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[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
Printed for the use of the Colonial Office.
38
CONFIDENTIAL.
No. 311 R.
HONG KONG.
119
C.O. Nos. 35942/02 and 514/03.
Report on Volunteers, May 1902.
Remarks by the Colonial Defence Committee.
THE Colonial Office have referred to the Colonial Defence Committee a despatch of the Acting Governor of Hong Kong, dated the 23rd July, 1902, transmitting a letter of the General Officer Commanding, forwarding the Report of the Commandant on the Hong Kong Volunteer Corps for the season 1901-1902.
The despatch and its inclosures are printed as Appendix I to these Remarks.
2. On the 31st March, 1902, the strength of the Hong Kong Volunteer Corps was 318 of all ranks, as against 366, 311, 181, 176 and 159 at the corresponding periods of the five preceding years. The field battery, with an establishment of 110, was 77 strong. The three machine gun companies, with an establishment of 123, had 27 beyond this number. The infantry company and engineer company, with establish- ments of 57 and 30 respectively, had 54 and 25.
The decrease in the strength of the corps during the year is attributed by the Commandant to the cessation of hostilities in North China.
3. Lieutenant-Colonel Sir J. W. Carrington, C.M.G., late Chief Justice of the Colony, resigned the position of Commandant in October, 1901, and Captain C. G. Pritchard, R.G.A., was appointed to that post with the local rank of Major from the 2nd April, 1902.
4. Major-General Sir W. J. Gascoigne is satisfied with the state of efficiency maintained. The annual camp of instruction was held at Stonecutters' Island, and is stated to have been fairly well attended. It is not stated in the Report whether the Hong Kong Volunteer Corps took part in the tactical exercises of the Regular troops.
5. Gun practice from the 2.5-inch R.M.L. guns was carried out on three occasions, and practice from the Maxim guns on five days. Regular musketry practice was resumed on the completion of the new rifle range, and the results disclosed in the present Report are very satisfactory.
The Colonial Defence Committee have been favoured with the following observa- tions on the musketry training of the corps by the Commandant of the School of Musketry, Hythe:-
"The courses were based on the provisional tables used by the Regular Forces. "The results recorded by the infantry company may be regarded as very good if the conditions of the practices were closely adhered to. The figure of merit is 1347; the mean of the parties trained at the School of Musketry, Hythe, in the same practices was 131. The classification too is all round higher than that obtained by parties at Hythe."
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