The Sun.
London, England, 1861-08-08 00:00:00

COLONIAL MILITARY EXPENDITURE.

The Select Committee on Colonial Military Ex-
penditure, appointed by the House of Commons to
inquire whether any alterations may be advan-
tageously adopted in regard to the defence of the
British dependencies, and the proportions of cost
of such defence as now defrayed from Imperal and
Colonial funds respectively, have made their re-
port to the following effect :
" 1. The dependencies of the British empire (ex-
clusive of India, to which your committee have not
extended their investigations) may be divided for
the purposes of this investigation into two classes :
Firstly,—Those which may properly be called
colonies.' To this class belong the North American
and South African colonies, the West Indies, Cey-
lon, the Mauritius, New Zealand, and the ustra-
lian colonies, with the exception of Western Aus-
tralia.

" Secondly,— Military garrisons, naval stations,
convict depots, and dependencies maintained
chiefly for objects of Imperial policy. To this class
belong Malta, Gibraltar, and the lonian Islands,
Hongkong, Labuan, Bermuda, the Bahamas, St.
Helena, and the Falkland Islands, Western Austra-
lia, Sierra Leone, Gambia, and the Gold Coast.
" 2. In order to enable your committee to form a
correct opinion as •to any alterations which it may
be their duty to recommend in the military admi-
nistration of the dependencies to which their inqui-
ries have extended, they have deemed it necessary,
in the first instance, accurately to ascertain the de-
tails of the system which at present exists, and the
proportions of cost actually incurred by the Impe-
rial Government and the dependencies respectively
in their military defence.
" 3. It appears that the forces stationed in the
British dependencies, and the cost incurred in their
defence, have fluctuated according to the circum-
stances affecting them at different times. In order
to arrive at a 'fair estimate of the average annual
expenditure incurred, and of the number of troops
employed, your committee have obtained returns
for the year ending March 31, 1860, the most recent
period during which no disturbing causes existed
involving an exceptional increase of force.
"4. The actual amount of imperial expenditure
(including cost of barracks, fortifications, transport,
proportion of non-effective service, and of recruit-
ing and departmental expenses at home) incurred
in defence of the dependencies (distinguishing the
two classes above referred to); also the number and
distribution of troops borne on the strength of the
British army, and employed in their defence, for
the year ending March 31, 1860, will appear from
the following table."
[This table shows that the number of troops in the
" colonies proper" borne on the strength of the Im-
perial army was 20,657, including 6,007 colonial
corps, and the Imperial military expenditure
£1,715,246; and in the second class of colonies, the
military garrisons, &c., the number of troops was
20,910 (including 2,474 colonial corps, and the Im-
perial military expenditure was £l,so9,B3s—mak-
ing in the whole 41,567 troops borne on the strength
of the Imperial army, and the Imperial military
expenditure £3,225,081. For the North American
colonies 4,690 troops, were provided at the cost of
the mother country, that cost being £413,566 ; for
the Australian colonies, 1,695 troops at a cost of
£121,545; for New Zealand, 1,252 troops, at a cost
of £104,852; for the South African colonies, 4,866
troops, at a cost of £456,658; for Ceylon, 2,344
troops, at a cost of L 110,268; for Mauritius, 1,630
troops, at a cost of £145,658 ; for the West Indies,
4,180 troops, at a cost of £362,699.]
"It should be noted that of the total Imperial
expenditure charged, against the colonies proper,' '
£264,521 is due to their proportion of the dead
weight, recruiting, and departmental expenses at
home; and £202,924 is the proportion of the same
expenses charged against the second class of depen-
dencies above enumerated.

"5. It appears, from returns laid before your
Committee, that, beyond the expenses defrayed from
the Imperial Exchequer, the undermentioned de-
pendencies contributed during the year ending
March 31, 1860, the further sums specified in the
following return towards their military defences
(that is to say) :
For maintenance of local forces :

St. Helena ..

Sierra Leone
Gambia
Gold Coast

Cape of Good Hope
Canada ..

.. £482
.. 562

.. 56,176
.. 13,393
198

Nova Scotia and New Brunswick • • • •
For pay and allowances to British troops, and for
various military purposes :
New South Wales .. .. •.. .. 33,806
Victoria .. 72,110
South Australia 7,172
Ceylon • • • • .. 97,193
Mauritius 25 354
Malta 6,200
For construction of works, barracks, &c., including
the cost of constructing works described as
sea defences' in Demerara :
Jamaica .. 1,637
Windward and Leeward Islands, with Guiana .. 29,279
For general purposes of defence, in pursuance of a
convention executed under the Treaty of Paris
lonian Islands

.. 25,000

Total .. .. • • £369,224
" Of the above sums the following amounts were
passed to the credit of Her Majesty's Exchequer in
the books of the War office, ',by the following de-
pendencies :
New South Wales ..
lonian Islands
Mauritius
Malta
Ceylon

.. 114,711 15 7
.. 18,449 15 4
.. 10,000 0 0
6,200 0 0
.. 23,954 0 4

£73,315 11 3
And the residue was expended within the depen-
dencies for various military purposes.
"6. In connection with this portion of their in-
quiry, your committee think it necessary to state
that some of the appropriations in aid of military
expenditure made by Colonial Legislatures have
not been properly brought to account at home,
Large sums appear to have been received from the
Colonial Governments by Imperial officers for
strictly military purposes, as to which no accounts
have been rendered to the War-office or the Trea-
sury ; and in the opinion of, your committee it is
desirable that all moneys so received should appear
in the home accounts, and that there should be ap-
pended to the Army Estimates statements showing
the sums so received during the last financial year
in each colony, as well as the total military charge
for that colony defrayed from the Imperial votes.
"7. It appears to your committee that a want of
system has prevailed in adjustinc, and sanctioning,
by proper regulations, local contributions paid in
aid of the ordinary pay and allowance of officers
and soldiers on various foreign stations. Your com-
mittee arc of opinion that all rates of colonial allow-
ances drawn by olns,ers and
soldiers serving in the
colonies should be fixedl, eifio warrants under
the authority of the Secretaryof State for war.
" 8. Your committee deem
it
xef
pedit, as bear-
ing on the general subject-matter their inquiry,
to state that from recent returnsitatipaphears that
nearly
been
more than 10,000 volunteers and militia
embodied in British North America, a
number of volunteers in the Australian colonies
1,500 1,500 ino New Zealand, and 1,200 at the Cape -0-i
Good Hope, and that these numbers have probably
been since considerably increased.
" 9. Taking into consideration the facts disclosed
by the evidence laid before them, your committee
are of opinion that no uniform rule as to the cost or
mode of their military defence can be laid down
which shall be applicable alike to communities so
various as those which compose the British colonial
empire; but, following the classification adopted at
the commencement of their report, it appears to
your committee that, as to the second class of de-
pendencies above defined, the responsibility and
main cost of their defence properly devolves on the
Imperial Government.
" 10. With respect to the dependencies properly
called ' colonies,' and to which any recommenda-
tions hereinafter to be made as to the mode or cost
of colonial defence exclusively relate, the practical
application of such recommendations, both as to
time and place, must necessarily be left to the dis-
cretion of her Majesty's Government, having regard
to the local resources of each dependency, to its
dangers from external attack, and to the general
exigencies of the empire. With this reservation, it
appears to your committee that the responsibility
and cost of the military defence of such depend-
encies ought mainly to devolve upon themselves.
" Your committee further submit the follor-A- n,
general suggestions as arising frOm the e:fidene;
laid before them
Of
"Coq 11- That it is inexpedient that tide proportions
of colonial defence to be be cue
the Impe-
rial and Col
be the suve otilal Governments respectively should
vendeneiet/ of negotiation
with the various de-
,,t that evid'
tend-
ing to ghee
Greyn,ait the .Ince has been given by Lord ratode of proceeding adopted
1`.x51, in announcing to the Aus-
tralian coloniat Ela.e terms on which alone Imperial
troops could
nt there, may be gradually ap-
to other pledl2. Tlytt ts,udca%neieps•
the Australian colonies
coinlYrised• in the first -J.s°'
81!, the number oflraperial
troops, as shown in the
'Move table, ought to be re-

doced

-
—aland,
"1.:3. That with respcet to New .L.,
cu:iistances, to
tray not be right, under auti„ -
colony assistan-
while it
h.old from the settlers in that with-
protecting themselves against the attacks
tribes so long as the Imperial Governm,..
control over native policy, then prix
ought to be on their own resource
14. That with respect: t'
coJ °Liles, and all those simP.

-e in

.. native
...at retains a
-4C11)al. rtlianee

the South African
jarly circumstanced, de

kendencies which contain large European popula-
tions, their security against warlike tribes or do-
mestic disturbances should be provided for, as far
as possible, by means of local efforts and local or-
ganisation, and that the main object of any system
adopted by this country should be to encourage
such efforts, not merely with a view to diminish Im-
perial expenditure, but for the still more important
purpose of stimulating the spirit of self-reliance in
colonial communities.
"15. That the settlers in South Africa should be
called upon to contribute a larger sum than they
do at present towards the military expenditure of
those colonies.

" 16. That the expense of the troops in Ceylon
should be in a greater degree borne by the Colonial
Treasury.___ _

" 17. With respect to the West. Indies, it appears
that about 4,200 troops (consisting of European and
coloured regiments in nearly equal proportions) are
now maintained there, mainly for the purpose of se-
curing those colonies against internal disorder, that
the defence in time of war of these possessions of the
British Crown, as well as of other distant colonies,
must be principally naval ; and that it is for many
reasons inexpedient that the duty of a local police
should be performed by scattered detachments of
Imperial troops at the cost of the country. It is
therefore, in the opinion of your Committee, desir-
able that, due regard being had to the peculiar cir-
cumstances of these colonies, the force now main-
tained in them should be gradually reduced.
" 18. Your Committee are futher of opinion that
the multiplication of fortified places and the erec-
tion of fortifications in distant colonial possessions,
such as Mauritius, on a scale requiring for their
defence a far greater number of men than could be
spared for them in the event of war, involve a use-
less expenditure, and fail to provide an efficient
protection for places the defence of which mainly
depends on superiority at sea.
" 19. In conclusion, your Committee submit that
the tendency of modern warfare is to strike blows
at the heart of a hostile power; and it is therefore
desirable to concentrate the troops required for the
defence of the United Kingdom as much as pos-
sible, and to trust mainly to naval supremacy for
securing against foreign aggression the distant de-
pendencies of the empire."

THE LOSS OF THE BA TL IC STEAMER.
OFFICIAL REPORT.

POLICE-COURT, HULL, AUG. 1, 1861.
My Lords,—Assisted by Captain Harris as Nau-
tical Assessor, I have held an investigation as to
the loss of the steamship Baltic, and have
.now
the honour of reporting the result of the inquiry
that has been made. The Baltic was an iron screw
steamship, built in the year 1858, the gross register
tonnage being 631. She left Hull on the 18th of
June last, equipped quite satisfactorily in every
way, under the command of Captain Duncan
Buchanan, an only mate, 10 seamen (one of whom
was styled a boatswain), and two engineers, three
firemen, and two trimmers. She had on board
also two passengers. No observation is requisite
as to the cargo or stowage, farther than that some
bulky machinery was on deck, and that I cannot
but think it was a very pernicious proceeding to
place a thrashing machine seventeen feet long by
nine or ten feet high, athwartships (by the captain's
orders), on the forepart of the quarterdeck, so as to
prevent the man at the wheel seeing the head of the
vessel, and also preventing his being seen by the
officer on the bridge, from whom he must necessarily
receive his orders. On Saturday, the 22d of June,
the Baltic was off Ostergarn Lighthouse, on the
Island of. Bornholm, which bore W.N.W., distant
five miles. From that point a course was steered
N.E. I- E. to make the Dagerort Light, and the same
course was continued till midnight, when the light
was seen bearing E: an d by N. at a computed distance
of 30 miles. The same course was further continued,
till 1 a.m. on Sunday, when the light on Dagoe bore
E., at a supposed distance of 25 miles. The cap
tain then altered the course to N.E. and by E. g
E., under the impression (as he states) that that
course would carry him well clear of the Nickman's
Ground. At this time, 1 a.m., the captain, who had
only been on deck a few minutes, went below, leav-
ing the deck in charge of the so-called boatswain,
having given to him certain orders as to the steerage,
which the boatswain states that he followed im-
plicitly. The boatswain deposes that after 1 a.m.,
he steered N.E. by E. i E. till 1.55 a.m., when the
land was visible right a-head, it being daylight, and
he saw a pole with a broom on it a little on the port
bow, which he took for a fisherman's buoy. When
a little inside of the pole the boatswain altered to
N.E. by E. and five minutes afterwards he changed
it again to 1%1.E. I- N., to keep further off the land,
in accordance with the c rders be had previously
received from the captain, and on this course he
kept the ship till 4 a.m., and then changed it to
E. and by N., in conformity with the captain's
directions, as the Dagoe light then bore S.S.W.
At 3.50 a.m., the boatswain saw two poles, one
with a white flag on it, and one with a
broom on it, both on the port bow. At
from five to seven minutes past 4 a.m,, the boat-
swain saw the white rocks under the bottom of the
ship, and she immediately began to grate. Orders
were given to stop, and reverse the engines, but be-
fore the latter order could be obeyed, the water
rushed up the stokehole, and the fires were extin-
guished. The captain then hurried on deck (as
stated by the witnesses) in his shirt, but it was found
that the ship was hopelessly fast, and every prepa-
ration was made for saving life and preserving the
cargo. Providentially the weather was then as it
had been throughout, perfectly calm and fine, and
no necessity arose for the abandonment of the ship
till after nearly the whole of the cargo had been
saved. It seems that on leaving Hull, the captain
appointed an A.B. seaman boatswain, and gave him
charge of a watch as second mate, and he subse-
quently relieved the only mate throughout the
voyage. Thus on the Saturday the mate's watch
was from 8 till 12 p.m., and he was then relieved by
the boatswain, who took charge of the ship from 12
to 4 a.m. The above facts have suggested two
questions—first, whether the captain was right
when he supposed that he was 30 miles from Dagoe
Light; and, secondly, shether the circumstances
offer any justification for his leaving the vessel in
charge of an uncertificated person, " a common
seaman," when he must have known that he was
approaching a very dangerous coast. With regard
to the first point, it is to be observed that the lert
by which the captain navigated the vessel (one of
Iruray's, of 1853, with corrections to 1857) indi-
cates that the radius of Dagoe Light is 32 miles;
whereas the Admiralty charts and all the Russian
authorities concur in stating that Dagoe Light is
only visible 21 miles in clear weather. I mention '
this as perhaps showing a ground for the captain's
placing his psition at 30 miles from the Dagoe
Light, as it was stated when first seen to be just dip-
ping on the horizon; but subsequent events appear to
show that he could not have been so far from it, and '
lead me to believe that the Admirality chart and ,
the Russian authorities are the most to be relied on.
But even supposing that the captain had been' 30
miles from the Dagoe Light, the courses steered
would, in my opinion, have brought the vessel much
nearer to Nickman's Ground than prudence would
warrant, particularly as the whole Gulf of Finland
was open to him. It wilt be noticed, moreover,
that, notwithstanding the indications of danger from
the poles, &c., no soundings were ever taken, an
9mlssioa attributed to the ignorance of the person
Vatrainorchoarge of the vessel. As to the second point,
this
eaptaeianseinittlnaeitaovininnthat there are no circumstances in
the slightest degree justified the
vici-
nity ; and I ani a
common
seaman leaving the vessel under the charge of a
he was guilty
fore forward his certifiycagt
the investigation I have
welfl known dangerous vici-
ofafurthervery
0 reohapvtaieedn,i,odnetfhauaki”nansoddthoienrge.,
that the course adopted matethe
1 ing the boatswain second , captain, Board. During
occasion
ot
fo a
pobservepoint..
e nt
Shipp ely at van-
! ance with the spirit of the Merchant
fairlyl.) ant*-c
p a,
and if, as there is some reason to su
p peo sesiinnicghaAtecs: '
sions of the law are not unfrequent, the 'a
gprreaacettveicat:
possible danger and risk may
unless some check should bf,:, opposed to
so much to be reprobP.ted. In conclusion, I beg to
remark that thngh I can find no excuse for the
captain's,e(nduct on this occasion (by which a very
fine vessel Las been lost in broad daylight and calm
beautic-al weather, merely because a wholly incora-
Pe*..ent person was permitted to direct her), he has
produced before me numerous proofs of his
hitherto borne a high character during
a periodhavinogf
27 years past, which will no doubt have due weight
with your lordships. I have, &C.,
THOMAS HENRY TRAVIS,
Stipendiary Police Magistrate, Hull,
I concur in the above report,
HENRY HARRIS, Nautical Assessor.
The Lords of the Committee, &c., Marine
Department, Board of Trade.

The Unita Italiana, the Mazzinian organ of
Milan, announces that General Garibahli has beon one of
the first to sign the protest, origihating with Mazzini,
against the occupation Of Bilbao by the French.
[ADVEILTISE'"
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„,, • _ y, submits, .
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will have the happiest effect in regulating all erroneous
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The maladies of females, whether constitutional or func-
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`absolutely neesssary for their comfort, welfare, ay.d haPPi'
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