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equipment. If the action to be taken by the Principal Medical Officer be considered in the light of the above remarks, considerable modifications in the present proposals will probably result.
With regard to the remark at p. 31 about the aid to be obtained from civil practitioners, this appears just the point on which civil assistance might safely be relied on, and a forecast be safely made of what would be available.
22. The matter contained in Part III, E, will require to be remodelled as before mentioned in paragraph 2 of these remarks. What should be given. under this heading should be solely the action to be taken under the supervision of the Commanding Royal Engineer. Part III, E, should show whence the personnel and material required are to be obtained, and the relative order in which the different works are to be executed. For instance, in Section I the working parties aggregate some 800 men, and it may be difficult to furnish that number at one time out of a garrison of 1,432 men.
There is no detail given of the work to be executed by convict labour, alluded to at p. 17, nor of the construction of the boom which it is stated will be fixed by the Harbour Board.
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23. There are certain discrepancies in the strength of the garrisons of the various sub-sections as given in Part III, E, and as given in Part II, A, which will no doubt be rectified in revision. Again, the garrison of sub-section 2, Section I is shown in Part III, E, as located in barracks and casemates, but in Part II, A, is said to be accommodated in tents. The fact of barracks being mentioned in the former as available, points to the possibility, as suggested in a previous part of these remarks, of dispensing with tents for some portion of the sub-section garrisons.
24. The Civil Proclamation at p. 51 alluded to a "declaration of war," but attack is perhaps as probable before such declaration, which the Military Proclamation at p. 21 correctly anticipates by using the words "imminence of hostilities."
25. It is stated on p. 51 that volunteers have been enrolled for auxiliary services, but the Scheme does not show how they are to be employed, or what numbers are to be enrolled.
26. It should be clearly stated under what circumstances it is proposed to issue the Proclamation of martial law given on p. 52.
27. The Harbour Regulations, p. 51, require some amplification. Even though there are no mine-fields, Regulations will be requisite for governing harbour traffic, for insuring the overhaul of vessels arriving off the port so that no vessel may enter without a proper permit, and for defining what local official is to be responsible for these duties.
(Signed)
June 10, 1893.
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W. PEACOCKE, Secretary,
Colonial Defence Committee.
PRINTED AT THE FOREIGN OFFICE by T. HARRISON.-13/6/93.
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