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Appendix No. 4.

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

I have already recorded my opinion that there should be at least a thousand infantry, with a due proportion of engineers and artillery soldiers for the ordinary garrison duties of Simon's Bay and Cape Town in peace time, and as a nucleus whereon to form the colonial forces required for a sufficient garrison in war time. This is a great reduction as compared with what has been the ordinary strength of Her Majesty's forces in this Colony at any former period.

I believe that this estimate is not at all in excess of what the best military and naval judges, who have studied the question, and who know the wants and resources of the Peninsula, have recom- mended.

I would further submit that to frame a reliable estimate of such wants, something more is needed than a hasty visit to the locality; and that it is necessary to know and appreciate the moral forces involved in the calculation; such, for instance, as the sources and force of colonial feeling on the subject.

I have, &c.

Inclosure 2 in No. 29.

Colonial Office to War Office.

(Signed)

H. B. E. FRERE.

Sir,

Downing Street, July 22, 1880.

WITH reference to the letter from this Department of the 21st ultimo relative to the strength of the garrison which should be permanently maintained at the Cape, I am directed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to transmit to you, to be laid before the Secretary of State for War, the accom- panying copy of a confidential despatch which has since been received from Sir Bartle Frere on the subject.

In forwarding this despatch for Mr. Childers' consideration, Lord Kimberley would observe that it will be for Mr. Childers to determine how large a force should have its head-quarters at the Cape Peninsula in order to enable it to supply St. Helena and Mauritius without reducing the Cape garrison below the minimum amount of one full battalion, at which Lord Kimberley is of opinion, as already stated in the letter from this Office referred to above, that it should be permanently maintained.

No. 30.

I am, &c.

.(Signed)

JOHN BRAMSTON.

Sir,

Colonial Office to Royal Commission on the Defence of British Possessions and Commerce Abroad.

Downing Street, September 23, 1880.

I AM directed by the Earl of Kimberley to transmit to you, for the information of the Royal Commission on Colonial Defence, with reference to the letter from this Department of the 22nd July,* a copy of a letter from the War Office respecting the arrangements which it is proposed to make for the garrison of the Cape Peninsula.

Lord Kimberley has expressed his concurrence in the proposed arrangements.

I am, &c.

(Signed)

EDWARD WINGFIELD.

Inclosure in No. 30.

War Office to Colonial Office.

Sir,

War Office, September 11, 1880. WITH reference to your letter of the 22nd July last,† relative to the garrison to be maintained at the Cape, I am directed by the Secretary of State for War to acquaint you, for the information of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, that Sir P. Colley has reported by telegram that one battalion can be spared from the Transvaal, and His Royal Highness the Field Marshal Commanding-in-chief has suggested, in order to carry out the view expressed in your letter, that this battalion should be stationed at Cape Town, and that the regiment now at the Cape should furnish detachments to Mauritius, St. John's River, and St. Helena; this would give to the Cape Colony one and a-half battalions of infantry, being half a battalion more than is asked for by Lord Kimberley.

His Royal Highness is also of opinion that another battery of garrison artillery should be stationed at Cape Town.

Pending a final settlement of the question of the force to be maintained in South Africa, Mr. Childers has no objection to the adoption of His Royal Highness' proposal regarding the infantry as a provisional arrangement, subject to revision when Sir P. Colley has fully reported as to the force which it will be necessary to retain in Natal and the Transvaal, and the command in South Africa has again been united under the General Officer Commanding at Cape Town.

Mr. Childers proposes that the question of supplying an additional battery of garrison artillery should await the Reports of the Colonial Defence Commission.

* No. 29.

Inclosure 2 in No. 29.

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