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154

Department respecting the decision of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company to give up its coaling establishment at King George's Sound, and I am to say that Sir Michael Hicks Beach would be glad to receive an intimation of the views of the Commission upon the subject at as early a date as may be convenient.

Sir,

I am, &c.

(Signed)

ROBERT G. W. HERBERT.

No. 177.

War Office to Colonial Office.

War Office, March 18, 1880. I AM directed by the Secretary of State for War to transmit, for the informa- tion of Sir Michael Hicks Beach, the accompanying Report, dated 20th December, 1879, from Colonel Lovell, R.E., on the defences of Esquimalt and Victoria Harbours, and other points in British Columbia; and to request that this Report may be laid before the Royal Commission on the Defences of the Colonies. The plans have been retained in this Office for reference.

I am to request that the inclosed Report may be returned to this Office.

The Under-Secretary of State,

Colonial Office.

I have, &c.

(Signed)

EUSTACE CECIL.

Inclosure in No. 177.

Report on the Defences of Esquimalt and Victoria.

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL STRANGE.

Defence of Esquimalt.

COLONEL LOVELL.

Rorld Point

•

4 9-in. 12 ton.

Sangster's Knoll Rodd Point

6 10-in. 18-fon.

6 7-in. 7-ton.

Keep on hill 450 yards in rear.

Signal Hill..

2 9-in. 12-ton.

Signal Hill ..

Moncrieff.

Cape Saxe ..

Helland's Point

2 7-in. 61-ton.

The old batteries to be main- tained and inclosed, viz. :-

Brothers' Island

Macauley Point Finlayson Point Victoria Point

Field armament

..

{

1 8-in. 9-ton.

..

2 64-prs.

3 7-in. 6-top.

2 64-prs.

2 64-pro.

4 16-pr. R.M.L.

6 9-in. 12-ton R.M.L. -

1 8-in. 9-ton R.M.L.

Total

6 7-in. 6-ton R.M.L.

6 64-pre.

4·16-prs.

Beacon Hill

The old batteries to be main-

tained, viz. :-

Brothers' Island

Macauley Point

Finlayson Point Victoria Point

Field armament

Torpedoes

Esquimalt Victoria

Total

10-in. 18-ton.

{}10-10

2

6 10-in, 18-ton.

6 10-in. 18-ton.

1 8-in. 9-ton.

2 64-pre.

8 7-in 6-ton.

2 04-pra.

2 64-prs.

12

Į 40-prs.

20-prs.

27 ground mines.

16

་་

22

and some contact mines.

20 10-in. 18-ton R.M.L.

1 8-in. 9-ton R M.L.'

6 7-in. 7-ton R.M.L.

8 7-in. 6-ton R.M.L.

6 64-prs.

12 20-prs.

Sir,

155

Commanding Royal Engineer's Office, Halifax, Nova Scotia, December 20, 1879.

WITH reference to your letter of instructions of the 1st July, 1879, and second letter of the same date, directing me to report on the defences of Esquimalt and Victoria Harbours, and other points in British Columbia, I have to inform you that on my arrival at Victoria, Vancouver's Island, on the 13th August, after calling upon the Governor and other officials, including Commander Arthur Paget, R.N., of Her Majesty's ship “Tenguin," and Lieutenant-Commander Vere Orlebar, of Her Majesty's ship "Rocket," who afforded me every assistance in their power, I, in company with Lieutenant-Colonel Strange, R.A., Lieutenant Hussey, R.E., and Captain Dupont, the Acting Assistant Adjutant-General of the Local Militia, visited and examined the temporary batteries constructed and armed by Lieutenant- Colonel Irvine, R.A., for the defence of the two harbours.

We also went round and closely examined the shores near those harbours, and drove over some of the principal roads leading to the towns of Victoria and Esqui- malt from the smaller bays, &c., in the vicinity. We then made an inspection of the naval establishment at Esquimalt, and of the proposed new dock for which the preliminary works are being made in the small cove to the east of the Naval

Yard.

Having noticed in the public papers that the fitness of Esquimalt Harbour as the position for the naval establishment in the North Pacific had been questioned in Parliament, I made inquiry as to what other harbours might be expected to afford greater advantages, and was referred to Burrard Inlet, a few miles to the north of Vide Plate I, the Fraser River; Bute Inlet, on the British Columbian coast, about, half-way up the Straits of Georgia; Alberni Canal, leading into Barclay Sound, on the west coast of Vancouver Island; and Port Simpson, facing Dixon entrance at the north of Queen Charlotte's Islands, the harbours between which the choice lay for the terminal point of the Canada Pacific Railway.

दे

The dense summer fogs being expected to set in, I started on the 26th August in Her Majesty's ship "Rocket" to visit Nanaimo Harbour, and the weather con- tinuing clear, extended the trip to the three harbours mentioned, but did not go to Port Simpson, as I was anxious to get back to Esquimalt, and there seemed but a remote probability of that port being selected for the terminus.

I also visited New Westminster, and ascended the Fraser River to about 15 miles above Yale, to inquire as to the defensive capabilities of the line of country through which there seemed great reason to expect that the Canada Pacific Railway would be carried to Burrard Inlet, and which lies close to the frontier of the United States.

I regret that, in consequence of a troublesome illness that attacked me while travelling, my movements were slower and more cramped than I could have wished.

While engaged in the general question of the defence of the Pacific coast of the Dominion my attention was called to a discrepancy that appears to exist between the boundary-line of the United States' Province of Alaska and British Columbia, as laid down on the maps and charts of the present day, and as described in the terms of the Treaty of the 28th February, 1825, as printed in McCulloch's "Com. mercial Dictionary," p. 668 of the second volume of the edition by Vethake, LL.D., Philadelphia, 1848.

The position of this boundary affects the question of British protective power over the mouth of the Stakine River, the line of communication from the sea to the gold mines in the Cassiar country near Dease Lake (58) north longitude, 128° west), one of the most important mining districts in British Columbia.

Not being able to obtain locally any definite information on this question, I decided to return to Halifax through Washington, that I might make inquiries at the British Embassy, where I had an interview with Sir Edward Thornton, who, while unable to say which is the correct boundary, expressed himself as anxious that the line of demarcation between the two territories should be settled as early as possible.

These subjects I will leave to the end of this Report, and now revert to the specific subjects mentioned in your letter of instructions, which are as follows:

(a.) The means to be adopted for placing the harbours of Esquimalt and Victoria in an efficient state of defence by permanent works, the extent to which the temporary works may be made available being reported.

• Not printed.

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :--

ELITE CO. 885

4 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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