*
H
The Befences of Hongkong.
moment utterly defence-
ONGKONG is at the present
less. There are certain defensive works in existence and in progress,
but they are utterly useless for any practical purpose; they are worse than useless, and the sooner the truth about them is told, and the more plainly it is told, the better for the Colony and for the Empire.
The capture of this island by a hostile fleet or army, or even the partial destruction of this city, would mean, to most of us, ruin, The loss of the colony or the destruction of its dockyards, arsenal and stores would be a heavy blow to English supremacy in these seas, and might lead, as has been pointed out by writers at home, to many more serious disasters,
That Hongkong should be well and effectively defended is, therefore, not only of great national importance, but is a matter in which each of us is directly and personally interested, and this pamphlet is written with a view to bring clearly and plainly before the inhabitants of this Colony the utterly inefficient character of the defensive works proposed and now in progress, to point out in what respects and why they are inefficient, to indicate what measures of defence are absolutely needed, and to stir up the merchants and others interested to act promptly and vigorously to put an end to the wasteful expenditure of public money that is now going on, and further to obtain from the Imperial Government such a change of measures and men that we shall no longer be the laughing-stock of every foreign naval and military man who passes through the place,
The writer is not going into details. He has not the material at hand. He is not going to argue the question as to the relative powers of guns, their range and ability to pierce this or that number of inches of iron. He is not attempting to depreciate the fighting qualities of our officers or men, or to say or insinuate that British pluck and British energy could not, if hard put to it, defend this place à Foutrance against any force that could be brought against it, and make good that defence. Such things have been done before and with less efficient means than exist here, and will be done again if needs must. But the order has been given to put Hongkong in a defensible state. value and importance as a British outpost in the Far East has been recognized. Money has been voted and is being expended to enable it to defend itself without having recourse to heroic measures or being put to desperate straits, and that money is being wasted, by whom it does not matter, but it is being wasted, and the plainest dictates of com- mon-sense, to say nothing of military science, are being set at naught in the work that is being done.
Its
The city, and the harbour with its shipping, and the dockyards and stores on the Kowloong shore are Hongkong. Yet not quite-
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