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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

EPEPEC.O. 882

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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and the ravage of its ports (very few, consolering the "extent of its seaboard), our settlements in the Straits might be wrested from us altogether if, even for a short tune, a hostile fleet were stronger than our own in those

** waters.

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Nothing happened of any importance for some time, Bud, p 30. though in July, 1860, the India Office furnished state. ments of revenue and expenditure which showed that, apart from military charges, the Straits Settlements revenne had increased from about £88,000 in 1854-5 to £132,000 in 1858-9, while the expenditure had risen from £79,000 to about £106,000 over the same period. The cost of the troops was, however, about £77,000 a year, and Ibid. the Governor anticipated in June, 1859, "that when the military works now in progress are completed. a very considerable increase of the force, especially of Europeans,

will be found necessary."

P- 16.

The Secretary of State for the Colonies came to the Ind., p. 35. conclusion in 1861 that the military expenses would be

about £80,000 a year, and that there would be a deficit of

about £17,000, but he was prepared to risk it.

At this time another inemorandum was prepared by the Ibid., p. 39,

Singapore Chamber of Commerce, on the revenue and expenditure of the Settlements, in which they observed that

the whole of the military charges for troops and works [hut., p. 41.

should not be imposed on local revenues for the follow-

ing, amongst other, reasons :---

Singapore is from its position the key of the China, Indian, and Java Seas, the chief coaling depôt for Her Majesty's ships and mail steamers, and in a strategic point of view of great importance to Great Britain. As "a station for the location of troops for transmission.

1.

in case of necl, to India, China, or Australia, it is also of great value, whilst the manifest intention of the French to establish themselves permanently in Cochin China renders it a national necessity, as well as an imperative duty, that the chief burthen of the defence of this settlement should be borne by the Imperial Govern- "ment, and not by the local treasury.

Pinang, for almost the same reasons, is entitled to "similar consideration.

"If the actual requirements of the three settlements are considered, in as far as the local interests are concerned apart from the Imperial, the force necessary for the suppression of the turbulent and the control of the neighbouring native States, need be but of a very limited nature, and it is therefore the opinion of the “Chamber of Commerce, that to charge the Straits Settle- "ments with the whole military expenditure entailed by the present extensive system of fortification, is unjust in principle and not warranted by the custom which has “prevailed up to the present in the British Dominions."

The matter had, of course, to be referred to the Treasury, which wanted more information, and in the meanwhile a public meeting was held at Singapore which, inter alia, passed a resolution that “the greatly increased expenditure for military purposes entailed by the ex- pensive system of fortification now in progress, should "not be borne by these settlements as it is undertaken

*

" for Imperial and not local interests.”

However, in December, 1861, the Treasury stated that Ibid., p. 79. they could not sanction the transfer, and the matter

dropped for the time being.

Parly.

Paper,

1866.

No. 1.

£9

The next step was a further petition in March, 1863, from merchants doing business in the Straits Settlements, urging that the transfer should be carried out at once. Bid No.2. The memorial was referred by the Colonial Office to the India Office, with the statement that the Secretary of State is quite willing to reopen the question if it can

Ibid., No. 4.

Ibid., No. 5.

Ibid., No, G.

Ibid., No.7.

Ibid.

No. 10,

be fairly stated to the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury that the collective revenue of the Straits Settlements is in such a promising condition as to warrant the assumption that a compliance with the wishes of the memorialists will not entail any expense upon the Imperial exchequer."

The India Office were equally ready to hand over the administration, but the question of the military expenditure required, in the opinion of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, investigation before the Treasury could be approached. He therefore appointed Sir H. Robinson, the Governor of Hong Kong, who was about to return to the East, to be the Colonial member of a Committee of three (of which the other members were a Royal Engineer and the Governor of the Straits Settlements) to report. His instructions were to direct his attention especially to:- "1. The state of the fortifications and barracks and the "amount of expenditure requisite to complete those works, so far as it may be needful or expedient to carry them to completion.

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2. The number of men to be maintained for the protection of the Straits Settlements, and the nature of those troops."

In a subsequent letter of the 5th of October, 1863, Sir H. Robinson was informed :-

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"The Lords Commissioners bave suggested that the primary object of your enquiry ought to be to ascer- "tain whether the Settlements, in the event of their "transfer from the Indian to the Imperial Government, will "be in a condition to defray their own expenses without His Grace feels any charge upon the Imperial revenues. "that it is hardly necessary for him to request you to bear "this in mind, or that he need impress upon you that "under no circumstances will Her Majesty's Government "be prepared to sanction any Imperial expenditure towards "either the civil or military charges of the Settlements.'

Sir H. Robinson's report was written on the 25th of January, 1864. Apart from such unfair charges as payments towards the public debt (the Settlements at that time had no public debt) and convict charges, the civil expenditure was £119,000 and the military charges £53,000; while, allowing for future expenditure of £30,000 a year on public works, and £63,000 on military defence, the revenue, which he placed at £200,000 odd, would show a surplus of about £2,000: he had no hesitation in expressing the conviction that there would He recommended that be no charge on Imperial funds. the three Settlements (Penang, Malacca, Singapore) should be incorporated into one Colony.

Sir H. Robinson also furnished a separate report on military defence, recommending a garrison of three batteries of Royal Artillery and a local regiment of infantry at an estimated annual cost of £63,000, adding that "the "fortifications at present existing in the Straits Settlements are, when properly manned, sufficient for their defence, or, at any rate, any desirable modification in these defences "will involve little, if any, additional expenditure."

In forwarding the report to the War Office the Secretary