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This would allow of all the Company and the gun mules being trained to the drill, and of a section being sent out on something like war establishment.
Lines for men and mules required adjacent to the Company's barracks. Sixty sets of saddlery received with equipment.
111
(Signed)
A. R. FRASER, Lieutenant-Colonel, and Colonel, R.A.,
O.C.R.A., China.
No. 5.
:
1
(No. L.D.C. 31/01.) Sir,
Letter of General Officer Commanding.
Hong Kong, April 13, 1901. WITH reference to previous correspondence ending with my letter No. 1462/193 of the 4th January last, the entire question regarding the distribution of personnel and the utilization of the latest approved movable armament sanctioned for the defence of the Colony to its fullest advantage has been recently receiving my close attention, and I have now the honour to submit final and definite proposals thereon.
2. I must admit, with regret, that proposals which I have submitted from time to time have not been altogether consistent. Opinions which I have expressed have had to be formed as circumstances have arisen, and the circumstances have been such as to cause me on occasions to alter those preconceived. Now, however, as I am in the position of knowing exactly what guns I shall have at my disposal, I am able to give you a final and complete scheme for utilizing them in the defence of the Colony. The whole question has required a great deal of working out, involving, as it does, inter alia, questions relating to the number of men available for manning these guns.
3. I have now definitely decided, although this is in defiance of my last letter on the subject, that a whole mule battery is a most essential component of this garrison. The old 2.5-inch guns were adapted to coolie carriage, however unsatisfactory it proved to be, but I have now to deal with a gun of a very delicate mechanism. On further inspection and consideration I find the 2:95-inch are not so adapted, as the proximity to the ground and the oscillation engendered by this mode of coolie carriage is a fruitful source of danger. Any bump against a rock or stone, or any slip or fall might so injure the recoil cylinders or the delicate mechanism of the guns as to render one or more of them disabled and out of action at a critical moment. A form of transport is required which admits of their riding high and clear of the ground and none surpasses mule transport.
The solution of storing the guns adjacent to the tactical positions they would occupy as suggested in the Inspector-General of Fortifications' letter No. Hong Kong 12/307 of the 26th January last is accompanied by so many difficulties as to render such an arrangement impracticable. The positions are isolated and difficult of access and the guns, if stored in their proximity, would require numerous guards for their safe protection omitting too the undesirability of disclosing the positions which such an arrangement would involve. Again, although the guns may be allotted to certain sections of the defence, it does not follow that they will not be required else- where depending, as it does, entirely on the direction an attack on the island may take.
4. Besides, the question of my being called upon at any moment to send out a movable column in which these guns would play a most prominent part, is one of such vast importance that I must give it every consideration. In fact, the dispatch of a movable column into the new territory now enters into the scheme of defence. It has gone far to influence the decision at which I have now arrived. And I may in support thereof here instance the recent experience of the battery that went from here, in the fighting round Tien-tsin. Not a coolie nor an animal was to be had, and 100 infantrymen and all the gunners were absorbed in dragging the guns, with the utmost labour, into action, all of which would have been obviated had mules been available. What has occurred once will in every likelihood occur again. Not only are coolies unsuitable for the carriage of these 2.95-inch guns but they are not to be depended upon when emergency arises and it is to meet emergency that preparation has to be made. I have also been able to modify my previously expressed opinion as to the climate being unsuitable to mules under the light of experience obtained since the Expeditionary Force came to China. There have been a quantity of mules in Hong Kong since July last and up to date there has not been a single casualty. Their well-being I am now of opinion is merely a matter of proper feeding and good stable management, and this would be attained by the training of drivers experienced in the care of mules. It is under these circumstances that I now most strongly recommend the formation of a whole mule battery, and ask that the early entertainment of the complement of mules for the battery of 2.95-inch guns which I have received be considered, and for the organization of this battery in all respects exactly similar to that of an Indian mountain battery with its establishment of drivers, &c., be sanctioned. If sanctioned speedily, opportunity will present itself of obtaining the requisite number on the break
up
of the China Expeditionary Force, or, if the Government of India cannot spare them, of their being purchased in North China by the officer who is at present purchasing for the Indian Government.
5. Having made my recommendation for the formation of a mountain battery, I now turn to the question of the distribution of the personnel available for manning the remaining guns of the movable armament.
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