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202
A battery at Mount Palmer (or Singapore Island), which overlooks the new harbour, to mount three 7-inch muzzle-loading rißed guns, and two 64-pounder guns.
These works would have been completed and armed in about two months from this date, but it is probable that their progress will now be delayed, and possibly the plans reconsidered.
Submarine mines and explosive material have arrived from England, and these could, on an emergency, be rapidly placed in position.
All the above are planned and arranged solely for the defence of the new harbour, where all the coal is stored; the submarine mines represent at this present time the sole available defence, and the guns have not arrived from England.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
G. R..BOSANQUET,
Captain and Senior Officer.
Vice-Admiral Hillyar, C.B.,
Commander-in-chief, China.
No. 353.
Admiral Sir A. Milne, Bart., to Colonial Office.
(Secret and Confidential.) Sir,
Committee Room, Whitehall, November 25, 1878. I AM desired by the Colonial Defence Committee to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 18th September, covering a copy of a despatch from the Governor of Hong Kong, relating to the laying of a telegraph cable between the Colony and Green Island.
Considering that the establishment of telegraphic communication with Green Island was partly intended for defensive purposes, and that the cable is likely to be of use during the construction of the battery on the island, as well as after its completion, the Com- mittee are of opinion that the division of cost proposed by the Governor would be fair, and that half the sum named, viz., 1,275 dollars, might reasonably be charged to the defence funds.
I have, &c.
(Signed) ALEX. MILNE, Admiral, President.
203
No. 355.
Colonial Office to Admiral Sir A. Milne, Bart.
(Secret and Confidential.) Sir,
Downing Street, November 30, 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 letter from the Admiralty, inclosing a copy of a Report by Captain Bosanquet, of Her Majesty's ship "Diamond," on the defences of Singapore.
•
2. In a letter to this Department dated the 1st Junet the War Office stated that six guns, with carriages and slides, and half the projectiles, were being shipped in the Lansdowne," appointed to sail on the 15th June, and that four guns, with carriages, slides, small stores, and the other half of the projectiles, would be shipped shortly.
I am, &c.
(Signed) ROBERT G. W. HERBERT.
No. 356.
Downing Street, November 30, 1878.
The Right Hon. Sir M. E. Hicks Beach, Bart., to the Marquis of Normanby, G.C.M.G.
(Secret and Confidential.) My Lord,
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Lordship's Secret and Con- fidential despatch of the 7th October‡ on the subject of the defences of New Zealand.
2. I transmit herewith, for your information, a copy of a letter from the War Office with reference to the shipments of the guns.§ A copy of this letter was transmitted to the Agent-General for New Zealand on the 31st August last.||
I have, &c. (Signed) M. E. HICKS BEACH.
No. 357.
No. 354.
The Marquis of Normanby, G.C.M.G., to the Right Hon. Sir M. E. Hicks Beach, Bart.-
(Received November 26.) (Secret and Confidential.) Sir,
Government House, Wellington, October 7, 1878.
IN reply to your Confidential despatch of the 15th August, 1878,† I regret to find that through inadvertance my despatch of the 22nd June, in reply to your cypher telegram, was numbered instead of being sent as a Confidential despatch, and I have, according to your directions, now removed it from amongst the public despatches of the Colony.
I shall not, I can assure you, fail to use my best endeavours to induce my Govern- ment to proceed with the defence of the principal ports of the Colony, notwithstanding the fact that any immediate prospect of war has fortunately been averted by the exertions of Her Majesty's Government.
Some communications have already passed between Colonel Scratchley and myself upon the subject, and I think that my Government would be anxious to obtain the services of that officer, whenever the construction of the batteries is decided upon, and I do not believe that any objection would be raised by the Australian Colonies to his being so employed.
I have, however, as yet received no intimation that the guns, &c., have been shipped from England, and the absence of the armament, together with the fact that the Govern ment are at the present moment fully occupied with their Parliamentary duties, would, I feel confident, render it useless for me to press this matter at the present time, but as soon as the guns arrive I will again bring the subject under their consideration.
* No. 334.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
NORMANBY.
+ No. 287.
↑ No. 272.
Sir,
War Office to Colonial Office.
War Office, December 10, 1878. WITH reference to your letter of the 18th May, 1878, and previous correspondence, respecting the defences of Esquimalt and Victoria, Vancouver's Island, I am directed to request that you will inform Sir Michael Hicks Beach that the Secretary of State for War has had under his consideration the Report of the Colonial Defence Committee of the 1st April last, and the Report of the Naval Commander-in-chief, Pacific Station, of the 28th June, 1878, on the measures proposed for the defence of the above ports, and to state that, before deciding upon the nature of the permanent defences to be provided for the two harbours which are intimately connected, he proposes to send an officer to examine the ground, and to furnish reports and plans of the positions and sites for the batteries, without which no proper design or estimate can be prepared.
Secretary Colonel Stanley desires, therefore, that Sir Michael Hicks Beach will be good enough to obtain the consent of the Dominion Government, in order that he may send an officer to Vancouver Island to prepare the plans and reports referred to.
Sir,
I have, &c.
(Signed)
No. 358.
Admiralty to Colonial Office.
EUSTACE CECIL.
Admiralty, December 16, 1878.
I AM commanded by my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to request you will move the Secretary of State for the Colonies to cause them to be supplied (for the use of the Director of Naval Ordnance), with a copy of the general Report of the
• No. 352.
No. 317.
[793]
† No. 149.
No. 109.
↑ No. 354.
§ No. 311.
• Suo" Miscellaneous No. 35 n."
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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