immediately pressing me to write to you, that nuances the expediency, the necessity of a Small Guard over the Prisoners about to be placed in the Convicts Hulk at Stone Cutters Island.
On this subject the acting Colonial Secretary has already addressed the Commander of the Laws. "If the Garrison under date 8 Jan last,
I would beg your reference to that letter and its reply from Lt Col Krody in which the numerical weakness of the Garrison is admitted.
I would add that recent occurrences within the Gaol have convinced me of the necessity of a small guard (say a sergeant and twelve) over the prisoners.
It is proposed to detach most of them, desperate men convicted of the gravest offences and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment.
But on the general question, I would call your attention to some few facts. In 1848, Geo Bonham was directed to enquire into the military wants of the Colony; he placed these at the lowest possible amount to which he thought they could be then reduced, 1129 men; the Commander-in-Chief, then Governor, having also in view the reduction of the force, put this number at 1400, the population was then 26,500, and the attention of the Colony was confined strictly to the Island of Hong Kong.
I believe that after that date, representations of the inadequacy of the
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