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practitioners and of accommodation in the civil hospital for sick and wounded," and that "it will be his duty to place himself in immediate communication with the P.M.O., to whom he will give every assistance which can be rendered by himself or his staff.'
4. In dealing with the present question it may be assumed that the medical arrangements on mobilization embodied in the Defence Scheme would be in operation, and their reconsideration is now necessary on the basis that assistance will have to be rendered to the navy to meet the contingency of hospital accommodation being required at Hong Kong for as many as 1,000 naval sick and wounded (see Ap- pendix II, No. 3).
It may here be stated that the naval hospital at Hong Kong has 130 beds avail- able, distributed as follows:-
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poi
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So,
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Officers.
Other Ratings.
Total.
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17
79
96
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14
18
Sanitarium (at Peak)..
6
10
16
Total
27
103
130
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In addition to the above, two hospital ships of 200 beds each are to be fitted up on the China Station. Stores for one are already at Hong Kong, and stores for a second are shortly to be sent. How far these may be taken into consideration in the present scheme must be left for the decision of the Naval Commander-in-Chief. It may here be mentioned that there are also 33 beds at Weihaiwei and 97 beds at Yokohama.
For the proper settlement of the whole question it will be desirable that the Principal Military and Civil Medical Officers, besides consulting the Principal Naval Medical Officer as to the assistance he will require, should be closely associated with the Local Defence Committee, with a view to improving the arrangements already contained in the Defence Scheme, and arriving at more definite conclusions as to the probable requirements in war under the military conditions laid down in the Scheme, and as to the methods of meeting the labour and other difficulties involved by the carefully pre-arranged apportionment of work between the various civil and military departments.
The Colonial Defence Committee are only in a position to make a few general suggestions as to points which will require attention in drawing up a practical working scheme locally.
5. Having regard to the strategic conditions governing the Defence Schemes of coaling stations in the Colonies, the average scale on which the total number of beds required for military sick and wounded is usually calculated as 10 per cent. of the garrison, allowance being made for variations in the case of certain stations on account of exceptional climatic conditions and incidence of disease. It is suggested that this percentage of the Imperial garrison should be adopted in the case of Hong Kong. The number of beds provided in the 1903 Defence Scheme is considerably in excess of this proportion.
The provision required for the Volunteers will depend mainly on the manner in which they are to be distributed and employed in war, increased disease arising from hardships and unfavourable conditions on active service being, of course, in the case of all troops, more potent factors in such calculations than wounds received in action. It will be a matter for consideration whether Volunteers, after being attended to at the dressing stations in the Sections of Defence, should be transferred to the military hospitals or to the civil hospitals.
As regards the civil population, the increased sickness or casualties due to the existence of a naval war would not as a rule be considerable at British coaling stations abroad. The possible exodus of Chinese from Hong Kong, which is mentioned in the Defence Scheme, is a factor of which the bearing on the hospital arrangements will need the consideration of the Local Defence Committee.
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