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Chapter III of the Scheme under the headings of the various officers who will be responsible for carrying them out.
Chapter
12. Page 21 (A)-In paragraph 8 of their Remarks No. 171 R, the Colonial Defence Committee stated that it appeared very desirable that the Governor should express an opinion with regard to the proposal made by the Inspector-General of the Constabulary in the Defence Report of February, 1897, to the effect that a large proportion of the population of Accra should be sent into the interior on the outbreak of hostilities. As the present revision of the Defence Scheme repeats this proposal and extends it to Cape Coast and Elmina, and as the Governor makes no remarks with regard to it, the Colonial Defence Committee assume that he concurs in this action being taken.
13. Page 21 (B).--The Colonial Defence Committee are unable to concur in the proposal made under the heading "Lights," to the effect that the lighthouses at Accra, Cape Coast Castle, and Cape Three Points are to remain unlighted during the progress of hostilities--nor in the statement, on which it appears to be based, that the safety of navigation is in no way dependent on these lighthouses.
The principle which has been laid down by Her Majesty's Government is that no lights are to be extinguished or buoys or marks removed in war, which form the ordinary aids to navigation in peace time, and the only exception contemplated to the application of this principle is the extinguishing of lights within the defences of a port at the time of an attack, or the displacement of buoys or marks within a port where compulsory pilotage has been imposed upon all traffic.
In the case under consideration the light at Cape Three Points is essentially there for the safety of navigation, and the lights at Cape Coast Castle and Accra, though port lights in one sense, are in a wider sense necessary aids to navigation; their extinction would hamper our maritime trade along the coast at a time when it was most undesirable to do so.
14. Page 21 (C).—A list of the look-outs here referred to should be given.
15. The Colonial Defence Committee recommend that the revision of the Gold Coast Defence Scheme, in accordance with the foregoing remarks, should be under- taken by the Local Defence Committee without delay. They would point out that it is not necessary to send home the revision in duplicate, but that a duplicate copy should, of course, be retained by the Governor when he submits the revised Scheme.
(Signed)
M. NATHAN, Secretary,
October 20, 1898.
Colonial Defence Committee.
PRINTED AT THE FOREIGN OFFICE BY J. W. HARRISON.---
-22/10/98.
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Document is the Property of Har Britannic Majesty's Govern 264 of 290
Printed for the use of the Colonial Office. November 10, 1898.
SECRET.
No. 198 R.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA.
C.O. No. 21125.
Report of the Military Commandant, 1898.
Remarks by the Colonial Defence Committee.
THE Colonial Office have referred to the Colonial Defence Committee the Report of the Commandant of the Local Forces of Western Australia for the year ending the 30th June, 1898.
2. During the year under review the Permanent Force has been increased by 2, the partially-paid Force by 32, and the Cadet Corps by 129, and a Volunteer Reserve Force has been been started by the enrolment of 8 men. The total strength on the 30th June, 1898, exclusive of Cadets, was 807, including 59 non-efficients.
There have been a few changes in organization, generally in a right direction. The infantry at Perth, Freemantle, and Guildford, have been formed into battalions, and the inefficient Northampton Rifles have been disbanded.
Two 15-pr. B.L. field guns have been received in the Colony, and two more are said to have been ordered.
With regard to training, the four days' Easter encampment was attended by 60 per cent. of the Permanent and partially-paid Forces, and by the bulk of the Cadets. About half the strength of the Field Artillery went through a four days' course of garrison artillery work at Albany. The Infantry musketry training is reported to have been satisfactorily carried out.
3. The Commandant makes the following recommendations in his Report:--
(i.) That the number of Imperial non-commissioned officers employed as instructors should be increased.
(ii.) That a suitable drill-hall should be provided for each military unit. (iii) That an annual bounty should be given to Cadets for good conduct and attendance at drills and parades.
(iv.) That outfit allowances should be given to officers.
The first and second of these recommendations were brought forward in the Commandant's Report of last year, and indorsed by the Colonial Defence Committee in paragraphs 8 and 9 of their Remarks, No. 175 R., dated the 26th February, 1898. With regard to the third and fourth recommendations, though the Committee recognize the advisability of encouraging the training of Cadets, and the passing of technical examinations by officers, they also recognize that the extent to which this may be effected by pecuniary grants is a matter that the local authorities are in the best position to judge. The grants proposed by the Commandant would not involve a very large total expenditure, and if in the opinion of the West Australian Govern- ment they would tend to increase the efficiency of the forces, the expenditure would appear to be justified.
[1889]