CAB7-1 — Page 238

Page 238

Page 238

Page 238

(Secret and Urgent.)

Sir,

46

No. 110.

Colonial Office to Treasury.

Downing Street, May 18, 1878. WITH reference to your letter of the 2nd instant, and to the letter from this Office of the 4th instant,* I am directed by Sir Michael Hicks Beach to transmit to you the accompanying copy of a letter from the War Office,† stating that the guns will be useless. without the works, and suggesting that immediate sanction should be given for the expenditure necessary for their construction; and as it is necessary that the works should be executed under the sole responsibility of the War Office, I am to request that you will move the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury to give the requisite authority for the expenditure for the works, as their Lordships have already done for that for the guns. The amount of contribution to be paid by the Colonies can be separately considered, as has been already pointed out. I am to suggest, in order to save time, that this authority should be given direct to the War Office.

&c.

I am,

(Signed)

R. H. MEADE.

No. 111.

Admiral Sir A. Milne, Bart., G.C.B., to Colonial Office.

(Secret and Confidential.)

Sir,

Committee Room, Whitehall, May 18, 1878. I AM requested by the Colonial Defence Committee to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 8th instant, transmitting the substance of a telegram from the Governor- General of Canada, in which he states that a fleet of armed cruizers would be necessary for the protection of the Atlantic seaboard of the Dominion in the event of war with Russia.

The Committee do not consider themselves in a position to make any recommendations with regard to this proposal, with which it would appear to them to fall within the province of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to deal, and have therefore confined their attention to the defence of the chief Atlantic ports of the Dominion, upon which they this day submit a report.

I have, &c.

(Signed)

ALEX. MILNE, President.

Honourable Sir,

No. 112.

D. J. Kennelly, Esq., to Colonial Office.

May 18, 1878. A FEW days ago I saw in the public papers that Her Majesty's Government intended to fortify certain places in the Dominion of Canada, amongst others Sydney, Cape Breton. And as I happen to know the Island of Cape Breton and am familiar with its ports, I have the honour very respectfully to call your attention to the fact that the port of Louisburg, at the mouth of the River St. Lawrence, is unprovided with protection of any sort against

an enemy.

This port is convenient to an extensive coal-field, and, as a fact, has within the last two years become connected with some large collieries by a railway 21 miles in length, starting from a deep-water pier in the harbour.

Louisburg is practically open to the depredations of an enemy all the year round, for it has seldom been known to be closed by ice.

The harbour of Sydney, not being on the Atlantic, is closed from about the 25th December to the middle of the following May.

Believing that if an attempt were made to invade in winter, Louisburg would form the point of attack and debarkation, I have taken the liberty of addressing you with this letter, in the hope that, while Louisburg may not become the fortress it was under the

* Nos. 67 and 71.

+ No. 102.

‡ No. 74.

Page 238

Page 238