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(2.) Reserve Division (Saigon).
"A mere bluff "; it is composed of four armoured vessels-
1. "Redoutable "-armoured cruiser of 8,000 tons, 14 knots; the only one of fighting value.
2. 46
Vauban "almost past use; cannon thirty years old; hardly do 8 knots; best not spoken of."
3 and 4. "Styx" and "Acheron," gun-boats; equipment not complete; would do very well in the Deltas.
This division costs 542,000 fr. a year.
(3.) Mobile Defence (Saigon),
Seven or eight torpedo-boats and destroyers, some of which are old and useless, and two river gun-boats, useful only for police work.
(4) Local Station of Annam-Tonkin.
(a.) "Kersaint," small cruiser of only 14 knots, 1,200 tons, not protected; good, but insufficient, artillery.
(b.) Two river gun-boats, "which cannot come out of the Baie d'Along.”
3. M. Deloncle's Proposals.
On the 13th April the Deputy of Cochin-China, M. François Deloncle, submitted to a Parliamentary Commission a report on the defences of Indo-China, and a vote was taken, with the result that his proposals have been adopted practically in their entirety. The principal points, according to the "Courrier Saigonnais as quoted by the "South China Morning Post," are:-
Y
1. Indo-China must be put in a position to defend itself long enough to allow a French fleet to come out sufficiently powerful to defeat the enemy and retain command of the sea. A common plan of operations should be established between the Colonial, Naval, and Military Departments.
2.--(a.) The bases at Saigon and Cape St. James should be consolidated, and new bases created at Along Bay, Kamranh, Fort Dayot, and Pulo Condore.
(b.) All the old armoured vessels of no value in the reserve division should be discarded.
(e) The establishment of a second naval base at Hongay should be given up and
a mobile system of defence created.
(4.) The permanent stock of coal at Saigon should be increased.
(e.) The floating dock now in construction should be used pending the establish- ment of a second dock for repairs.
(f.) The maritime defence in Cochin-China should be reorganized and one in Tonquin organized.
(g.) Wireless telegraph stations should be organized.
3. A sanatorium for European troops should be established.
4. Recruits should be enlisted locally to act as reserves.
5. The necessary expenses for the work must to a large extent be borne by Indo- China itself.
According to an article in the "Petit Journal," M. Deloncle estimates the expense of carrying out his proposals at 210,000,000 fr.
(Signed) GEORGE COMBE.
Inclosure 2 in No. 1.
Sketch of Old and New Proposed Routes of the Yünnan Railway.
[Not printed.]
Inclosure 3 in No. 1,
Map of Railway Systems of Indo-China, June 30, 1905.
[Not printed.]
A
Pakhoi, June 30, 1905.
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