CAB9-1_PT1 — Page 72

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Printed for the use of the Colonial Office. August 8, 1889.

CONFIDENTIAL.

32-R

Report of Local Committee.

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

CAPE.

15025.

Remarks by Colonial Defence Committee.

THE Royal Commission drew attention to the great strategic importance of the Cape of Good Hope, and pointed out that the total value of British trade with this Colony, or passing it, amounted to "91,352,000l. a-year, the whole, with the exception of about 4,000,000l., being carried on with the United Kingdom.

Enormous, however, as is the value of this trade,

"C

it by no means represents that which, in the event of war with one or more of the Great Naval Powers, might pass round the Cape." They estimate the total value of trade, thus increased, at 150,000,000l., exclusive of that of the shipping in which it would be carried," and they add, "The Cape route is not only of importance in connection with the commerce of Great Britain, but assumes a far higher degree of importance to the Empire at large, as being essential to the retention by Great Britain of her possessions in India, Mauritius, Ceylon, Singapore, China, and even Australia. It is by this route alone that reinforcements of troops, and all that is necessary for their support, could, under the contingencies alluded to, be sent from the United Kingdom with any degree of certainty or security."

The Canadian Pacific Railway, completed since the Commission reported, has provided a valuable alternative route to the East; but one which can only in a minor degree take the place of that passing round the Cape.

·

The scheme of defence furnished by the War Office, and accepted by the Royal Commission, does not appear to have been based on any exact estimate of the probable nature of attack; but states that "the Cape is probably the least exposed of our coaling-stations,

and Russia and France are the only European Powers respecting which, for the present at least, we need entertain apprehension. France, it is true, has a military establishment at Senegambia, but it may be held of little account, as at the outbreak of war it should be seized or destroyed by the British fleet. Probably, then, the heaviest armoured ship of any hostile squadron of fast vessels destined for the Cape will not carry more than 10 inches of armour, and that only about the water-line, or as protection to her more vulnerable parts."

Since the above was written the strength of the French position in Sene- gambia has been materially increased by the defences created at Goree. The general question of an attack upon the Cape Peninsula has, however, been little affected thereby, although the security of the trade route between Cape Town and the United Kingdom is now seriously threatened.

The Royal Commission remark "that any attack would be of a very sudden nature, and probably at the first outbreak of war, when there will have been little or no warning of danger or time for preparation, and before Imperial troops could be dispatched to reinforce the garrison and place the peninsula in a state of security. The power, also, that a force attacking from the sea has

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