Coaling Stations Finance

In 1878 The Colonial Defence Committee had drawn up the first steps of a policy and funding for British Coaling Stations around the World.

The summary below shows the estimated cost of the armaments for Coaling Stations in 1887 according to the War Office.  The figures are extracted from one of the tables in The National Archives, WO 33/48 concerning financing.

This return gives some indication as to the importance of the various coaling stations.  Of primary concern to the Imperial Government was who would pay for the weapons?  The payment model favoured by the UK Government was where the armament was provided by the Imperial Government while the actual works (fortifications) were paid for by the Colony.  It should be noted that some of the listed stations, such as Labuan, were never fully established.

The coaling stations are split into 1^st and 2^nd Class  locations, the former receiving priority with funds.

As things developed the more affluent locations assumed a greater role of the costs such as Hong Kong.

The situation in respect of the 2^nd Class Coaling Stations, as listed below, was still not finalised.  At this point no decision had been made as to which stations would be defended as Coaling Stations.  As things developed, Port Elizabeth, Falkland Island, Labuan and Demerara were not established as Coaling Stations.  Other localities, such as Perim Island off Yemen, were private ventures that were commercially funded as coaling depots.  In some cases, such as Ascension Island, the funds came from the Admiralty Budget.  Other locations, such as the Fortresses of Malta, Gibraltar, Bermuda and Halifax already had established defences and coal stocks.

With Coaling Stations, the cost was not just supplying the armaments and fortifications but providing coal bunkers and then purchasing and supplying the coal to store at the facility.  The Admiralty relied heavily on Welsh Coal although Northern UK Coal was an alternative.   The coal from South Wales was regarded highly both in terms of power generated and cleanliness of use.  Thus, coal to be stored at Esquimalt was shipped over 11,000 nautical miles (13,000 miles) from South Wales.

This return showed that total expenditure for 1885 to 1888 was £419,295 with another £358,310 required to finish this work.  A sizeable amount of money which does not consider the defence of other key harbours such as Halifax.