521
4
17. The Lutai Supply Depôt would be transferred to the port of Ching Wang Tao (possibly to Shanbaikwan in the hot season), where I wish to locate one company.
18. I would leave a few men as caretakers at Shanhaikwan so as to keep our hold on that place.
19. All the above reductions would amount to about 8,8001. annually, and as the cost of the re-distribution scheme which I suggest would not, as I have already shown, exceed 6,0001. a-year, there would be a net saving of about 2,6001. annually (which would be increased as time goes on), combined with greater efficiency in all respects,
20. Some of the economies which I have suggested might well take place imme- diately, namely in the case of the senior medical officer (8731. per annum), the Royal Army Medical Corps quarter-master (3901. per annum), the Staff Captain for Intelli- gence (7241.), one Intelligence branch clerk (631), and the 2501. grant for Intelligence purposes may be reduced to 150. These sums amount to 2,150%.
21. In conclusion, I would point out that the old Chinese buildings used as barracks for the Legation Guard at Peking are in such a dilapidated condition, owing to badly weathered and rotten timbers, cracked and bulging walls and supports, that they may become dangerous without warning in a few hours after heavy rain or a strong gale. I understand that the cost of erecting suitable buildings at Peking, which are most urgently required, would be 11,5001. for the barracks and 5,5001. for officers' quarters, workshops, roads, and drains, a total of 17,0001., so that the saving to be effected by my concentration plan (2,6007. per annum) would cover this expenditure in less than seven years' time.
22. Building operations can only be carried on in North China, owing to climatic conditions, between April and November as a rule, and as it would require seven or eight months to build the barracks for ten companies at Tien-tsin and to have them ready for occupation, I will be greatly obliged if a cablegram be sent informing me whether I may conclude a contract on the terms stated in a preceding portion of this despatch for barracks for ten Indian companies at Tien-tsin. I could scarcely receive a letter in reply to this one before the early part of April 1907, and, if the scheme be sanctioned, some time would be required to enable detailed arrangements to be made. Land and building and the cost of labour are all apparently rising at Tien-tsin, in which case the proposal, if it is to be adopted, will cost less now than later.
23. The estimates for new barracks for the Legation Guard at Peking have been already transmitted to the War Office.
I have, &c.
(Signed) W. H. H. WATERS, Brigadier-General,
Commanding the Troops in North China.
}
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]}
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[7318]
(No. 26.)
(Telegraphic.) P.
No. 1.
Sir Edward Grey to Sir J. Jordan.
BRITISH troops in North China.
Your telegram No. 7 of the 12th January.
[March 7.]
SECTION 1,
Foreign Office, March 7, 1907.
Is there, in your opinion, any objection on political grounds to the concentration recommended in General Waters' despatch of the 13th December to the Army Council?
[2418 g-1]