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(Secret and Confidential.) Sir,

29

No. 38.

War Office to Colonial Office.

War Office, June 30, 1879. WITH reference to your letters of the 3rd and 19th June, 1879, I am directed by the Secretary of State for War to state, for the information of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, that Colonel Lovell, C.B., Commanding Royal Engineers at Halifax, has been directed to proceed to Vancouver Island, and after placing himself in communica- tion with Lieutenant-Colonel Strange R.A., to report upon the defences necessary to place the important harbours of Esquimault and Victoria in an efficient state of permanent defence, and to request that the Dominion Government may be informed thereof.

I am also to state that Secretary Sir Micheal Hicks Beach having directed the attention of the Colonial Defence Committee to the question of erecting defences at the Port of Nanaimo consequent on a report by the Inspector-General of the Dominion forces, Secretary Colonel Stanley is desirous of taking advantage of Colonel Lovell's visit to Vancouver Island to obtain a report from him as to the means that should be taken for the defence of that port, if at any time hereafter such a measure should become

necessary.

Colonel Stanley would be glad if the Dominion Government concurred in the view of the advisableness of such a report being obtained, and would similarly direct Lieutenant Colonel Strange, R.A., Inspector of Artillery to the Dominion, to examine the Port of Nanaimo in company with Colonel Lovell, and report [thereon for their informa- tion.

I have, &c.

No. 39.

(Signed)

RALPH THOMPSON.

(Secret and Confidential.) Sir,

Colonial Office to War Office.

Downing Street, June 30, 1879. I AM directed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to request that you will state to Secretary Colonel Stanley that he concurs in the suggestion contained in your letter of the 18th of April last with regard to the appointment of a Local Committee to consider and report on the question of the permanent defences of the Cape of Good Hope.

2. I am however to suggest, for the consideration of Colonel Stanley, whether it would not be desirable, before communicating with Sir Bartle Frere on the subject, to consult the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury with reference to the apportionment of the cost in respect of such defences, in order that Her Majesty's Government may not be committed without the consent of the Treasury to the principle of apportionment of expenditure recommended by the Colonial Defence Committee in their Report of the 7th June, 1878, which, with their other Reports, you suggest should be sent to the Colony, and by which the Local Committee would no doubt be guided in any recommendations they might make with respect to the permanent defences.

No. 40.

I am, &c. (Signed)

R. H. MEADE.

The Right Hon. Sir M. E. Hicks Beach, Bart., to the Marquis of Lorne, K.G.

(Secret.) My Lord,

Downing Street, July 3, 1879. WITH reference to your Lordship's Secret despatch of the 19th May last, on the subject of the permanent defences of Esquimault and Victoria, I have the honour to transmit to you, for the information of your Government, a copy of a letter from the War Office, stating that Colonel Lovell, C.B., commanding Royal Engineers at Halifax, has been directed to proceed to Vancouver Island, and after placing himself in communication

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