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No. 66.

Lieutenant-Governor Broome to the Earl of Kimberley.-(Inclosed in Colonial Office Letter of the 16th December, 1881.)*

(Secret.) My Lord,

Government House, Mauritius, October 24, 1881. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Lordship's secret despatch of the 25th August last, calling for a Report on the defences of the Seychelles Islands.

2. In reply, I inclose the required Report, which has been drawn up by a Committee appointed by his Excellency Rear-Admiral Gore Jones, C.B., commanding the East India squadron, during the recent visit of the flagship, Her Majesty's ship "Euryalus," to Mahé. Colonel Gordon, C.B., R.E., Commanding Royal Engineer here, had proceeded to the Seychelles, and was a member of the Committee. Colonel Gordon has also prepared a separate Memorandum on Seychelles defence and other connected questions, and I inclose a copy of it.

3. It will be seen that the scheme of defence proposed for Seychelles is analogous to that suggested for Mauritius in the Report forwarded with my secret despatch of the 8th August last.‡ Instead of sinking large sums in fortifications, it is urged that four gun-boats, each carrying a 10-inch gun, be stationed at Mahé, and that a torpedo system be provided for. I agree with the Committee; all the more because I think that though the scheme they propose should be settled upon and arranged for it need not be carried into entire execution, or maintained to the full establishment, in time of peace. But I would repeat what I have ventured to say in former despatches, namely, that I regard the laying of an electric telegraph cable as the cheapest, surest, and most necessary foundation of an effective scheme of defence for Mauritius and the Seychelles.

4. Colonel Gordon's Memorandum urges also the removal of Her Majesty's ship "London" from Zanzibar to Malé, and the erection of the Seychelles into an entirely separate Crown Colony. With regard to the former proposal, no doubt the transfer of the East African naval depôt to the Seychelles would be very beneficial to those islands, and also to the health of the officers and men concerned.

It is scarcely my province to enter into the further considerations of Imperial policy involved. 5. I do not feel that I can give any support at present to the proposal to separate the Seychelles from Mauritius. However promising the future of the Seychelles group may be, it is at present a poor place, leading a hand-to-mouth financial existence, and its prospects appear to me to have a good deal of uncertainty about them. Seychelles could not now support a separate establishment, and, moreover, I consider that its Government requires to be watched, controlled, and advised by a superior authority. The fair needs of the Dependency in the direction of autonomy are, in my opinion, fully met by the judicial and military changes which your Lordship has sanctioned, and which are now being introduced. I do not agree with several of Colonel Gordon's remarks on the Seychelles, but perhaps I need not discuss the matter further. His Memorandum is an interesting and able document, distinguished by all the breadth of view and boldness of action characteristic of its author.

I have, &c.

(Signed)

F. NAPIER BROOME.

Appendix No. 4.

SEYCHELLES.

Inclosure 1 in No. 66.

Proceedings of the Committee on the Defensive Capabilities of Mahé, Seychelles, assembled in pursuance of an Order from Rear-Admiral Wm. Gore Jones, C.B., Commander-in-chief, East India Station, dated September 11, 1881.

Present:

Port Victoria, Mahé, September 13, 1881.

Lieutenant-Colonel and Brevet-Colonel C. G. Gordon, C.B. R.E., Chairman.

Captain Richard D. King, R.N.

Lieutenant Reginald W. S. Rogers, R.N. (T.)

THE Committee having considered the position of the Island of Mahé with a view to its defence by a military force, find that from the sea-port Victoria can be entered by three channels, viz. :---

1. From the north, between St. Anne's Island and the main island.

2. Between St. Anne's Island and Cerf Island.

3. From the south, between Cerf Island and the main island.

These three channels are navigable to all vessels.

Two 10-inch guns on St. Anne's Island, two 10-inch guns on Cerf Island, and two 10-inch guns near White Tower, Mahé Island, supplemented by submarine mines (vide Appendix C), would defend these approaches to the harbour.

Actual cost of the three batteries

11

ور

armament, six 10-in. guns

submarine mines, &c.

barracks for 320 troops

Total

£

9,000

6,000

12,000

32,000

59,000

32,000

Annual cost of troops, viz., 20 sappers, 120 artillery, 180 infantry

But as there are two other landings on the south-west shore of Mahé, to provide against attack from the land side on the town a fort would be required on St. Louis Hill, another near White Tower,

* No. 57.

[1103]

Inclosure 3 in No. 2 A.

Inclosure 3 in No. 44.

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