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(Secret and Confidential.)

Sir,

12

No. 6.

Colonial Office to Admiralty.

Downing Street, July 19, 1879,

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 despatch from the Governor-General of Canada, inclosing a Report of his Privy Council expressing the views of the Dominion Government on a memorandum prepared by Lieutenant-General Sir E. Selby Smyth, suggesting the expediency of passing an Act to make better provision for the naval defence of the Dominion.

2. With regard to the employment of Royal Marines at Vancouver Island, and the defence of Nanaimo, Sir Michael Hicks Beach presumes that these matters will engage the attention of the officer sent out by Colonel Stanley to meet Lieutenant-Colonel Strange, the Representative of the Dominion Government, at Esquimalt to report on the British Columbia defences.

3. I am to add that Sir Michael Hicks Beach caused a copy of Admiral de Horsey's Report on the defence of Esquimalt, inclosed in your letter of the 6th September, 1878, to be referred to the Colonial Defence Committee, who, however, separated at the conclusion of their special labours without making any Report upon it, and he presumes that a copy of that Report has been communicated to Colonel Lovell.

4. I inclosed, for their Lordship's information, a copy of the correspondencet with reference to the dispatch of Colonel Lovell to report on the defence of British Columbia.

I am, &c.

Sir,

(Signed)

No. 7.

Colonial Office to War Office.

R. H. MEADE.

Downing Street, July 19, 1879.

I AM directed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to transmit to you, to be laid before the Secretary of State for War, a copy of a despatch* from the Governor- General of Canada, inclosing a Report of his Privy Council expressing the views of the Dominion Government on a memorandum prepared by Lieutenant-General Sir E. Selby Smyth, suggesting the expediency of passing an Act to make better provision for the naval defence of the Dominion.

2. With regard to the employment of Royal Marines at Vancouver Island, and the defence of Nanaimo, Sir Michael Hicks Beach presumes that these matters will engage the attention of the officers sent out by Colonel Stanley to meet Lieutenant-Colonel Strange, the Representative of the Dominion Government, at Esquimalt to report on the British Columbia defences.

(Confidential.) Sir,

I am,

&c.

(Signed)

R. H. MEADE.

No. 8.

Admiralty to Colonial Office.

Admiralty, July 25, 1879.

I HAVE laid before my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty your letter of the 19th instant, forwarding copy of a despatch from the Governor-General of Canada, inclosing a Report of his Privy Council, in which the views of the Dominion Government are expressed on a memorandum by Lieutenant-General Sir E. Selby Smyth, suggesting the expediency of passing an Act to make better provision for the naval defence of the Dominion.

With reference to the suggestion of Sir E. Selby Smyth, I am commanded by my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to acquaint you, for the information of Sir Michael

* No. 1.

† War Office, December 10; to War Office, December 19, 1878; War Office, January 18; to Governor- General, February 3; Governor-General, May 28; to War Office, June 3: Governor-General, May 19; to War Office, June 11; War Office, June 30; to Governor-General, July 3; to War Office, July 3, 1879.

1 No. 6.

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Hicks Beach, that their Lordships are not in a position to render the assistance suggested by the Lieutenant-General, as there are not at present any obsolete armoured ships in the navy which it would be possible for the Admiralty to place at the disposal of the Colonial Governmen

I am, &c.

(Signed)

No. 9.

War Office to Colonial Office.

THOS. WOLLEY.

(Secret and Confidential.) Sir,

War Office, August 2, 1879. I AM directed by the Secretary of State for War to acknowledge the receipt of your Secret and Confidential letter of the 30th June, in which you express the concurrence of the Secretary of State for the Colonies in Colonel Stanley's proposal of a local Committee to consider and report on the perimaneut defences of the Cape of Good Hope.

2. With regard to your suggestion as to the advisability of consulting the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury on the principle of apportionment of the expense before communicating with Sir Bartle Frere, I aim to observe that, in Colonel Stanley's opinion, it would be preferable to await the Report of the Committee, whose duty it would be to estimate the total cost of the defences.

3. The Committee will have to furnish estimates of the total cost of placing the Table Mountain Peninsula in an efficient state of permanent defence, and it will then be for the Home and Colonial Governments, in consultation, to determine the method of executing the works, and the apportionment of the cost.

4. The principle of apportionment recommended by the Colonial Defence Committee in their Report of the 7th June, 1878, was that which appeared to them the most equitable under the assumed conditions; but there would not appear to be any necessity to obtain the formal approval of the Treasury to that principle in anticipation of the inquiry of the local Committee, as Her Majesty's Government cannot be held to be committed to that, or any other, principle in the absence of such full particulars as a Committee assembled on the spot is alone competent to furnish.

5. If, however, Sir Michael Hicks Beach considers it advisable to communicate with the Treasury before sending out the instructions, Secretary Colonel Stanley sees no objection to his doing so.

I have, &c.

(Signed)

No. 10.

Lorne, K.T.

RALPH THOMPSON,

The Right Hon. Sir Michael Hicks Beach, Bart., to Governor-General the Marquis of

(Secret and Confidential.) My Lord,

Downing Street, August 5, 1879.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No. 162 of the 5th June, inclosing a Report of a Committee of the Privy Council on a memorandum by Lieutenant-General Sir E. Selby Smyth, K.C.M.G., commanding the militia, suggesting the expediency of passing an Act, through the Dominion Legislature, to make better provision for the naval defence of the Dominion.

Copies of your Lordship's despatch were communicated to the Secretary of State for War and to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, and I now transmit to you a copy of a letter which has been received from the Admiralty in reply, from which it will be seen that there are not at present any obsolete armoured ships in the Royal Navy which it would be possible for that Department to place at the disposal of the Canadian Government.t

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• No. 1.

I have, &c.

(Signed)

M. E. HICKS BEACH.

↑ No. 8.

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

TILTICO. 885

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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