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No. 42.

The EARL OF CARNARVON to GOVERNOR SIR W. JERVOIS, K.C.M.G.,

(No 2.)

C.B.

SIB,

SIR,

Downing Street, January 4, 1877. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your telegram of the 16th of December* respecting the close of the Abdullah inquiry.

As soon as I have received and considered the papers you state to be on their way to this country, I shall address you more fully as to the recommendations made by your Council, but it may be as well that I should inform you at once that since writing my despatch of the 23rd of October,t in which I invited your opinion as to the propriety of selecting Labuan as a place to which Abdullah might be deported, I have come to the conclusion that that Colony can hardly be considered a safe place of custody, having in view the circumstances of its Malay population, its proximity to the Straits Settlements, and the slender material assistance, either military or naval, likely to be at hand, in the event of any outbreak or attempt at escape being organised.

I will, however, at once consult the Governor of Mauritius with respect to the proposal to detain the prisoners at the Seychelles, and as to the possibility of effecting the distribution which your telegram appears to contemplate, either amongst the different islands of which that dependency is composed, or at Mauritius itself.

No. 41.

I have, &c. (Signed)

CARNARVON.

The EARL OF CARNARVON to GOVERNOR SIR A. PHAYRE, K.C.S.I., C.B.

(No. 2.)

Downing Street, January 4, 1877.

SIR,

I HAVE the honour to inform you that in connexion with the outbreak which occurred in Perak last year, an investigation has since been held into the complicity of various native chiefs in the events which ensued on the death of Mr. Birch, Her Majesty's Resident in that district, and the Executive Council of the Straits Settlements have decided to recommend the deportation from the Malay Peninsula of the Sultan Abdullah, the Shahbandar, the Laxamana, and the Mantri of Laroot.

2. Her Majesty's Government are not yet in a position to come to a conclusion as to the final disposal of any or all of these prisoners. These persons, although politically connected with a crime perpetrated by others, were not themselves guilty of deeds of violence such as would render them dangerous residents, and Her Majesty's Govern- ment, as at present advised, are disposed to favour a suggestion which has been made that deportation to and compulsory residence in some place at a distance from the Straits Settlements, where their, movements could be easily watched and controlled without their being necessarily subjected to any stringent penal supervision, would in all the circumstances be the most suitable manner of dealing with the case.

3. I have to request that you will consider and report to me whether proper arrange- ments could be made at the Seychelles or any other dependency of Mauritius for the purpose I have indicated. It has appeared to me that the Seychelles is in many respects the most convenient place that can be suggested, and I do not apprehend that the Chief Civil Commissioner would find any real difficulty in distributing amongst the different islands of that group so small a number of prisoners as that which I have mentioned. Any expenses attendant on the execution of this proposal would, of course, be borne by the Straits Settlements.

4. It will be necessary that due legislative authority should exist to provide for the detention of these political prisoners, and if you see no objection to the course proposed you are at liberty at once to introduce an Ordinance to the Council of Government conferring the necessary powers.

I have, &c. (Signed)

CARNARVON.

WAR OFFICE to COLONIAL OFFICE.

War Office, January 10, 1877. I AM directed by the Secretary of State for War to transmit to you, with copy of reference to the fourth paragraph of your letter of 18th November last,* a Treasury letter of the 19th December, and accompanying documents, representing the expenditure incurred in Bengal during December 1875, on account of the Perak Expedition. Mr. Hardy will be glad to know when Lord Carnarvon expects to be able to propose a settlement of the Expedition accounts.

The Under Secretary of State, Colonial Office.

SIB,

Enclosure.

I have, &c. -(Signed) CADOGAN.

Treasury Chambers, December 19, 1876.

I AM directed by the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury to transmit to you herewith, for examination, the accompanying statement with vouchers (which have been received from the India Office) of disbursements made in Bengal during the month of December 1875, on account of the expedition to Perak, amounting to the sum of 12,000l. 16s. 6d., which it is requested may be repaid to the revenues of India.

My Lords presume that the enclosed accounts have been sent to this Department through inadvertence, and they request that you will refer Mr. Secretary Hardy to the letter from this Department of the 22nd November 1875 (enclosing copy of a letter from the India Office of the 17th of that month), and that you will state, with reference to the opinion expressed in the third paragraph of that letter, that they are not at present prepared to admit that any of the expenditure on account of the Perak expedition is to be charged to Imperial funds.

The Financial Secretary, War Office.

No. 43.

I am, &c.

(Signed)

W. H. SMITH.

GOVERNOR SIR W. JERVOIS, K.C.M.G., C.B., to the EARL OF CARNARVON

(Telegraphic.)

Singapore, January 12, 1877, 3.40 pm.

THREE companies of eighteenth about to embark for Mauritius in Orontes, head quarters and remainder of regiment can leave Straits two months bence. Can arrange here for their transport if desired. Most desirable to retain Lieutenant Swinburne for Perak police after his regiment goes. Pray urge War Office to consent.

No. 44.

GOVERNOR SIR W. JERVOIS, K.C.M.G., C.B., to the EARL OF CARNARVON. (Received January 13, 1877.) No. 428. MY LORD,

Government House, Singapore, December 13, 1876. WITH reference to my Despatch No. 258, of 20th July,† I have the honour to forward, for your Lordship's favourable consideration, copy of a letter which I have received from Mr. Randell, the Principal Civil Medical Officer, relative to his application for compensation for the wound received by him in the march to Kinta a year ago.

I have, &c. WM. F. DRUMMOND JERVOIS.

The Right Hon. the Earl of Carnarvon,

*&c.

&c.

&c.

• No. 28.

No. 102, of "Eastern No. 20.”

• No. 6.

† No. 61, of "Eastern No. 20,”

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