PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 885
410
And We do give and grant to you, or any three or more of you, full power and authority to call before you such persons in Our civil, military, or naval services, or others connected with Our Colonial possessions, as you shall judge likely to afford you the best and fullest information upon the subject of this Our Commission, and to inquire of and concerning the premises by all other lawful ways and means whatsoever.
And We do by these presents will and ordain that this Our Commission shall continue in ful! force and virtue, and that you, Our said Commissioners, or any three or more of you, may from time to time proceed in the execution thereof, and of every matter and thing therein contained, although the same be not continued from time to time by adjournment.
And Our further will and pleasure is, that you, Our said Commissioners, or any three or more of you, upon due inquiry into the premises, do report to Us, in writing, under your hands and Beals, your several proceedings, under and by virtue of this Commission, together with what you shall find touching or concerning the premises.
And We further ordain that you, or any three or more of you, may have liberty to report to us your proceedings under this Commission from time to time, should you judge it expedient so to do.
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And for assistance in the due execution of these presents, We have made choice of Our trusty and well-beloved Herbert Jekyll, Esquire, a Captain in Our corps of Royal Engineers, to be Secretary to this Our Commission, and to attend you, whose services and assistance Wo require you to avail yourself of from time to time, as occasion may require.
Given at Our Court at Balinoral, this 8th day of September, 1879, in the Forty-third year of Our reign.
By Her Majesty's command,
(Signed)
M. E. HICKS BEACH.
Commission appointing the Right Honourable the Earl of Camperdown and Samuel Whitbread, Esq., MP, to be, in place of the Right Honourable II. C. E. Childers, M.P., and Thomas Brassey, Esq., M.P., Commissioners to inquire into the State of the Defences of the more important Colonial Ports and Coaling Stations, and to consider the Apportionment of the Cost of such Defences.
411
REPORT.
TO THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY.
WE, the undersigned Commissioners appointed by your Majesty to inquire into the condition and sufficiency of the means, naval and military, provided for the defence of the more important sea-ports of your Colonial Possessions and their dependencies, and of the stations established or required therein for conling, refitting, or repairing the ships of your Majesty's navy and for the protection of the commerce of the Colonies with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with each other, and with foreign countrics, humbly beg leave to lay before your Majesty the result of our deliberations up to the present time.
We have not yet received the information as to the defence of several of the distant stations which we requested your Majesty's Government to procure for us, and which we require to enable us to make our recommendations; and it is clear that this information will not be received for several months. We have, however, thought it right not to delay submitting to your Majesty our recommendations on the following questions, which, although they have no special connection with each other, seem to be of pressing importance, and deserving of immediate attention at the hauds of your Majesty's Government.
(1.) The defence of the Cape of Good Hope.
(2.) The maintenance of troops in British Honduras, which, it may be observed, indicates a principle that is susceptible of application to other Colonies similarly circumstanced.
(3.) Rocent and impending changes in the construction of heavy ordnance, and the course which, in such circumstances, it is desirable for the Colonies to take towards providing themselves with armaments.
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
5 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
Victoria, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Queen Defender of the Faith, to our Right Trusty and Right Well-beloved Cousin Robert Adam Philips Haldane, Earl of Camperdown; and our Trusty and Well-beloved Samuel Whitbread, Esquire;
WHEREAS We did, by Commission under Our Sign-Manual and Signet, bearing date the 8th day of September, 1879, authorize and appoint Our Right Trusty and Right Well-beloved Cousin and Councillor Henry Howard Molyneux, Earl of Carnarvon; Our Right Trusty and Well- beloved Councillor Hugh Culling Eardley Childers; Our Trusty and Well-beloved Thomas Brassey, Esquire, together with the other gentlemen therein named, or any three or more of them, to be our Commissioners to inquire into the state of the defences of the more important Colonial ports and coaling stations, and to consider the apportionment of the cost of such defences:
And whereas We have seen fit to discharge the said Hugh Culling Eardley Childers and Thomas Brassey from further service as such Commissioners:
Now know ye that We, reposing great trust and confidence in your zeal, discretion, and ability, do by these presents authorize and appoint you the said Robert Adam Philips Haldane, Earl of Camperdown, and you the said Samuel Whitbread, in the place of the said Hugh Culling Eardley Childers and the said Thomas Brassey, to be Commissioners for the purposes aforesaid, in addition to and together with the continuing Commissioners appointed by Our above- mentioned Commission.
Given at Our Court at Osborne House, Isle of Wight, this 2nd day of August, 1880, in the Forty-fourth year of Our reign.
By Her Majesty's Command,
(Signed)
KIMBERLEY.
1. THE DEFENCE OF THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE,
From statistical Returns, it appears that the value of British trade, either with, or which passes round the Cape of Good Hope, amounts to 91,352,000l. a-year, the whole, with the exception of about 4,000,000, being carried on directly with the United Kingdom. The annual value of the trade of South Africa, of which Cape Town may be regarded as the principal emporium, is 10,794,000, while the passing trade to the Mauritius, India, China, and the East counts for 59,033,000, and that to Australasia, which is almost entirely outward from England, amounts to 21,525,000/. Enormous, however, as is the value of this trade, it by no means represents that which, in the event of war with one or more of the great naval Powers, might pass round the Cape. We have therefore thought it well to preface our recommendations as to the defence of the Cape by some observations on the Suez Canal route.
The annual value of British trade with India, Ceylon, China, and the East, conveyed in the year 1878 through the Suez Canal, amounted to 54,416,000, while that with Australasia amounted to 11,244,0007., making a total of 65,660,000%, as the value of goods curried through the Canal in British ships.
In both cases, the value of the ships which carry these goods has also to be taken into consideration.
The existence of fortresses at Gibraltar and Malta does much towards securing the sea route through the Mediterrancan. These fortresses afford a powerful support to your Majesty's fleet; and Malta especially is a port in which ships of war employed in blockading an enemy's coast, or protecting commerce, may be docked and repaired, and cooled, without danger of molestation; in which also a limited number of merchant-ships may lie in security both from capture and from apprehension of injury by the distant fire of artillery. But with all these advantages, when the length of the Mediterranean is considered (2000 miles from Gibraltar to Port Said), and that the voyage through it may be subject, in the event of war, to interruption by hostile cruizers which, sallying from any of the numerous ports on its coasts, may elude the vigilance of your Majesty's ships, and after a short cruize for the purpose of committing depredations on commerce may find refuge at no very great distance-it is evident that circumstances may arise when the sea route through the Mediterranean will be attended with such risks that it may have to be abandoned by ships not prepared to defend themselves.
Port Saïd affords no protection against ships of war, which might disregard its neutrality; it is therefore not a secure port to which ships could escape if pursued; and the Canal itself is of such a nature that, notwithstanding its neutrality, and the continued friendliness of Egypt, it might be easily blocked and traffic through it be temporarily interrupted.