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(Confidential.) Sir,

43

No. 101.

Admiralty to Colonial Office.

Admiralty, May 15, 1878. WITH reference to your letter of the 11th instant, respecting the loan of certain guns at Esquimalt, for the defence of that colony, I am commanded by my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to acquaint you, for the information of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, that a telegram was sent on the 13th instant to the Senior Naval Officer at Esquimalt that the naval guns in store required by the Dominion Government may be lent until replaced from England, or required by Her Majesty's ships.

2. The Secretary of State for War has been informed as above, and that these

guns have been lent on the understanding that others to replace them will be sent out immediately by the War Department.

I

am, &c.

(Signed)

ROBERT HALL.

No. 102.

Sir,

War Office to Colonial Office.

Pall Mall, May 15, 1878. WITH reference to your letter of the 4th instant, transmitting a copy of a letter from the Treasury relative to the proposed expenditure in respect of works, armaments, &c., recommended by the Colonial Defence Committee for the Cape and Eastern Colonies, I am desired by Secretary Colonel Stanley to state that orders have been already given for the dispatch of 35 out of the 49 7-inch guns required for the temporary defence of those colonies, and that he has given instructions that steps should be immediately taken to manufacture the remaining 14 7-inch guns as well as the 32 64-pounder guns, and for the supply of carriages and ammunition for the whole.

I am also to inform you that the greater part of the stores for submarine mining purposes were purchased under the Vote of. Credit, and that the necessary supply will be completed, and as soon as arrangements can be made for working them, they will be sent to the stations for which they are proposed.

With respect to that paragraph in your letter in which it is stated that no authority has been given for any expenditure on works, and in which you invite the opinion of the Secretary of State for War on the subject, I am desired by Secretary Colonel Stanley to state that the guns which have been sent out to some of the colonies, and have been ordered for the others, will be useless unless the works are prepared for them, and that as their construction will require some time, he is of opinion that it is desirable that immediate sanction should be given for the expenditure necessary for their construction, so that he may give instructions for their erection, with a view of the guns being mounted on them with the least possible delay on their arrival at their destination.

With reference to the last paragraph of your letter under reply, I am to state that the Secretary of State for War does not propose to extend a portion of the order to Sir W. Armstrong's works at Elswick.

I have, &c.

(Signed)

J. C. VIVIAN.

No. 103.

Colonial Office to War Office.‡

(Secret and Confidential.)

Sir,

Downing Street, May 16, 1878. WITH reference to the letter from this Office of the 11th instant,§ I am directed by Sir Michael Hicks Beach to transmit to you, for the information of the Secretary of State for War, the accompanying paraphrase of a telegram from the Governor-General of Canada, relative to the defence of Esquimalt, with the paraphrase of Sir M. Hicks Beach's reply.

I am, &c.

(Signed)

R. H. MEADE.

• No. 92.

† No. 69.

↑ A similar letter was addressed to the Admiralty.

§ No. 91.

Nos. 88 and 100.

[593]

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