CO885-5 — Page 39

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC.

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

C.O. 885/5 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

(Confidential.) Sir,

16

No. 16.

Colonial Office to Admiralty.

Downing Street, June 3, 1880. WITH reference to your letter of the 30th January last* respecting the conversion of merchant-vessels into armed cruizers, I am directed by the Earl of Kimberley 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 the Privy Council, accepting, with an expression of thanks, the offer of their Lordships to supply the Dominion Govern- ment with a complete set of portable magazines and fittings for working the guns on board such ships.

Sir,

I

am,

&c.

(Signed)

No. 17.

Foreign Office to Colonial Office.

R. II. MEADE.

Foreign Office, June 3, 1880.

I AM directed by Her Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to transmit to you, to be laid before the Earl of Kimberley, a copy of a despatch, with its inclosure, from Her Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires at Yedo, on the subject of the Russian fleet in Japanese

I am, &c. (Signed)

waters.

My Lord,

JULIAN PAUNCEFOTE.

Inclosure 1 in No. 17.

Yedo, April 7, 1880. WITH reference to your Lordship's despatch of the 29th January last, I have the honour to inclose an extract from a local French newspaper, giving a list of Russian men-of-war in the China and Japan seas.

The Russian Minister, whose attention I drew to this list, assured me that it was correct as to the names of the ships, but misleading as to the strength of the Russian Pacific fleet.

His Excellency stated that the four first-named vessels, "Minin," "Vaesdnick," "Rasboynick," and "Asia," were only on their way here, and were intended to replace the vessels "Abreek," "Djigit," and "Kreiser," which now form the Russian squadron in these

waters.

Of the latter ships, the " Abreek," an old vessel, is in dock at Yokosulla; the "Djigit," a small corvette of no speed, is at or near Honolulu; and the “Kreiser has already left for home viâ Suez Canal.

The only new feature in the composition of the Russian fleet, said M. de Struve, is the fact that the "Minin " will be the first iron-clad ever sent to the East.

It is probable, under present circumstances, that most, if not all, of the expected Russian ships will proceed from Hong Kong to China instead of to Japan.

At this moment there are no ships-of-war at Yokohama other than Japanese, a circumstance which has not occurred since the year 1839.

The Marquis of Salisbury,

&c. &c.

&c.

I have, &c.

(Signed)

J. G. KENNEDY.

17

"Minin," corvette, cuirassée, Capitaine P. Nazimoff, attendue sous peu à Hong Kong. "Naésdnick," corvette, Capitaine Kologeras, en route pour Hong Kong.

Rasboynick," corvette, Capitaine Gitkoff, en route pour Hong Kong.

"Asia," corvette, Capitaine Amazoff, en route pour Hong Kong.

**

Sobol," corvette, Commandant Boyle, à Tien-tsin.

"Tongous." canonnière, Commandant lleck, à Nagasaki.

"

14

Abreck," canonnière, Commandant Schanz, à Yokohama.

Djigit," canonnière, Commandant Livron, à Honolulu. "Gornostai," canonnière, Commandant Stark, à Vladivostok. Nerpe," canonnière, Commandant Green, à Vladivostok. "Morge," canonnière, Commandant Tatarinoff, à Hong Kong. "Ermak," transport, Commandant Koltikan, à Nagasaki.

66

La France possede (les navires de guerre en Cochin Chine exceptés) la Thémis," le "Champlain," le "Kerguelen," et le "Lynx," total, trente-huite canons.

Les Allemands ont dans ces mers le “Prinz Adalbert," le "Cyclop," le "Luise," ct le "Wolf;" total vingt-huit canons.

La flotte Américaine est représentée par "l'Alert," "l'Ashuelot," le "Monocacy," le "Palos," le "Richmond," et le "Ticonder" [? "'Ticonderoga "]; total quarante-sept

canons.'

""

Les Anglais sont représentés par vingt-trois navires, disséminés sur le littoral de la Chine, du Japon (Singapore y compris); total 141 canons.

L'Italie est représentée par le "Vettor Pisani."

[NOTE. A copy of the preceding papers sent to the Royal Defence Commission, June 21, 1880.]

No. 18.

Governor Sir H. Robinson, G.C.M.G., to the Right Hon. Sir Michael Hicks Beach, Bart.- (Received June 5.) (Confidential.)

Sir,

IN continuation of my Confidential despatch of the 9th March last,* I have now the honour to forward a copy of a Memoranduar which I have received from the Premier, requesting me to forward to you, for the information of the Royal Commission on Colonial Defences, a printed copy of a Report furnished by Colonel Scratchley, R.E., upon the defences of New Zealand.

Government House, Wellington, April 17, 1880.

I have, &c.

(Signed) HERCULES ROBINSON.

Inclosure in No. 18.

Memorandum for his Excellency.

WITH reference to a recent communication from the Secretary of State on the subject of the representation of the New Zealand Government before the Royal Commis. sion on Colonial Defences, Ministers respectfully recommend his Excellency to forward the accompanying Report, received from Colonel Scratchley, on the defences of New Zealand.

Government have not yet been able to consider in detail the recommendations made by Colonel Scratchley, but the general tenour of those recommendations meets with their approval, and Ministers hope to submit proposals to Parliament with regard to them during the approaching Session.

JOHN HALL.

Wellington, April 16, 1880.

(Signed)

Inclosure 2 in No. 17.

Extract from the "Echo du Japon" of April 3, 1880.

LES FORCES ÉTRANGÈRES DANS LES MERS DE CHINE ET DU JAPON.-La flotte Russe, actuellement dans les Mers de Chine et du Japon, se compose de douze navires de guerre, dont voici l'énumération :-

• No. 114 of "Miscellaneous No. 39."

+ No. 11.

* No. 2.

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