Page 53
12
The proportion of men continuously on service may be made up of men volunteering for the duty, or of men detailed by roster.
(e.) The same principle may be allowed to hold good for the "movable column," whose services would in all likelihood only be required as a whole in the event of hostilities being imminent.
4. As regards clause 2, it is satisfactory to note that the strategical considerations upon which the Defence Scheme is based have been correctly stated.
5. The amendments indicated in clauses 3, 4, 5, 6, and 13 will be adopted in the future edition of the Scheme of Defence, and a sheet of corrigenda issued forthwith.
6. With reference to clause 7, it may be as well to state that it is contemplated to utilize the unappropriated balance of the Naval Brigade for the purpose of manning additional torpedo-boats for harbour defence, and for manning a small coasting war- vessel for service in the estuaries and lakes with which the coast of New South Wales abounds. It is held that a feeling of security to the maritime towns and villages` would be engendered by the occasional visit in time of war or national emergency of a small armed vessel. It would, moreover, be useful to maintain such a vessel for the conveyance of war material and for Staff officers visiting those parts of the coast where local companies of volunteers may be improvised, and which are remote from railways and other means of ready access.
7. With reference to clause 9, I would submit that, incontrovertible as the -criticism contained in this clause may be, yet the defences of Port Jackson and Botany have been designed and planned with the view of resisting an attack such as is described. It seems advisable to me that a Scheme of Defence, which has been framed as much for the tactical instruction of the partially-trained troops as for the Staff concerned, should indicate such a form of attack, and how it should be met. Strong as the existing defences and natural advantages for defence of Port Jackson, Newcastle, and Botany may be, it is as well for the troops concerned to be warned that it is the "improbable" which so often happens in war.
8. With reference to clause 10, the arrangements made for denying the jetties and mining plant to an enemy have been carefully considered, having in regard the possible loss to the Colony thereby. In each case careful instructions have been framed for the destruction only of such a portion of the jetties as would cause delay in their repair for six and twenty-four hours respectively. The exact spots at which the destruction would take place have been selected, and the charges of gun-cotton laid down,
It may be as well to observe that the occupation of Wollongong itself is unnecessary to enable cruisers to coal at jetties other than Mount Kembla, Port Kembla, and Wollongong.
9. With reference to clause 11, it is not contemplated by the instructions laid down that vessels should be sunk until the necessity arose.
10. With reference to clause 12, it may be observed that the gorges of the works at Middle Head are closed, and are provided with permanent defence. Plans have been made for similarly protecting the works at George's Heights, and would be put into operation by means of contract labour as soon as a national emergency rendered such an action advisable. Arrangements have similarly been made for an abattis, flanked by caponiers, to prevent a force landed on Hunter's Beach from establishing itself on George's Heights, or gaining access to the high ground above Obelisk Bay.
11. With reference to clause 14, the instructions therein conveyed have been duly considered in connection with the instructions recently received from the Admiral Commander-in-chief of the Australian Station upon the subject of "Coastal Inter- communication in time of War."
12. The Scheme in future will be marked "Secret," and the signature of the Major- General Commanding, as President of the Local Defence Committee, will be omitted from the title-page.
(Signed)
EDWARD T. H. HUTTON, Major-General and Aide-de-camp, Commanding Military Forces, New South Wales.
APPENDIX (B).
Minute by the Major-General Commanding the Military Forces of New South Wales on the *Revision of the Defence Scheme to March 1896.
Head-quarter Staff Office, Sydney, March 5, 1896.
With reference to my Minute of the 15th November, 1895, relating to the "Defence Scheme of New South Wales," and my Minute of the 15th January last upon the "Joint Naval and Military Committee's Report of 1894," I have now the honour to forward herewith three copies of the "Defence Scheme of New South Wales,"
Page 53
32
Page 53