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C.O. No. 44369/06.
APPENDIX II.
Governor to Secretary of State.
(Confidential.) My Lord,
Hong Kong, November 1, 1906. REFERRING to your Lordship's confidential despatch of the 11th July last, I have the honour to state that I have given further and full consideration to the recommendation contained originally in paragraph 5 of the Colonial Defence Committee's Remarks No. 364, dated the 21st February, 1905, and repeated in paragraphs 4 and 5 of their Remarks No. 397, dated the 16th June, 1906, that the different corps of the Hong Kong Volunteers should cease to be under a Commandant when that office is vacated by the present holder, and that I adhere to the opinion communicated to Mr. Lyttelton in my confidential despatch of the 7th July, 1905, that it is inadvisable to do away with this appointment; but that when Captain (local Major) C. G. Pritchard, R.A., vacates it on the 1st April, 1907, it should be held by a civilian. I am satisfied that matters will work more smoothly with the volunteers, especially now that they have been provided with a good headquarter building for the use of all members, if they are kept together as one corps than if they are broken up into three, and that to keep them so together a Commandant, who will take command on all occasions when the various units parade together, and will take charge at all social functions, is necessary.
2. I propose that the civilian Commandant should be assisted by a Staff Officer for Volunteers, who will be responsible in the same way as the paid Commandant has hitherto been for all matters of finance and stores.
3. The Staff Officer should be a captain of Royal Artillery, and would also be responsible for the training of the artillery companies which form the bulk of the volunteers. This training would continue to be, as it at present is, under the general direction of the Officer Commanding Royal Artillery, who appoints the sergeant instructors, approves the courses of instruction and of practice, and himself annually inspects the companies at practice.
4. The training of the small Engineer company would continue to be, as it is at present, under the direction of the officer of Royal Engineers in charge of electric lights, who appoints the instructors and annually inspects the unit and examines its members in their work. The connection between this unit and the Royal Engineers, with whom its members would work in war, is already closer than that between the Volunteer Artillery companies and the Royal Artillery, by reason of the Engineer volunteers being able to work together with the regular troops at night practice of electric lights, while the Volunteer Artillery companies, armed with field and Maxim guns, cannot usefully perform any part of their training with the British companies of Garrison Artillery who work the heavy guns of the fortress. I have considered the proposal of the Colonial Defence Committee that a junior officer of Royal Engineers should be specially appointed adjutant to the Engineer company, but see no special advantage to be derived from such an appointment.
5. The training of the volunteer Troop has hitherto been largely in the hands of the lieutenant of volunteers commanding it. This is a Mr. C. H. Ross, of Messrs. Jardine, Matheson, and Co., who, together with natural military aptitude and good horsemanship, combines considerable experience in mounted infantry work from having served as a mounted volunteer in the operations in North China in 1900, for which services he was mentioned in despatches, and from having for some time commanded the mounted infantry detachment of the volunteers at Shanghai. He brought that detachment, and is bringing this one, to a satisfactory state of smartness and efficiency, and I doubt whether matters would be improved by associating with him as adjutant a lieutenant of the British infantry battalion here. An annual inspection of the Troop by the Officer Commanding that battalion would, however, be an advantage, and arrangements will be made for it. The connection between a civilian Commandant of the volunteers with this detachment would be practically confined to commanding them as well as the other volunteers on the comparatively rare occasions when they appear on parade together. The Staff Officer would deal with questions of finance, stores, &c., that affected the Troop in the same way as he would deal with similar questions affecting the Artillery and Engineer companies.
6. The Colonial Defence Committee lay stress on the principle that the officer responsible for commanding troops in peace should be the officer who will exercise command over them in war. Even, however, if there were no Commandant, but independent volunteer officers commanded the Artillery and Engineer units, these commanding officers would not be in charge of their units on mobilization, the Artillery companies being broken up into detachments told off to the four sections of the defence, and the Engineer company being split up into small parties detailed to the different engine rooms and electric light emplacements. The appointment of a Commandant does not in itself involve the violation of the principle on which the Committee lay stress, while it is a distinct advantage that there should be a headquarter Volunteer Staff to raise, equip, and train the additional volunteers that will come in, and to organize the Volunteer Reserve Associa- tion as a fighting unit when its members are enrolled in time of war.
7. I am addressing your Lordship in a separate despatch on the matter of filling the appoint- ments of Commandant and Staff Officer of Volunteers.
I have, &c. (Signed)
M. NATHAN,
Governor, &c.
PRINTED AT THE FOREIGN OFFICE BY J. W. HARRISON.-- 12/1/1907.
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