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Committee on the Defences of the Colonies, of which Admiral Sir A. Milne was President.

-k

I am,

&c.

(Signed)

ROBERT HALL.

No. 359.

Colonial Office to War Office.

(Secret and Confidential.) Sir,

Downing Street, December 19, 1878.

I AM directed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 10th instant,* proposing that the War Office should send an officer to Vancouver Island to prepare plans and reports with reference to the permanent defences of Esquimalt and Victoria.

2. Referring to Sir Michael Hicks Beach's despatch dated the 6th September,† of which a copy was transmitted to you in the letter from this Department of the same date, requesting to be furnished with plans, &c., of the works at Esquimalt and Victoria, and to the telegram received from Lord Dufferin in reply, of which a copy is herewith inclosed,‡ I am to request that you will point out to Secretary Colonel Stanley the importance of avoiding any step that would appear to ignore the action of the Canadian Government, which was both prompt and energetic, and might, therefore, have the effect of discouraging them for the future. As by this time the preparation of the plans will probably be far advanced, Sir Michael Hicks Beach is of opinion that any officer to be sent out by the War Office should be directed to put himself at once in communication with the Dominion Government, and to act in co-operation with the officers they may be employing in this service. It is understood that Colonel Stanley does not propose that the Dominion Government shall bear the expense of sending out the officer.

If the Secretary of State for War agrees to these views, Sir Michael Hicks Beach will at once consult the Canadian Government on the proposal.

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I am, &c.

(Signed)

R. H. MEADE.

No. 360.

Colonial Office to Admiralty.

(Secret and Confidential.) Sir

Downing Street, December 23, 1878. I AM directed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 16th instant, § requesting to be supplied, for the use of the Director of Naval Ordnance, with a copy of the General Report of the Committee on the Defences of the Colonies.

2. In reply, I am to transmit to you a copy of the General Report of the Committee as requested, and to request that you will inform the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty that these papers are furnished on the understanding that they will be kept strictly confidential and under proper safeguards.

3. I am to point out that, owing to your letter not having been marked “Confidential,” it was opened in the Registry Department of this Office, and, as it is very undesirable that the existence of secret papers of this kind should thus be made known, I am to request that any future letters on the subject may be marked "Secret and Confidential,” which will insure their being sent to one of the Under-Secretaries to be opened.

I am, &c. (Signed)

R. H. MEADE.

* No. 357.

† No. 325.

‡ No. 339.

§ No. 358.

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