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(Secret and Confidential.) Sir,

126

No. 237.

Colonial Office to Admiralty.

Downing Street, July 15, 1878.

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, copies of inclosures to a despatch received from the Governor-General of Canada,* on which the telegram was founded of which a paraphase was inclosed in the Secret and Confidential Letter from this Depart- ment dated the 9th instant.†

I am, &c. (Signed)

R. H. MEADE.

No. 238.

War Office to Colonial Office.

War Office, July 16, 1878.

(Confidential.) Sir,

I AM directed by the Secretary of State for War to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated 24th June, 1878,‡ forwarding a copy of a despatch from the Governor of Mauritius relative to the defence of the Colony in the event of war; and in reply I am to acquaint you, for the information of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, that, con- sidering that there are four breech-loading rifled guns of 7 inches, and forty-one smooth-bore guns, mounted in Fort George, the Secretary of State for War cannot agree with the Governor that should even one ironclad appear it would be right to come to terms at once.

It is no doubt the case that these guns will not command the sides of an ironclad, but there are other parts more vulnerable than the sides, and vital if pierced; and it would clearly be the duty of the officer in command to fight the fort until satisfied that farther fighting was absolutely useless. The entrance to the channel is so far removed from the centre of the town, that probably the Governor overrates the effect upon the town of fire from the few guns of an ironclad, distracted as they would be by the concentrated and rapid fire of the numerous guns of the fort.

The two 6-inch guns allotted for the defence of Mauritius will probably have reached this station, and been placed in position, before these remarks can be conveyed to the Governor; in which case there can be no longer reason for apprehension with respect to a moderate force of ironclads, especially as the guns will be supplemented by the submarine mines which have been dispatched also.

I have, &c.

(Signed)

EUSTACE G. CECIL.

No. 239.

Lieutenant-Governor Barlee to the Right Hon. Sir M. E. Hicks Beach, Bart.-(Received

(No. 40. Secret.) Sir,

July 16.)

Government House, Belize, June 10, 1878.

I HAVE carefully considered the several instructions contained in the Circular dated 20th March, 1878,§ from Sir M. E. Hicks Beach, marked Secret, and in reference thereto have the honour to report :-

1. No measures have as yet been adopted for the defence of any port in this Colony from attack by sea, and the only port where, in my opinion, it would be at all advisable to attempt any such defence is that of Belize, the capital of the Colony, where the public Treasury and the stores and specie of the principal merchants are located.

2. The entrance to the harbour of Belize is long and intricate; no person unacquainted with it would attempt without a pilot to bring in a vessel drawing upwards of 10 feet of water. The pilots are not public servants, but are licensed pilots living at cays thirty and forty miles from Belize, on the look-out for vessels. They pilot by knowledge of land- marks, aided by buoys, and do not understand the use of charts. I fear that any attempt to make them understand what vessels should or should not be piloted in time of war would prove unsuccessful, and that probably they would, in the case of invasion by an

+ No. 227.

* No. 229.

‡ No. 195.

§ No. 15.

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