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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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· 882

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2 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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It will be remembered, that in 1858, a Commission was appointed by the late Governor, consisting of Mr. J. Caulfeild, Mr. George Lee, Lieutenant-Colonel Waddy, and Major H. G. Woods, to revise the scale of military allowances. The result of this revision was made known in 1859; and a Sub-Committee of the Council of that year, in dealing with that revision, and in providing for the increased expenditure consequent upon it, lost no time in pointing out the irregularity of the proceeding. Alluding to the increase in the allowances recommended by the Commis- sioners, they express themselves as follows

"The several increases are calculated on a scale recommended by a Commission consisting of two civilians and two military men, appointed by the Governor. As it appears from Lord Grey's despatch of May 19th, 1848, laid upon the table for the guidance of its members, that the 'power of the Legislative Council, extends over all the public expenditure of the Colony,' this Committee, with every desire that the claims of officers in the army to adequate Island allowances should be favourably considered, feels that any revision of the existing rates should have been entrusted to a Committee composed of members of its own body; and that any other mode of dealing with the subject, is objectionable in principle. The Committee therefore proposes, that a vote be passed for the sums required, as a temporary measure to cover the expenditure of the present year; and would suggest, that the whole question of military allowances be submitted to the Council for its consideration and final decision."

Another Sub-Committee of the same year, appointed to consider the supplies for 1860, invited the attention of the Government to the same subject, and suggested,—

"That some rule should be agreed upon, for relieving the Colony of so heavy and uncertain a burden, and for saving a portion of the money now devoted towards an uncontrolled, and, in some cases, unnecessary expenditure, for other purposes connected with the material progress of the Colony."

And lastly, the Sub-Committee on the Supplies for 1861, after discussing at some length the entire question of military expenditure, expressed themselves in the following terms;—

"It is clear, therefore, that travelling allowances, and hire of quarters, were both originally included in the consolidated amount, under the term of Island Allowances,' and were only separated by the Com- mittee on this subject in 1858, composed, be it remembered, not of Members of the Legislative Council, but of two civilians and two military men, appointed by the late Governor. Any necessity, moreover, that then existed for providing quarters for the officers no longer exists. The Colony has built, at a cost of 17,5287., quarters for twelve officers in the fort, and for fourteen officers in Slave Island. It can be no hardship to those officers, who prefer living outside the fort, to pay their own rent, as others are obliged to do. The system of this or that officer having the difference between the actual rent of a house, and that calculated upon a given scale made up to him, seems so objectionable in principle, and so unfair in operation, that the Committee cannot support it. They accordingly recommend the omission of all allowances for travelling, and for house rent."

It will be remembered also, that owing to the urgent representation of the Council, Sir Henry Ward in 1859 promised to press upon the Secretary for the Colonies the necessity of effecting a revision of the Military expen- diture; and that, although he fulfilled the promise by at once addressing the Colonial Office on the subject, no answer was received to his despatch: and that in the succeeding year a motion was about to be made in Council, based upon the recommendations of the Sub-Committee above alluded to, but that in view of the present Governor's recent arrival, it was agreed that the matter should be allowed to stand over for another year, pending a fresh representation to the Secretary for the Colonies. Such a representation has, as this Committee understands, been made; Some expectations were indeed but without any satisfactory result.

entertained, that a Committee of the House of Commons, who were then considering the Military Expenditure of the Colonies, would in the course

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of their inquiries correctly ascertain the position of this Colony, and suggest some arrangement more in accordance with its just claims, and with the practice adopted in respect to other Colonies. No satisfactory result has however followed from their deliberations, and the Colony has still to meet an expenditure over which it has no control, and which is annually increasing. The amount actually expended in 1859 exceeded 106,000.; and the amount expended in 1860 is 116,399, or more than a seventh of its annual revenue. Comparing this with the returns from the Cape of Good Hope, where the actual Military Expenditure for 1860 exceeded 521,000l., and the revenue was 942,776, it will be found that the total sum contributed by that colony in aid of the military amounted only to 47,275l., or a little over one-sixteenth of the revenue, and less than one-twelfth of the entire Military Expenditure of the Colony. So also in the Mauritius, where the total revenue in 1860 was 553,419., and the total Military Expenditure was 141,9217., the amount contributed by the Colony did not exceed 32,8161., which is less than one-sixteenth of the revenue, and less than one-fourth of the entire Military Expenditure.

It is impossible, under these circumstances, to justify in Ceylon an expenditure which is not warranted by any colonial requirements, and is so utterly out of proportion to the expenditure of other colonies, and to its own annual revenue and civil expenditure. The following statement will show the increase which has taken place from year to year since 1850, notwithstanding a concurrent decrease in the strength of the command.

Military

Year.

Revenue. Strength. Expenditure.

1850

1851

415,667 429,700

4,084 3,991

04,325 63,963

Equal to £15.7 per head.

1852

411,806

4,016

63.892

1853

412,895

3.914

65,517

1854

408,041

3,616

65,293

1855

476,273

3,045

64,701

1856

504,174

2,954

.66,322

1857

578.028

2,568

70,701

1858

654,961

2,566

83,097

1850

747-036

1860

845,525

2,597 2.534

99,264

108.747

Equal to £42-9 per head.

In once more urging upon Government the consideration of this important question, the Committee do not desire to be understood as objecting to any expenditure necessary for the reasonable requirements of the Colony. The objection is, as it has ever been, based on the absence of all control on the part of the Legislature over so large a proportion of the revenue, and on the utter want of connection between the Expenditure on the one hand, and the necessity for it on the other. The Colony has, for instance, since the year 1816, paid large sums of money annually under the term "Island Allowances to Officers." These allowances were under- stood to represent all the various items which were formerly charged under the head of " Batta, Rent Allowances, Travelling Charges, and Hire of Quarters." Sir Henry Ward's Committee of 1858 largely increased the amount. And yet the Colony has paid, and still pays to every officer not provided with quarters, a fixed sum for house-rent, and to all officers a varying rate of travelling expenses, in addition to the allowances which were intended to include those very contingencies. That Committee, as already pointed out, was appointed irrespectively of the Legislative Council, and its recommendations were carried out without their sanction. But the rates of allowances thus recommended, liberal and excessive as they were, have by no means been adopted as a rule; end so far from resulting in a definite settlement of the question, have rather led to further complications, which cannot fail to give rise to complaints and jealousies, among the officers themselves. The allowances supposed to have been fixed by that Committee are still subject to alteration under Royal Warrants, and have in some instances been actually increased. Medical officers on the Staff, who by Sir Henry Ward's Minute, were provided with * Exclusive of items charged under "Colonial Commissariat," which amount to about 7,5001 per

Aununi.