Page 153
Page 153
This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.
Printed for the use of the Colonial Office. November 1901.
SECRET.
No. 278 M.
HONG KONG.
C.O. No. 29156
Storage of Ammunition for Foreign Navies.
Memorandum by the Colonial Defence Committee.
THE Colonial Office have referred to the Colonial Defence Committee a despatch of the Governor of Hong Kong, dated the 15th July, 1901, on the subject of the storage of ammunition for foreign navies in the Colonial Magazine.
The despatch and its inclosures are printed as an Appendix to this Memo- randum.
2. The Merchant Shipping Consolidation Ordinance, 1899, section 36, provides inter alia that there shall be a Government Gunpowder Depôt under the control of the Harbour Master, who is to be furnished with particulars of explosives arriving in the Colony, and the master is to take the vessel to the Gunpowder Anchorage. No person, without the permission in writing of the Governor, is to keep, except at the Government Gunpowder Depôt, more than 20 lbs. of gunpowder, 2,000 safety cartridges, or any quantity of other explosives. Nothing in this section is to apply to His Majesty's or foreign ships of war, or hired armed vessels, or to any Government
stores.
3. It appears that in the case reported by the Governor the French Consul followed the ordinary procedure prescribed in the case of explosives entering the Colony, although, technically speaking, the above provisions do not apply to Govern-
ment stores.
4. The general question of the expediency of giving facilities to foreign navies was fully discussed in the Colonial Defence Committee's Memorandum, No. 186 M, dated the 19th July, 1899, on the Measures of Precaution required for the Security of British ports abroad, copies of which were communicated to the Governors of all Colonies.
5. The objection raised by the Governor of Hong Kong to the landing of boats' crews from foreign warships near the fortifications in order to remove the ammunition from the Colonial Magazine appears to be met by the following extract from the above-mentioned Memorandum :----
"Special restrictions on visits to the neighbourhood of the local defences by men landed from foreign ships of war are not considered desirable, as with the powers given by the Official Secrets Act and by local Acts against sketching and trespassing in fortifications, it should be possible to prevent successful espionage of the details of works and armaments, not only by men in uniform, but by officers in plain clothes, who might be able to evade the special restrictions in question."
If the approach to the Colonial Magazine is such that the details of defence works can be observed by persons carrying explosives there, this would be an
[1115]
Page 153
100
Page 153
Page 153