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the Trincomalee garrison should be paid for from Imperial funds because "the cost of the garrison at Trincomalee is accepted as an Imperial charge on the ground that the Colony does not wish that station to be retained as a military port for any Colonial purpose, but that it is necessarily kept up in consequence of its being the principle Imperial naval station in that part of the world" (War Office to Treasury 4th necember 1876).
It must be explained that the position of Trincomalee has always been in dispute. The attitude of the Colony has been that it doesn't want a garrison at Trincomalee so far as Colonial defence is concerned, and that
it should therefore not pay anything towards the cost. The War Office Treasury vier has usually been that the port must be maintained for the defence of purely Colonial trade and interests apart from the acknowledged Imperial interests. This position has been "given away" by the fact that since 1906 at least Trincomalee has been abandoned as a Vaval station and the Admiralty
has concentrated its attention on Colombo,
In consequence of the financial position of the Colony the contribution which stood at Rs1,240,000 was reduced in 1884 by Rs 240,000 for one year.
The Ceylon Government backed by the Secretary of State
had maintained that the size of the garrison was
greatly in excess of what the Colony as apart from His
Vajesty's Government required and in fact said in 1884
that
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