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of the Navy League for half-a-dozen additional guns would be inadequate. Every good landing-place would have to be covered by an armament of such strength that its fire could not be silenced by that of the enemy's fleet, or a field force would have to be maintained in the Colony of such a strength as to be able to cope with the maximum expeditionary force that an enemy unopposed at sea could bring against it. In either case the garrison would have to be very largely increased, and an additional part of the British Army rendered immobile and unavailable for the general purposes of the Empire. The adoption of this view of treating fixed defences and immobile garrisons not as a second line of defence, but as co-equal with the first line, applied to all the important defended stations of the Empire, would have one of three results, viz., an enormous addition to the defence expenditure of the United Kingdom, a great diminution of the power of the country to undertake offensive military operations, or a diminution of the strength of the navy to meet increased army requirements. The Colonial Defence Committee are confident that none of these alternatives, which would be the logical outcome of the creation throughout the Empire of fortresses "absolutely self-defensible in the absence of the fleet," is in accordance with the views of the Navy League.
They believe that that League cordially accepts the system for the defence of the Empire enunciated above, and suggest that they should impress on their local branch at Hong Kong that the fixed defences and garrison of that place should not go beyond what is necessary for meeting the form of attack which that system antici- pates. It is for this purpose only that the present approved armament and increased garrison have been recommended, and the Colonial Defence Committee hope that the many present calls on the resources of this country will not delay the completion of the armament and the permanent provision of the additional garrison. They distinctly do not recommend further additions of heavy guns to meet the special forms of attack at a distance from the harbour referred to by the local branch of the League, as they consider that the arrangements that have been fully considered and carefully organized to resist them by mobile troops and heavy movable armament are adequate and suitable.
8. In this connection the Colonial Defence Committee wish briefly to refer to the following paragraph contained in the second letter of the Hong Kong branch of the Navy League:-
"At all events, if we do muddle through somehow, it will be due more to luck than organization and preparedness for contingencies."
Unfortunately, perhaps, but obviously of necessity, the organization of the military resources of a Colony to meet the various contingencies that may arise in war cannot be publicly discussed or communicated to those interested by the officers responsible for the initiation and execution of the necessary arrangements. In these circumstances the absence of such arrangements is apt to be too readily assumed. The Committee therefore suggest that the attention of the Navy League be called to paragraph 167 of the Queen's Regulations and Orders for the Army, 1899, which lays down that the Defence Scheme for every defended port should be annually revised by a Committee of officers selected on account of their military, naval, and local knowledge, and transmitted by the Governor for examination in London. This Order, which has been repeated in the various editions of the Queen's Regulations for many years past, has been carried out with complete regularity, and the Colonial Defence Committee are confident that it has resulted in the local authorities at defended stations abroad having fall knowledge of the best means of organizing and utilizing the available resources for defence. The latest revision of the Hong Kong Defence Scherne is now before the Colonial Defence Committee, who have carefully considered in connection with it the views of the inhabitants of Hong Kong, as represented in the letters of the Hong Kong branch of the Navy League which have been referred to them,
September 9, 1900.
(Signed) M. NATHAN, Secretary,
Colonial Defence Committee.
C.O. wrote to havy League 14/9/00, copy attached.
PRINTED AT THE FOREIGN OFFICE BY J. W, Harrison,—11/9/1900, '
Approved by Sol. forwar
"that Lord Lansdowne concurd in
the memo
but presumes it will be treated as confidential & will not be communicated to the Lecreting to the hory League"
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266 НК
3 5°
X. See over.
9.10.00
as follow
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