§ * LORD CHELMSFORD,in rising to draw attention to the incomplete condition of the fortifications at Colombo; and to ask the Under Secretary of State for War when the armament for the several batteries of that station, which have been ready to receive it for some considerable time, will be delivered to the Ceylon Government, said: My Lords, I have placed on the notice Paper the question which appears in my name, because when recently in the Island of Ceylon I found considerable dissatisfaction existing among the members of the Legislative Assembly at the action of the Government with regard to the arrangements for the fortification of Colombo, in laying the cost of the fortifications on the revenue of the island. I certainly consider that it is a little unfair upon the island, which I have no doubt your Lordships are aware is very poor, that this charge which is entirely for Imperial purposes should have been laid upon the revenue of Ceylon. I think the money would have been much better employed for the actual purposes of the island. All the members of the Legislative Assembly were extremely annoyed that after the fortifications had been built with the money raised from the revenue of the island, they could not receive an assurance from anyone that the guns would be provided for the different batteries which had been constructed at their expanse. Since placing notice of this question on the Paper I have seen by last night's Report that the Secretary of State for War has assured the other House that those guns will be provided during the current year, and I hope that assurance will be satisfactory to the members of the Legislative Assembly and the people in Ceylon, who are naturally a little impatient at the delay which has occurred. I wish to state that I have put this question on the Paper without any idea of imputing 831 blame to the present War Department for the non-provision of these guns. I am well aware that the lamentable delay in providing guns for the different coaling stations cannot be laid at the door of the present administration or of the former one, or even of the one before that; it must be referred back to the time when, unfortunately, those in power chose to ignore what all the military nations in Europe were doing, and neglected to keep pace with them in changing the ancient muzzle-loaders for modern breech-loading guns. They would not throw aside the old antiquated system which had been proved by all other Powers to be inadequate. With these remarks, I beg to ask the question which stands in my name.
§ THE PAYMASTER GENERAL (Earl BROWNLOW)I think your Lordships will agree with me, and I am quite sure no one will more readily concur than Lord Chelmsford himself, that it would not be for the benefit of the Public Service if I were to enter into too much detail in answering the question which has been put to me by the noble and gallant Lord with regard either to the size, position, and character of the emplacements, or to the calibres of the guns, which are to be fitted to them. However, I am very glad to be able to inform the noble and gallant, Lord I am advised that of the emplacements, a considerable number are now absolutely finished, and in some of them the guns are mounted. Some, on the other hand, are not finished, but are in a forward state, and one battery, I believe, is not begun. The reason for that battery not having been commenced is that, as I dare say the noble and gallant Lord knows, it has been found to be in a very cramped and inconvenient position, and it has been determined to remove the battery. Delay has occurred in commencing the work for this reason, that funds had to be provided by the Colony; but as those funds have now been voted, the work will be proceeded with immediately. It is hardly necessary for me to remind your Lordships that the completion of emplacements and fitting them for the guns is now a very different matter from what it was in former days. In the old times, the necessary work could, be done almost in a few days, or at any rate in a very few weeks, and the guns could easily be mounted. But now 832 it is very different: the steel rails for the rollers of the modern breech loading guns have to be bolted with long rods through the concrete in which they are fixed; then cement has to be run round the rods and the whole affair has to remain at rest without being touched for six months, while the cement is hardening. Until that time at least has elapsed, the guns cannot be mounted. All those things necessarily take a very long time. Then, with regard to the guns themselves, I am happy to say that a very considerable number of them, constituting the heavy armament, have been despatched, and we have received news of their arrival. Some of them, indeed, are already mounted and some of them are being mounted. As regards the quick-firing guns which are intended to be sent to Colombo, they are already finished, and are at this moment awaiting shipment. We hope to get them off very soon. Another issue of heavy guns will, we hope, be made in May, and we hope to have all the other guns ready by the end of the year. To sum, up I may say that we hope to have the whole of the defences of Colombo finished by the end of the coming financial year.