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Colonial Defence Committee's Memorandum No. 46, however, still require more ample treatment, and some minor discrepancies in detail call for correction.
6. Chapter II.-The position of the Head-Quarter Staff should be shown under the heading of Distribution of Troops. Also an effort should be made to reduce the number of employed men, which, as shown by the Tables, forms a serious deduction from the total strength of the garrison. It is suggested that it might be possible to replace many of them by hired civil labour.
7. Chapter III, p. 21, which treats of the action to be taken by the Staff and Departments, will require considerable alteration on revision. As at present arranged the action to be taken has been placed partly in this Chapter and partly in section 12 of the local standing orders, which has been printed in Chapter V of the Scheme. This arrangement defeats one of the principal objects aimed at in the preparation of a Defence Scheme, which is, that each responsible Staff Officer should have, ready to hand, in one document, instructions showing in detail, without the necessity for further research, the action he is to take on mobilization. It will, therefore, be advisable on revision to make the instructions in this Chapter as complete and full as possible. Instructions should be added showing the action to be taken by the Intelligence Officer mentioned in (X), p. 24.
8. The general review of measures to be taken, p. 23, should be drawn up in the form recommended in paragraph 8 of Memorandum No. 46 of the Colonial Defence Committee, the action to be taken by each officer being kept separate, and, as far as possible, divided into days. The present arrange- ment is not clear, and does not show the state of progress on any given day after the commencement of the mobilization.
9. The four launches mentioned in paragraph 110, p. 76, are not included in the Table on p. 28. Possibly it is intended to employ the Government steamers mentioned on p. 86; but, in any case, the Officer Commanding Army Service Corps should be told how he is to procure these launches.
The Scheme should explain, under Barracks, p. 27, how the garrisons of the various forts and positions are to be accommodated; the positions of camps should be stated, and the details of equipment required for each worked out and embodied in the Scheme.
10. The action to be taken by the Officer Commanding Royal Artillery should be treated more fully. The principal details which have been omitted relate to the quartering of the Artillery, the provision of ammunition for the movable armament, and the movement of these guns to their positions.
11. The action to be taken by the Commanding Royal Engineer has now been worked out in detail, but it would be a clearer arrangement if the Tables of working parties, the description of the works, and all other information connected with the works to be executed by each particular officer, were grouped together. Each officer responsible for the execution of work would thus find in a concise form all that concerned his action. These instructions might conveniently be drawn up in the shape of orders.
The roads leading to Mount Faber and the Alexandra position (p. 14) are not included in the list of works to be constructed by the Commanding Royal Engineer. Possibly they could be made in peace time by prison labour, as is being gradually done in Mauritius.
As no provision is made for work at Blakan Mati Redoubt it is presumed that that work has been already completed.
12. The action to be taken by the Principal Medical Officer should be drawn up in detail in accordance with paragraph 17 of Memorandum No. 46 of the Colonial Defence Committee. The Scheme at present gives practically no information on this important matter beyond showing the distribution of the existing medical staff.
13. Table (A), p. 53, should give in detail the issues required for the full war garrison. This Table would be clearer if the actual issues to be made by the Senior Ordnance Store Officer were separated from the stores in the hands of the garrison. Tables should be added showing the issues of ammunition and tools to be made by this officer, and he should be told how he is to procure the necessary labour and transport.
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