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14. Page 16 (C), 3.--The arrangements for housing the garrison will require reconsideration now that the Militia as well as the Police have to be provided for.
15. Pages 13 and 14 (C), 1.—The Colonial Defence Committee concur in the opinion of the Governor contained in paragraph 3 of his letter dated the 24th Novem- ber, 1897, covering the Defence Scheme (page 1), that special legislation to enable transport to be requisitioned in British Guiana is not advisable. The amount required in connection with the Defence Scheme is small. The Table on page 14 shows in columns (4) and (8) 1,150 animals and 500 carts to be necessary, but the second Remark at the foot of the same Table only details 75 carts [?], while the fourth Remark estimates the daily cost of transport at 600 dollars. Presumably the transport for getting stores, &c., into position will only be hired for the time that that operation will take, viz., one or two days, and afterwards very few carts and animals will be necessary. This, however, is not very clear from the Scheme, and some further consideration of the matter appears desirable.
16. Pages 16 (C), 3 and 4.-Information as to the amount of stores required and the places whence they are to be drawn should be given in the Scheme, instead of a statement that such information "must be drawn up beforehand." A similar remark applies to the proposal that a Scheme must be prepared with regard to exceptional expenditure for defence purposes.
17. Page 16 (D). Some of the duties given under the heading "Officer Com- manding Artillery," those, for instance, detailed in lines 4 to 8, refer to time of peace as well as war, and should not properly be included in the Defence Scheme.
The reference to electric lights should also be omitted under this heading unless an installation which might be utilized for defence purposes actually exists, which does not
appear from any other part of the Scheme to be the case.
A Table should be given showing the manning details, and the arrangement for reliefs, if these are to be provided, should be explained.
18. Page 16 (E).-As there are no Royal Engineers in British Guiana, the heading "Officer Commanding Royal Engineers" should be changed to " Officer in charge of Engineer Works."
It is considered that the proposed breastwork to the east of Georgetown should be given a higher command, say, 7 feet, and a greater thickness of earth at the top. It is suggested, also, that a shorter length with flanks thrown back would be more effective in barring the road from the east, and would correspond better with the number of men available for the defence. To occupy effectively 600 yards of parapet would require 600 men in the firing line, and this number would not be available.
In view of the probable nature of attack on Georgetown, and the relatively considerable personnel which would be available to defeat it at the outset, the necessity of damaging considerably the Public Building in order to put it in a state of defence against an external aggressor seems doubtful, nor does it appear that women and children would have much to fear from a civilized enemy, who alone would attack from over sea. Apparently, it is only the European women and children that it is proposed should take refuge in this building, which could not contain any large propor- tion of the helpless inhabitants of a town of 53,000 souls, so that it is probably against a native rising that the Scheme contemplates the defence of this building. In that case, the work required to protect it from attack need only be taken in hand when there was grave reason to fear a rising. The proposal to deposit specie there at the outset of war is, however, sound, and a strong guard should be told off for its protection.
It is understood that the Q.-F. gun battery, which is the permanent defence of Georgetown against ship attack, has now no defensible enceinte on the land side beyond a low parapet and a shallow ditch. As there might be an attempt to capture the battery and destroy the guns by a landing party, it is suggested that the parapet should 'be raised and the ditch deepened on apprehension of attack, and that the arrangements
for carrying out this work should be embodied in the Scheme.
19. Page 17 (F).-The Defence Scheme should contain an estimate of the additional hospital accommodation, and equipment that will be necessary on the assump- tion that, say, 10 per cent. of the garrison may have to be provided for in hospital.
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