CO882-(1-2) — Page 426

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O.882

2 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

£

119,157

1,455

117,702 36.577

6,254

1,000

161,538

26,000

135,583

6

Ensigns would be a sufficient number of young officers learning duty preparatory to taking charge of companies. The saving to be effected by reducing the officers of the Ceylon Rifle Regiment from the present com- plement of 51 officers to 24 officers of the supposed ranks would pay and allowances amount to about 10,0001. a-year, assuming the rates of

to be unchanged. The reduction of men above contemplated, from 1,200 to 1,000 rank and file, would produce a reduction of expense of about 4,000l. a-year more, making a total reduction of 14,000l. a-year, without altering rates of pay and allowances either of officers or men.

20. If it should be considered that Malays, the prevailing material of the Ceylon Rifle Regiment, require more officers to keep them in discipline than natives of India, and that it is therefore unsafe to make any great reduction of officers in the existing regiment; in this case his Grace thinks it would be very difficult to resist the conclusion that Her Majesty's Government ought to disband altogether a regiment so incapable of being organized on an economical footing, and to replace it with Indian troops, which, besides requiring only a moderate number of officers, could probably be recruited at lower rates of pay than those now adopted in Ceylon. If the officers could be largely reduced as above proposed, without risk to discipline, his Grace is not prepared to say that it might not be best for the Colony to continue if possible to recruit Malays, who seem remarkably well adapted for the service, even at some sacrifice of expense in the matter of pay. The several alternatives, however, of re-organizing the present regiment, or forming an entirely new one of Indian or other material, or employing native troops of the Madras Government, temporarily or permanently, should no doubt be considered in the proposed inquiry.

21. The estimate for the pay and allowances of the Gun Lascare is 3,7331, the whole borne by the Colony. This would stand reduced by a sum of 1,000l. or more, assuming the strength reduced as above supposed, to 120 of all ranks, without altering rates of pay.

22. The estimate for the pay and allowances of the Royal Artillery and European Infantry together amounts to 46,133, of which 35,9351. is voted by Parliament, and 10,1981. borne by the Colony. This estimate includes both the service and depôt companies of the infantry regiment, and likewise includes some addition to the full strength of a battery of His Grace garrison artillery, so as to cover depôt troops for this arm also. considers that Ceylon, like India, may be justly called on to bear the cost of depôt troops if duly limited in numbers. He would leave the question of any permanent arrangement to be made on this head to the proposed inquiry, but for the present purpose he assumes a proportion of 1 to 8 as that of the depôt strength to the service strength, a proportion which he finds adopted for the Indian depôts in the Army Estimates for the present year 1863-4. It will be observed that the number of troops pro- vided for in the estimate will give a service complement of very nearly 1000 Europeans, exclusive of Officers (as assumed above in paragraph 5), after deducting one ninth of the number for depôts.

23. The estimate of 35,0001. in the table for services voted by Parlia- ment, in addition to pay and allowances, (which I am directed to observe is necessarily a somewhat rough estimate throughout,) contains various items, of which the first is 13,000l. for arms, clothing, stores, recruiting, and depôts (in addition to pay of men and regimental officers). This is much the same in amount as the aggregate return for similar services for the year ending the 31st March, 1860, the latest detailed return of military expenditure for Ceylon laid before Parliament (as far as his Grace is aware).

24. The estimate of 10,0001. for transport is considerably in excess of the item of transport in the return referred to, where it amounts to 6,9241. His Grace has extended this estimate to its present amount, in order that it may cover not merely the annual transport of drafts, invalids, and time- expired men, but also an average annual sum sufficient to provide trans- port for a complete relief of the European troops, once in about ten years, if not to afford besides a contribution on account of the pay of both the It will be a matter of relieving and relieved troops while on passage. consideration in the proposed inquiry, whether it will be right or not to

7

treat the expenditure for reliefs as properly falling on the Colony. For the present his Grace has assumed that it will, within the estimated limit of 10,0002.

25. As regards the estimate of 10,000. for non-effective service, this item in the return referred to for 1859-60, amounts to the greatly larger sum of 22,159%, which may be called equal to about 201. per man on the European force of all ranks present in Ceylon (the native troops not being reckoned, as the non-effective service on their account is defrayed by the Colony). Considering that the official committee appointed to calculate the non-effective charge on account of India, reported the true charge to be 81. 68. 8d. per man present in India, and that Parliament requires India (by the Act 25 & 26 Vict. c. 27) to pay no more than 31. 10s. per man present in India, on account of non-effective service, his Grace conceives that any such charge as 201. per man, the rate of the return for 1859–60, must be greatly over-estimated. The subject will of course require full future consideration, but his Grace believes that 10,000, which for the force assumed of 1,000 Europeans, exclusive of officers, is beyond the rate reported by the official committee, cannot be objected to as insufficient.

26. The return for 1859-60, of 1,8961. for departmental expenses, appears to his Grace to be also open to question, but he assumes for present purposes, a sum af 2,0001. for that and miscellaneous expenditure together.

27. As by far the greater part of this portion of the expenditure, estimated altogether at 35,000l. is on account of the European force in which no reduction is contemplated by his Grace, he assumes the same amount for the revised force.

Deduct

28. The reduction of expenditure above contemplated, under the heads of Staff, Engineers, Military Works and Buildings (exclusive of new constructions) Ceylon Rifle Regiment and Gun Lascars, amount altogether to 27,5001. of which perhaps 1,500l. would apply to the portion of the expen- diture to be paid by the Colony on establishment schedule (Gun Lascars, clerks of military departments, &c.), leaving 26,0001. for the reductions which

may be made in the services for which the despatch calls on the Colony to appropriate 135,000l. a-year, a few years hence, but which will be under- taken with the head of new constructions also covered, for 100,000l. a-year till the year 1867. The present cost of these services (including repairs but not construction), may be estimated at about 160,0001. a-year, follow- ing the table, as will be seen on adding together as in the margin ;* 1. The total estimated expenditure under vote of Parliament, less the sum of 1,4551. for a new building (117,7024.). 2. The total of the first four columns of the estimate of colonial pay and allowances, being the portion of this head transferred by the proposed measure to the War Department (36,5771). 3. The estimate for repairs of works and buildings also so transferred (6,2541.), and 4. A small sum which may be assumed at 1,0001. for rent of buildings, and any other items of the head of colonial com- missariat so transferred. The total of these sums which is 161,5337. would Deduct.. be reduced by the assumed saving of 26,0001. in the services, to 135,5331, or much the same sum as the ultimate provision for the services applied for by the despatch. If 5,0001. of this latter rate of expenditure be con- sidered, as his Grace has assumed in the despatch, a fixed annual charge for repairs to be necessarily incurred independently of fluctuations in the strength of the force, his Grace, as regards the remaining sum of 130,0001. would estimate from 80,000l. to 85,0001. of this sum as due to the European force, infantry and artillery together, and from 45,000l. to 50,000l. as due to the Ceylon Rifle Regiment (on the revised establishment contemplated), and there would also be a small sum which may be called 1,0001. due to the Gun Lascars. This distribution of the expenditure, reduced to a rank and file scale, may be called 901. per man for the local strength of 900 European rank and file, which would (about) correspond with the total European service strength assumed of 1,000, exclusive of officers, 501. per man for the assumed strength of 1,000 rank and file in the case of the Native Infantry Regiment, and 101. per man of rank and file in the case of the Gun Lascars, assumed not to exceed 120 of all ranks. These are the capitation rates named in the despatch for adoption in the