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Appendix No. 4.
SINGAPORE.
Armament.
Future modifications.
Recommendation
of all kinds, flanked from the collateral entrenchments. The defence, therefore, under the conditions required, will not be difficult, neither need the armament be heavy. I would recommend that twelve 40-pounders breech-loading rifled Armstrong guns should be provided for the positions, and also a battery of 9-pounders muzzle-loading rifled guns to be run by drag-ropes to the particular sites required at the time, emplacements being prepared beforehand. All the guns should fire over-bank with maximum lateral range.
127. Of course this project of defence on the land side will have to undergo modifications as the place becomes more important, and as foreign nations find themselves in the possible position of sending a more formidable expedition than that assumed, and when, therefore, the attack will be of a more prolonged character than that against which now we have to provide.
Garrison.
128. It remains for me now only to consider what should be the garrison to carry out the about present garrison. proposed scheme of sea and land defence in an effective manner. The present garrison of the Straits Settlements consists of one battalion of Infantry of 900 men and one battery of Artillery of about 100 men.
These troops are now distributed between the three Settlements of Singapore, Penang, and Malacca, and the first step to be taken in considering the question of garrison would seem to be to recommend the concentration of this force in Singapore, leaving the peace of the other Settlements to be maintained by the police, the military being summoned by telegram from Singapore, in the event of any serious riots or outbreaks.
Garrison for sea defences.
Garrison for land defences.
Lascars.
Native rifles.
Militia.
Total forces available.
129. As regards the sea defences, I have prepared Table II, from which it will be seen that the proposed garrisons amount to two batteries of Artillery and a wing of the regiment. Considering the general condition of the batteries and of the manner in which the guns are mounted, I have deemed it sufficient to provide detachments of eight men per gun of the greatest number of guns that can be fought at one time (Column 4), but I have, in addition, allowed three men per gun for magazine and sentry duties (Column 5), and a reserve of one-half of the whole (Column 6), to assist in fighting the guns, to supply casualties, and to beat off an assault, independently of, or conjointly with, the gun detachments, as the case may be. This gives a total number of eighteen men per gun (Colunin 7).
130. Of this number two-thirds may consist of Infantry, as the proportion of six artillerymen per gun (Column 8) will allow four to be on duty with the gun and two for magazine and reserve duties.
131. I have only taken one relief, as the defensive operations will not be of the continuous nature of a siege, but local and occasional only.
132. A body of Artillerymen will also be required for the guns of the land defences which, allowing that six guns are the greatest number likely to be served at one time at Fort Canning, amount to twenty-four in number.
133. Allowing as before six Artillerymen per gun, we see that there are required another 150 men of this branch of the service. I would recommend, however, that Sikh Lascars to this number be enlisted as a separate body to supplement the two European batteries and be distributed throughout all the defences with them. In Perak, Sikhs have been drilled in artillery duties and have given their officers every satisfaction. The gun-lascar of Hongkong, on the other hand, is physically too small and weak to make a good gunner with heavy ordnance.
134. To supplement the wing of the regiment available for the land defences, three companies of native rifles, each of 100 rank and file, should be raised and maintained. They may be recruited from the Malays of Province Wellesley, and be organized on the basis of the old Ceylon Rifles. Thus we will have 900 men available for defensive purposes, without counting 150 armed police, who could be properly trained, and receive a trifle extra pay upon getting a certificate of proficiency.
135. The police force could well spare this number of men upon an emergency, and still have 350 men available for civil duties.
136. Properly organized as a Militia, and properly officered, there would be no difficulty, moreover, in raising a body of 200 Europeans, of whom the present Volunteers would form a nucleus.
137. Thus the forces which will be available for land defences are:-
Infantry Artillery
Militia Native Rifles
Armed Police
Men.
450
150
200
300
150
1,250
Number available for offensive operations.
Engineers.
Total
which, added to the 650 for the sea defences, makes a grand total of 1,900 men.
138. The length of front of the land defences is about 5,700 yards, of which we may assume that about one-half cannot well be attacked on account of the many obstacles of inundation, abatis, and scarped ground, so that we practically have about one man to every two yards of front. Looking at the country over which the enemy's expedition will have to advance, the conditions under which the attack and the defence are undertaken, and the ease with which-reinforcements can be brought by the defence to the point where the attack is developed, I consider that, out of the force available, 250 men could be spared for reconnoitring and offensive operations, leaving 1,000 men for the passive defence proper.
139. In addition to the force proposed, a detachment of Royal Engineers should be provided, including a section of submarine miners, to whom may be attached a native Militia as boatmen, and for the simpler work generally connected with submarine mining, so that the total force of different descriptions engaged in the defence would amount, in round numbers, to 2,000 men,
HENRY E. McCALLUM, Licutenant, R.E.
(Signed)
January 17, 1880.
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