2
Page 70
4. Page 4, paragraphs 25, 26, 30, and 31.--The General proposes that the Artillery Distribution Tables, the details of the Submarine Mining Defence, the return of extra supplies obtainable at short notice through Consuls in the Mediterranean, and information with regard to the position of the boom, should not be printed with the Defence Scheme.
In so far as this proposal is based on the idea of securing additional secrecy for these parts of the Scheme the Colonial Defence Committee are unable to concur in it. They attribute the greatest importance to keeping everything connected with such matters as Submarine Mining Defence strictly secret, but it seems to them that this principle should be carried further, and that the same care should be taken about the secrecy of the Scheme as a whole, as the letter under consideration shows is evinced con- cerning parts of it. If the General considers it desirable to restrict the number of copies of the whole Scheme issued locally, while at the same time giving to individual officers copies of the parts of it affecting them, the Colonial Defence Committee will arrange for separate reprints of these parts.
In so far as the General's proposal is based on a desire not to encumber the already bulky Defence Scheme with unnecessary detail, the Committee think that it should certainly be kept within the smallest possible limits consistent with clearness and completeness. They consider, however, that the utility of the Scheme, both to the War Office and Admiralty and to the General at Malta depends on this completeness, and that such matters as the Artillery Manning detail, the action to be taken by the Submarine Mining Officer, and information concerning the boom are useful for reference, and certainly as important as the returns for the Army Ordnance Department now given on pages 57 to 66. It appears to them that the excellent system on which the Scheme is now drawn up, by which most of the details are embodied in tables, makes it possible, in spite of the large amount of matter contained in it, to find at once any information required.
For these reasons the Committee decided to print in the body of the Scheme the Artillery Manning Tables and the instructions for the Submarine Mining Officer sent independently by the General, and for these reasons they recommend that he should include in the next revision information with regard to the position and constitution of the mine-field, with regard to the boom and with regard to the disposition of the permanent infantry guards, piquets, &c., which is only referred to in general terms in the Scheme.
Some additional information might, it is thought, be advantageously given in Part II under a heading "(D.)-Modes of meeting various attacks," which usually finds a place in defence schemes. The arrangements for defence outlined in the three final paragraphs of Part I on page 11 might here be expanded to show the particular directions which the various forms of attack anticipated might take, and by what troops, guns, obstacles, &c., each would be met at the outset and ultimately.
5. Page 4, paragraph 27.-The Colonial Defence Committee are informed that the decision of the Commander-in-chief with regard to the communication of orders by the Commanding Royal Engineer has been communicated to the General at Malta in War Öffice letter 40116/Malta/7.
6. Page 5, paragraphs 32 to 38.-The Committee note with much satis- faction that the arrangements for supply referred to here and given in detail in Tables I (i) to I (iii) on pages 46 to 49 of the Scheme, show a considerable reduction on the quantities required to be shipped from England on alarm of war. They consider that the more the island can be made independent of this source of supply the better, and they trust it will be found possible to do without it altogether, as the General suggests may be the case when all inquiries on the subject are completed.
The system for dealing with the food supply of the civil population (pages 80 to 82 of the Scheme) appears simple and sound; it is possible that some further decentralization, by dividing the forty-five district Committees into three or more sections, might lighten the work of the Central Committee, but this is a matter which the local authorities can best judge.
Page 70
Page 70