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This Document is the Property of Her Britannic Majesty's Government.]
Printed for the use of the Colonial Office. June 22, 1899.
י
SECRET.
No. 218 R.
HONG KONG.
C.O. Nos. 1373 S. and 8343 S.
Defence Scheme revised to December, 1898.
Remarks by the Colonial Defence Committee.
THE Hong Kong Defence Scheme, revised to December, 1898, is on the whole a satisfactory and practical Scheme. It would be further improved by a thorough revision, with a view to amending its general arrangement, removing repetitions which have crept in, and generally elucidating the text, which is obscure in some places. Several of the Colonial Defence Committee's Remarks, No. 172 R, dated the 30th November, 1897, on the Defence Scheme revised to June, 1897, appear to have been overlooked, and the full effect of others has not been apprehended. The defects are, however, chiefly matters of editing, and, except in regard to the Traffic Regulations, do not materially affect the value of the Defence Scheme.
The details enfaced in colour on the map received with the Scheme showed some discrepancies when compared with the text of the Scheme and with the manuscript sketches referred to at p. 52. It is desirable that these details should, on revision, be corrected to show the state of the fixed defences at the date of revision, the examination lines, the section boundaries, and the command telephone system.
Covering Letters of General Officer Commanding.
2. Page 2, Paragraph 6.—The Committee have not thought it necessary to print the memorandum by the Harbour-master advocating a system of scouting by an armed flotilla of steam-launches, which is not concurred in by the Local Defence Committee. The proposition is contrary to accepted principles of defence, and appears to owe its origin to an exaggerated estimate of the advantage that an enemy would secure if he succeeded in landing parties on the south side of the island. This advantage would be but small, having regard to the nature of the attack anticipated under the strategic conditions of the fortress, as indicated on p. 6 of the Defence Scheme, viz., the predatory raid of a few cruisers, which would be in constant expectation of having to oppose Her Majesty's ships, and whose available landing parties would not be formidable in point of numbers. An enemy who, having succeeded in effecting a landing on the south side during the night, should proceed to attack the passes over the ridge, would be committed to a very hazardous enterprise, and the existing arrangements of the scheme of defence appear to deal satisfactorily with such a contingency.
The memorandum by the Harbour-master brings out incidentally the serious disadvantage which arises from the fact that Gap Rock still remains Chinese territory. The Joint Naval and Military Committee on Defence and the Colonial Defence Committee have recommended on previous occasions that the Hong Kong possessions should include Gap Rock Island, on which the lighthouse to the western approach is situated, and the Colonial Defence Committee now desire to again urge that a concession of that island should be sought by IIer Majesty's Government.
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