CAB9-1_PT2 — Page 104

SECRET.

No. 169 R.

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

C.O. No. 10489.

C RE

2

Report of the Defence Commission, 1896-97.

Remarks by the Colonial Defence Committee.

THE Colonial Defence Committee have very carefully studied the Report of the Royal Commission on the internal defence of the Cape Colony referred to them by the Secretary of State for the Colonies in a despatch dated the 25th May, 1897.

Before dealing with certain proposals in the Report, which appear to the Com- mittee not to be entirely in accordance with some of the principles that have been adopted with regard to Imperial Defence, or with practical measures that have been found to work satisfactorily in other parts of the Empire, the Committee desire to express a general concurrence, with one important exception, in the conclusions which the Commission have arrived at, which appear to them to be wisely deduced from the large mass of evidence taken by the Commission, and to provide in a liberal manner for the Colony taking its fair share in its own protection against external aggression or internal disturbance.

The Committee desire to add that their consideration of the Commission's Report has been much facilitated by the clear and complete form in which it has been presented.

2. The important exception above referred to relates to the defenceless condition Defence of of the important commercial centre of Kimberley, and to the absence of any means in Kimberley. the Colony of placing it, at short notice, in a condition to resist the form of attack to which it may become liable.

In his evidence before the Commission, Lieutenant-Colonel Harris, Commanding the Griqualand West Brigade, states that, in his opinion, a force of 3,000 men with 12-15-pr. B.L. guns, the latest pattern machine-guns, and a good supply of ammunition would be required to successfully repel a serious attack by a white

enemy.

The actual defensive resources of Kimberley fall far short of this standard. The personnel of the various corps composing the Griqualand West Brigade now averages only 800; there are no machine-guns, and the Artillery is limited to 4-7-pr. R.M.L., which are described by the Battery Commander as unserviceable. Though the recommendations of the Commission involve some increase in this force, this increase does not appear to the Committee commensurate with the requirements of the

case.

Lieutenant-Colonel Harris, in his evidence, proposed to obtain the 2,200 men lacking to complete the effective he considered necessary, either by troops from Cape Town, or by getting the Government to put the Burgher Act into force in the Kimberley district. This proposal does not appear to the Committee to offer a

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