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Appendix No. 4.

MAURITIUS.

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104

the provisions of an Ordinance analogous to the Volunteer Acts of the English Parliament; the officers to be appointed by the Governor.

(2.) That the members should be principally, if not entirely, of European birth or descent, and belonging to the Civil Service, or to the professional, mercantile, and planting communities.

(3.) That all arms and accoutrements be supplied by the Imperial Government, on loan from the military stores of the garrison.

(4.) That the Colonial Legislature be not asked to make any contribution beyond the payment of a capitation of 20 rupees per annum for each effective volunteer.

7. In the Colonies, as in England, there are undoubtedly practical advantages in the volunteer system, in addition to the primary object of defence against foreign aggression. That system fosters a spirit of loyalty and patriotism as well as of mutual good feeling and comradeship among men of different religious creeds, political parties, and social classes.

8. I recommend to your early and favourable consideration the project of forming a rifle volunteer company in Mauritius, on conditions of the nature of those mentioned above.

Awaiting your instructions on the whole subject, I have, &c.

(Signed)

G. F. BOWEN.

P.S. Perhaps this despatch, together with my previous despatch of the 6th November ultimo, may be considered not unworthy of the attention of the recently-appointed Royal Commission on Colonial Defence. I am aware that former Commissions have recommended that new and extensive fortifications should be erected, and a garrison of 5,000 regular troops should be maintained at Mauritius; but it is presumed that it is not at present likely that the Imperial Government will grant either the money or the men required to carry out such schemes.

G. F. B.

Inclosure 3 in No. 32.

Sir G. Bowen to Sir M. Hicks Beach.

Sir,

Government House, Mauritius, November 6, 1879. ADVERTING to previous correspondence respecting the garrison and military defences of Mauritius, I have the honour to report that on the 15th instant Her Majesty's troop-ship " Crocodile " arrived at Port Louis from Cape Town and Durban, bringing back the half-battery of the Royal Artillery (about 50 officers and men) which was dispatched hence in last February to Natal, and conveying also three companies (about 260 officers and men) of the 91st Highlanders, to relieve the On the 17th instant the detachments of the 88th (Connaught Rangers) lately quartered here.

«

Crocodile," after taking in coals and provisions, proceeded on its voyage to Bombay, carrying off the detachments of the 88th, with the head-quarters of that regiment which it had brought from the Cape. The "Crocodile" had also on board the greater part of the 17th Lancers, ordered from South Africa to India. The troop-ship "Serapis," with the 90th Regiment, two batteries of artillery, and the remainder of the 17th Lancers, has since called at Mauritius on its voyage to Bombay, and it is understood that other troop-ships will call here shortly.

As was

2. The garrison of Mauritius now consists, in round numbers, of 380 officers and men. stated in a former despatch, I agree with my predecessor, Sir Arthur Playre, with Major-General Murray, C.B., and with all the military authorities here, that it ought to be permanently fixed at the strength of not less than one weak battalion of the line on the peace establishment, or of the head- quarters wing (four companies) of a regiment at its full strength, and of one garrison battery of It is considered by those artillery; in other words, of a force of about 500 officers and men of all arms.

At

best qualified to judge that it is essential for the support of the police and the firm maintenance of law and order, that the above force of Imperial troops should be stationed in a community consisting of not more than about 20,000 whites of European birth or descent (of which number only a few hundreds are of English race and language), in the midst of a population of not less than 80,000 creoles of mixed, chiefly African, blood, and of an Indian population of over 250,000 Hindoos and Mahommedans. the same time, a force of 500 men is held to be sufficient for the defence, against all probable external attack, of the two forts (the citadel and Fort George) which command the town and harbour of Port Louis. It will be remembered that,, in addition to the former armament, two 6-ton guns have been recently mounted on Fort George at the entrance of the harbour, and that torpedo defences also are now being organized under the direction of an officer of the Royal Engineers. The officers commanding the Royal Artillery and the Royal Engineers further recommend that there should be mounted on Fort George a third gun of large calibre (18 tons), capable of resisting the possible attack of an iron-clad ship.

3. The military authorities believe that if a detachment of only 100 men, or thereabouts, periodi- cally relieved, were kept in the forts at Port Louis, and if a barrack, with a hospital and the other necessary appurtenances, were built for the remainder (400 officers and men) at Curepipe, the site of the present Sanitarium, which is 1,800 feet above the sea, the troops would be almost as healthy in Mauritius as in England. Curepipe is connected by railway and telegraph with the two harbours of Further, if this scheme were Port Louis and Mahebourg, and, indeed, with all parts of the island. adopted, the sale of a portion of the large barracks, military hospitals, magazines, &c., at Port Louis and Mahebourg (sufficient for a garrison of nearly 3,000 men), and of the ground on which they stand, would, I am informed, defray the cost of the erection of the new barracks. Indeed, that cost would be soon defrayed by the saving effected on the large number of soldiers (each of whom costs the country at It will be recollected that least 2007.) who are now yearly invalided and sent home from Mauritius. the plan of placing European troops in healthy stations on the hills has already been adopted with

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