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MILITARY CON- TRIBUTIONS BY COLONIAL AND OTHER GOVERN- MENTS.

(Previous

Reference: Cabinet 60 (27). Con- clusion 5.)

1

8.

The Cabinet had before them a Memorandum by the Secretary of State for the Colonies (Paper C.P.-207 (28)) reporting the progress of the negotiations with Bermuda and Jamaica on the

subject of certain recommendations of a Cabinet

Committee on Military Contributions of Colonial and other Governments (Paper C.F.-298 (27)), which

negotiations had resulted from the Cabinet decision

referred to in the margin. The purport of the

Secretary of State's recommendation is summarised

in the last paragraph of his Memorandum as follows:

"As it is practically certain that

neither Colony will agree to these proposals and that the only result of asking them to do so in official Despatches to be laid before their Legislatures would be to create a bad political atmosphere and greatly add to the difficulty of the reb - tions of the Colonial Governments with the unofficial elements in both Legislatures, I trust the Cabinet will agree to proceed no fur ther with the matter"

•

In the course of the discussion, the

question was raised as to what was the strategical

justification for the maintenance of garrisons

at Jamaica and Bermuda, and the Cabinet agreed:-

(a) That the Committee of Imperial

Defence should be asked to consider

whether it was necessary to retain Imperial

any garrisons in Jamaica and Bermuda;

(b) That the question of the Colonial Military Contributions should be

adjourned until the Report of the Committee of Imperial Defence is available.

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