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DEFENCE SCHEME.
5. Page 14 (B.).-The establishments as given in the "Approved Garrisons for Fortresses abroad, April, 1898,"should now be taken as a basis for calculating the force available for the defence of Malta and reference to artillery reinforcements from England on imminence of war should be omitted.
6. Page 14 (C.), Paragraph .-The list of Fire Commanders' stations is here correctly given, but on the map at the end of the Scheme they are shown in accordance with a former arrangement and some alterations are required. Nos. 3 and 5 on the map should disappear; No. 4 becomes 3; No. 6, 4; and No. 7, 5.
7. Page 15, last line. It would be desirable to substitute the recognized title of "G.O.C., R.A." for that of G.O.C., Artillery Brigade. Similarly in pargaraph 1 (A), p. 19,"artillery garrison" or "artillery forces" might be substituted for "Artillery Brigade."
8 Page 16, Table.-Gargur H.A. Battery should not be bracketted as under No. 5 Fire Command, as its own Battery Commander will act as Fire Commander for it.
9. Page 19 (A.), paragraph 3.-The words "if required" in the first line of this paragraph should be omitted. In paragraph 4 (C), page 30, it is laid down that all quick-firing guns "will be manned and ready for action every night from the time that war becomes imminent."
10. Page 20 (B.), paragraph 10.--In the Defence Scheme revised to January 1896, it was stated that "if it should be decided to lay mines in such positions as St. George's, St. Julian's, Marsa Scala, or Marsa Scirocco Bays, the personnel required should be transferred to the Section Commanders concerned," and the Colonial Defence Committee in their Remarks, No. 135 R, recommended that this should be done under the instructions of the Fortress Commander. The statement so amended has been included in the 1897 and 1898 revisions of the Scheme.
The Colonial Defence Committee understand that certain stores are available at Malta with which mine-fields might be improvised for the places mentioned above. They think, however, that the laying of such mine-fields requires further considera- tion, and they desire to call the attention of the War Office to the matter.
11. Page 20 (C.), General Instructions.-These should include electric lighting in the Central Section under the duties of the Division Officer of Submarine Mining.
The Committee understand that, in addition to the 6 lights in the Central Section detailed in Table VI on page 51 of the Scheme, 4 more have been provided, or are under provision, for that section; 3 lights, which will eventually be worked by the Fortress Engineers, have been provided for the North-West Front in the Western Section: one has been provided for St. Lucian, and one is under provision for Delimara in the Eastern Section. The trained personnel now available in Malta is quite insufficient for running all these lights. The Committee are informed, however, that this serious matter is under consideration of the War Office.
The personnel required for working lights in the Western and Eastern Sections will, of course, on mobilization be transferred to the Commanders of those sections, under the instructions of the Fortress Commander, as soon as the laying out of the mine-field is complete. Until this time all submarine mining officers and men should remain at the disposal of the D.O.S.M.
12. Page 20 (C.), paragraph 1.-The order to the Division Officer of Submarine Mining to report progress of work to the C.R.E. of his section, as well as to the Section Commander, appears unnecessary, and to clash with (B.), paragraph 7, on page 19, where it is laid down that the D.O.S.M. is under the orders of the Section Engineer for discipline and interior economy only.
13. Page 20 (C.), paragraph 3.--If it is considered that additional water transport and labour will be required by the D.O.S.M., the arrangements for obtaining it should be made now, and the names of the vessels to be hired embodied in the Defence Scheme.
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