furnish for the defence of the sovereignty of Her Majesty the Queen in that part of her dominions no less a force than about 50,000 or 60,000 men, who, if not all perfectly trained, are capable of holding their own as accomplished riflemen, or who are certain to be otherwise useful in warfare.
9. It will thus be seen that the Cape Colonial Government maintains a large 'effective force, at the great cost of about a quarter of a million annually, while only a small military force of a few hundred men is stationed at the Cape for the defence by the Imperial Government of that important Imperial position and coaling station, exclusive of Simon's Bay.
10. The large yearly expenditure now going on in connection with the existing Colonial military system is not the only liability of the Cape Colony for defence. Since the introduction of Responsible Government the Colony has had the misfortune to be involved in three native wars, in which large bodies of Colonial troops served, at the enormous cost of nearly 5,000,000/. The yearly interest upon that sum, at 4 per cent., would bring the military expenditure of Cape Colony up to about 450,000l. annually, or about one-seventh of the whole Colonial revenue.
11. The ports of the Colony which would in ail likelihood be the object of attack in time of war, are Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, and East London. Of these, the first mentioned is not only from a strategic point of view, but is otherwise, the most important in Imperial interests, although the Colony is deeply interested in protecting all its ports. Some years ago Table Bay was at certain times a dangerous open road- stead, but now a breakwater already over 3,000 feet in length-is rapidly approaching completion, which renders the bay perfectly safe, and, when the works are finished, the harbour of Capetown will be a secure harbour of refuge, capable of holding a large naval squadron.
During June 1885 a gale of unusual severity visited Table Bay, the rate of wind having been registered as travelling 52 miles an hour, yet although an exceptionally heavy sea was washing over the outer portion of the breakwater, ten vessels of various tonnage up to 1055 tons, anchored in the roadstead, rode out the gale without loss or
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damage of any kind. The docks are now open, into which very large steam-vessels enter for the purposes of discharge, coaling, or taking in supplies. Special reference is due to the splendid graving dock, wherein Her Majesty's ships might refit in case of accident. The following extract from the last Report of the Table Bay Harbour Board will show the advantages of such a graving dock :-
6
"Its advantages have been clearly shown in the case of the four-masted Australian Royal Mail steamer Coptic,' of 4,048 tons register, 430 feet in length, and drawing 24 feet water, which was taken in at noon on the one day, and having completed the repairs to her propeller, was undocked at 10 o'clock the next morning. followed by the four-masted transport Richmond Hill,' of 4,225 tons, which was taken She was in at noon on the same day, and after cleaning and painting, was undocked two days after. Subsequently, another of the Australian steamers, the Kaikoura,' of 4,474 tons, effected her repairs, occupying the dock twelve hours only. Nothing could more clearly demonstrate the necessity of this valuable adjunct to the facilities offered in the port of Table Bay."
12. Another splendid dry dock is in course of construction, and, on completion of the Table Bay works, the harbour will have no superior as a refuge, coaling, and supply station, and a refitting station for Her Majesty's ships. The immediate completion of the harbour works is of the highest importance.
13. The money expended and to be expended upon the Table Bay Harbour Works may, therefore, be fairly looked upon as a substantial contribution" towards Imperial defence, for the absence of an adequate refitting station between Lisbon and the Cape of Good Hope, might be a great disadvantage to the navy. The cost of the Table Bay Works up to the present time cannot be much short of 1,000,000l., but that sum does not represent anything like the outlay when the convict labour employed upon the works is taken into consideration. The harbour works at Port Elizabeth, East London, and Port Alfred, have been constructed at a further cost of probably between 1,500,000%. and 1,750,000l.
14. Railways enabling thousands of men to be drafted into the Cape Peninsula in the event of a landing being attempted by an enemy have been constructed. One line is 650 miles in length. The development of the Colonial coal-fields will make the railway system a further factor in the defence question. The fortification of Simon's Bay renders the line from Cape Town to Kalk Bay of great importance in the movement of troops, and its extension to Simon's Town is now an absolute necessity for the purpose of defence connection. Inland telegraphic communication is also complete except to Saldanha Bay, which is worthy of notice, and cable communication useful for defensive purposes is heavily subsidized by the Colony.
15. The fortification and manning of the garrison of the Cape Peninsula would, for these reasons, appear to be mainly, if not altogether, of Imperial concern, but Cape Colonists have never hesitated to do all in their power, consistently with their financial resources, to take a fair share of the burthen. On a recent occasion during the prevalence of a war scare, when the General commanding the forces in South Africa brought to the notice of the Colonial Government the want of adequate protection to Her Majesty's troops and stores from attack seaward, the Colonial Government, with a genuine desire to co-operate cordially with Imperial officers, supplied him with labour, provided him with the means to erect batteries, and placed their Colonial forces at his disposal. More than once, also, Cape Colonists have enabled Her Majesty's Imperial Government to utilize the Cape garrison elsewhere by undertaking the duty of Her Majesty's troops.
16. The construction of a magnificent harbour, including graving docks of incalculable benefit to Her Majesty's ships, and the maintenance of an effective force of 2,000 men— which is estimated to be within a short time the strength of the Cape Town volunteers— who are at the disposal of the Imperial authorities, together with many thousands of other men if required, form, apart from other considerations, no mean contribution towards the defence of an Imperial station so important to the empire as Table Bay.
17. Suggestions for strengthening the garison and improving the armament of the Cape Peninsula, the more adequate defence in the future of the eastern ports, such as Port Elizabeth and East London, the completion of the Table Bay harbour works, and the continuance of the line of railway to Simon's Town will form the subject, here- after, of a confidential paper to the Right Honourable the Secretary of State for the Colonies.
London, April 26, 1887.
(Signed)
3 F 2
THOMAS UPINGTON, Attorney-General for the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope.