98
telegraphic communication, and that in the absence of powerful batteries on Hog Island, or a British gun-boat having one or more Armstrong or Whitworth guns on board, they would, with our present resources developed to the utmost, be practically at the mercy of
I have, &c. (Signed)
an enemy.
No. 192.
WILLIAM ROBINSON.
99
to Sir Michael Hicks Beach's Secret Circular dated the 20th March, on the subject of the defence of the Colonies.
I am to observe that since the date of the Governor's despatch, the Report of the Colonial Defence Committee and the correspondence will have reached Mr. Hennessy, but that it is not quite clear from this despatch whether the military authorities were fully acting on the telegraphic instructions sent at the request of the Secretary of State for War, or whether they felt at liberty to depart from the decisions taken at head-quarters without further reference home.
The difficulty about guns, referred to in the fifteenth paragraph of the Governor's despatch, may possibly have been removed by the loan of the 7-inch and 64-pounder guns from the naval stores, of which the Governor was advised by telegram dated the 9th ultimo.t
I am, &c.
R. H. MEADE.
Colonial Office to Admiral Sir A. Milne, Bart., G.C.B.
(Secret and Confidential.) Sir,
Downing Street, June 24, 1878. WITH reference to your letter of the 7th instant,* as to the general principles which should govern the apportionment of the expenditure on temporary defences between the Imperial Government and the several Colonies, I am directed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to request that you will be good enough to state, as nearly as may be, what would be the cost of converting the works already recommended by the Colonial Defence Committee for the Cape of Good Hope, into works of a more permanent character.
Sir Michael Hicks Beach thinks that it will be preferable to lay the question, so far as it regards this Colony, before the Treasury in a complete shape, and on obtaining the assent of the Lords Commissioners, he will be prepared to make the necessary communi- cation to the Colonial Government.
(Secret and Confidential.)
Sir,
(Signed)
No. 195.
Colonial Office to War Office.
Downing Street, June 24, 1878. I AM directed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to transmit to you, for the information of Secretary Colonel Stanley, a copy of a despatch which has been received
from the Governor of Mauritiust relative to the defence of the Colony in the event of war.
I am, &c.
て
(Signed) R. H. MEÁDE.
I am, (Signed)
&c.
R. H. MEADE.
No. 193.
No. 196.
Colonial Office to Admiral Sir A. Milne, Bart., G.C.B.
(Secret and Confidential.) Sir,
Downing Street, June 24, 1878. I AM directed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to transmit to you, for any observations which the Colonial Defence Committee may have to offer, a copy of a despatch which has been received from the Governor of Trinidadt in reply to Sir Michael Hicks Beach's Secret Circular dated the 20th March,‡ on the subject of the defence of the Colonies, a copy of which was transmitted to the Committee in the letter from this Department of the 2nd April last.§
I am, &c.
(Signed)
No. 194.
Colonial Office to War Office.
/
R. H. MEADE.
(Secret and Confidential.)
Sir,
Colonial Office to Admiralty.
Downing Street, June 24, 1878. I AM directed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to transmit to you, to be laid before the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, a copy of a telegram which has been received from the Governor-General of Canada.§
I am to state that Sir Michael Hicks Beach presumes that this telegram refers to the instructions which you stated in your letter of the 15th May had been addressed to the Senior Naval Officer at Esquimalt on the 13th of that month, and, as there seems some doubt as to the sufficiency of those instructions, I am to request that you will move the Lords Commissioners to authorize that officer by telegraph to deliver the guns on the the requisition of the Dominion Government, and that no further delay may be incurred in making use of them.
1 am, &c.
(Signed)
R. H. MEADE.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
TPLLC.O. 885
(Secret and Confidential.) Šir,
'Downing Street, June 24, 1878. WITH reference to your letter of the 22nd April,|| I am directed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to transmit to you, to be laid before Secretary Colonel Stanley, a copy of a despatch which has been received, from the Governor of Hong Kong, in reply
‡ No. 15.
§ No. 26. War Office, April 22, 1878.
• No. 62
+ No. 176.
Sir,
I am directed by the Secretary of State for War to request that you will move Sir Michael H. Beach to give instructions for the transmission to the Officer Commanding the Troops at Hong Kong of the following telegram:-
"Proceed with improvised defences; 6,000% authorised. Points selected here for temporary defence :- Green Island, Stonecutter's Island (two), North Point, Kowloon Dook, Kowloon, and Belchers."
I have, &c.
The Under-Secretary of State, Colonial Office.
(Signed)
¶ No. 179.
RALPH THOMPSON.
Sir,
No. 197:
Treasury to Colonial Office.
Treasury Chambers, June 25, 1878. IN reply to Mr. Meade's letter of the 21st instant, I am directed by the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury to request that you will inform Sir Michael Hicks Beach that they are pleased to sanction an expenditure of 4,2001. for works, and 3,000l. for guns at Tanjong Kutong, on the understanding that the division of the cost between Imperial and local funds is reserved.
I am to add that my Lords are anxious that this division should not be further postponed, inasmuch as, should the immediate call for these defences pass away, the readiness of the Colonies to bear their proper share of the cost of them is likely to grow weaker.
Nothing but the continuance of very urgent necessity can justify the Imperial
* No. 15.
† No. 78.
No, 100,
+ No. 178.
§ No. 185.
No. 182.
4PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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