tough
to enable them to form a very clear idea of the weak points in the good defence, and how the place should be
attacked.
8. I fail to see in paras: 4 and 5 of the Admiral's letter to the Admiralty, the justification he alleges for making
his report.
9. My opinion, which he quotes, and which will be found in the report
of Local Defence Committee, drawn up by me, and other correspondence, was merely to the effect that until Hong Kong and Singapore are properly fortified and armed, our fleet would have to act partly on the defensive, affording those places the necessary protection instead of being wholly independent and scouring the high seas in assistance of our commerce.
10. I presume the movements of the fleet in regard to the protection of
the Coaling stations would be guided rather by actual facts as to
the condition of the defences, than by any exclusive hopes of the enemy knowing nothing about them in these days of foreign military attachés, whose raison d'être is to find out everything worth knowing, for which ways and means abound in a country like ours.
#1.
Respecting the Singapore defences, I have already, as General Officer Commanding, reported to the Adjutant General, Horse Guards, to whom I refer; and the enclosed copy of
memo: since received from the Commandant Straits Settlements, will give that General Officer's version of the occurrences said to have happened.
12.
And
I know something about dynamite and
cotton operations and the results affected thereby, having had
to study the question when sent to
the