No. SECRET.
NUMBER AND DATE SHOULD BE QUOTED IN REFERENCE
TO THIS LETTER
Sir,
GOVERNMENT HOUSE,
HONGKONG,
190
17th February,1926.
X
The Naval Commander-in-Chief, Sir
Edwyn Alexander-Sinclair, the General Officer
Commanding the Troops, Major-General C.C.Luard, and I have for some time past been engaged upon
a scrutiny of the means of defending Hongkong
against oversea attack. In this task we have been
assisted by the advice of the Hongkong General
Defence Committee and of the Officers of the
Aircraft Carrier, H.M.S.Hermes. I now enclose
a copy of a joint memorandum in which Admiral
Sir Edwyn Alexander-Sinclair, General Luard and
I agree.
2.
This memorandum deals with the
defence of Hongkong, under actually existing conditions, against an attack by an enemy from overseas, and you will observe that both the
Naval and Military Authorities consider that
under actually existing conditions we could do
no more than defend the island of Hongkong and temporarily deny an enemy the use of Hongkong
harbour, but that we could not hold the mainland.
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
LIEUTENANT COLONEL L.C.M.S. AMERY,M.P.,
&c.,
&c.,
&c.
This