Enclosure No. I.
11
SCHEME.
1. We are instructed to consider the question of
food supplies for the civil population of the Colony in
the case of an effective blockade by land and sea for a
period of three months.
2. The feeding of the non-Chinese population is
clearly the most important point in such a contingency both
from the point of view of the defence of the Colony and because they cannot, like the Chinese population, escape
to their own homes at short notice.
3. The non-Chinese civil population is at present
estimated at about 16,000 and our statistics are based on
that figure, although it would certainly be greatly reduced
by the departure of all Japanese and of a great proportion
of the Portuguese residents. Even the compulsory evacuation of all non-British might be necessary on other grounds. We
have not considered such a step essential from the point of
view of food supplies. The first step upon war becoming
imminent would be to compile an accurate nominal roll of
this population (which would presumably in any case be
required for other purposes). The export of all foodstuffs
would at the same stage be prohibited.
4. For meat the non-Chinese population would depend
on the Dairy Farm Coy's cold storage of imported frozed
meat. The capacity of this is ample (about 2,000 tons) for
all contingencies. The Company normally sells about 100000 lbs. of Frozen meat per month, but this figure is of no
great value as much of this goes on board ships, and
moreover many non-Chinese normally eat fresh meat which would
not be available under a blockade. On war becoming imminent
an