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No. 40.
Colonial Office to Royal Commission on the Defence of British Possessions and Commerce Abroad,
Sir,
Downing Street, July 31, 1880. I AM directed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to transmit to you, to be laid before the Royal Commission on the Defence of British Possessions and Commerce Abroad, with reference to your letter of the 18th ultimo,* a copy of a despatch which has been addressed to the Governor of Mauritius relative to the formation of a company of rifle volunteers in that Colony.
Appendix No. 4.
MAURITIUS.
I am, &c.
(Signed)
ROBERT G. W. HERBERT.
Inclosure in No. 40.
(General.) Sir,
The Earl of Kimberley to Sir G. Bowen.
Downing Street, July 30, 1880.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch of the 31st March,† requesting attention to your previous despatch of the 19th December, in which you submitted for consideration a project for forming a rifle volunteer company in Mauritius.
I have been in communication with the Royal Commission on the Defence of British Possessions and Commerce Abroad and with the Secretary of State for War on the subject, and I have much pleasure in conveying to you the authority of Her Majesty to accept the services of the gentlemen who have expressed their desire to be formed into a volunteer company, and I have to request that you will take the necessary measures for the organization of the company on the terms and conditions proposed in your despatch of the 19th December.
With respect to your proposal that the arms and accoutrements for the force should be supplied on loan from the Imperial military stores in the Colony, I inclose, for your information, copy of a correspondence with the Secretary of State for War,§ which will inform you that Her Majesty's Govern- ment cannot accede to your request for a loan of arms and accoutrements, but that they can be supplied on terms of repayment, and I do not doubt that the Council will gladly vote the small sum involved.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
KIMBERLEY.
No. 11.
Sir,
Royal Commission on Defence of British Possessions aad Commerce Abroad to Colonial Office.
13, Delahay Street, October 15, 1880.
WITH reference to your letters of the 14th February, 3rd March, 30th March, and 23rd April, 1880, on the subject of the proposed construction of a line of telegraph to Mauritius, I am directed by the Royal Commission on the Defence of British Possessions and Commerce Abroad to inform you that, although they are of opinion that telegraphic communication with Mauritius would be of undoubted value as regards colonial and commercial interests not less than as regards the defence of those interests in time of war, they do not consider that there is sufficient justification at present for the large subsidy which would be required from the Imperial Government to enable the extension to be carried out.
Should Her Majesty's Government think it desirable to construct, or to contribute to the cost of constructing, lines of telegraph for defensive purposes, the Commission think that such funds as may be available would be better applied to a line of greater importance, such as that by means of which it was recently proposed to connect Bermuda with Halifax and the West Indies.
No. 42.
I have, &c. (Signed)
HERBERT JEKYLL.
Sir,
Colonial Office to Royal Commission on the Defence of British Possessions and Commerce Abroad.
Downing Street, October 25, 1880.
I AM directed by the Earl of Kimberley to transmit to you, to be laid before the Royal Com- mission on the Defence of British Possessions and Commerce Abroad, a copy of a despatch from the Governor of Mauritius with reference to the defence of that Colony, together with copies of further despatches, referred to by Sir G. F. Bowen, and a copy of the reply which has been sent to him.
I am, &c. (Signed)
R. H. MEADE.
* No. 39.
Inclosure in No. 38.
Inclosure 2 in No. 32,
§ Colonial Office, June 25, 1880; War Office, July 16, 1880. Not printed.
Nos. 32, 33, 35, 37,
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