118
Inclosure 13 in No. 224.
Sir,
Singapore, April 28, 1878. WITH reference to our conversation on the recommendation of the Temporary Defence Committee, I have the honour to bring the following points to your Excellency's notice:-
Mount Palmer is beyond effective range of the north-east entrance to the harbour, which I believe is also the easier entrance, and is quite inadequate to protect the shipping. It is unsupported by effective fire from any other point. It does not command the new harbour at all. Its expense magazine is only calculated to hold about 4,000 lbs. of gun- power in barrels ; or in cartridges, in metal-lined cases, about seventy rounds per gun for the three 68-pounders to be mounted there.
Magazine A in Fort Canning, where the reserve gunpowder is stored, is about a mile and a-half off.
Fort Faber is in a very dilapidated condition, as far as can be seen through the brush- wood and jungle that obscure the battery. It can only bring one gun to bear in the entrance of the new harbour, the working of which gun would be too slow to cause much damage to a steamer entering. Wherever the second gun is placed in this fort its value can only be slight. It must be remembered that the embrasures at Palmer and Faber restrict the guns in their lateral range, and that even were they cut down, and the guns made to fire en barbette, the racers would only allow the same lateral range as before. The magazine at Fort Faber, like that at Palmer, is out of repair, if in existence, and I have no record of its capacity. The emplacements for the guns at Tanjong Kutong are not yet made. The position is isolated; there is no magazine; the approaches are difficult; it is a long way from its source of supply at Fort Canning. The detachment defending it could be easily cut off by a boat attack.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
His Excellency the Governor, Straits Settlements.
L. F. HALL, Lieutenant-Colonel, R.A., Commanding Royal Artillery, China and Straits Settlements.
119
The Committee is of opinion that, in view of the relative positions of the various coal wharves in New Harbour, and with reference to the limited means now at command for their protection, it would be desirable, upon the declaration of war, to remove to a place of safety up the Singapore River the best of the coal now stored at the Admiralty Wharf at Pulo Bran
The objections that have been locally raised to Pulo Brani as a coaling wharf would enable the authorities to remove this coal without causing public attention or alarm.
In regard to the large stores of coal in the yards of private companies, it would, in the opinion of the Committee, be premature just yet to take steps for the removal of any quantity, but later on it would be desirable to make arrangement with the companies to deport the larger proportion of their stock up the Singapore River also, or to some other place of safety, which can be readily done in lighters, leaving only such quantities near the sea as might with facility be destroyed, in the event of its being necessary to do so on an emergency.
C. A. S. DICKINS, Colonel Commanding, Straits Settlements. CHAS. F. HOTHAM.
Singapore, May 4, 1878.
(Signed)
J. F. A. McNAIR.
The Governor will feel obliged if the Defence Committee will consider and inform
him whether they would advise the fitting out of one or two torpedo launches as a feature of the temporary defence measures which they have already recommended.
WILLIAM C. F. ROBINSON.
May 4, 1878. The Defence Committee, Singapore.
(Signed)
The Defence Committee, after consideration, are clearly of opinion that it would be desirable to purchase at once a suitable launch to be fitted up for torpedo purposes.
(Signed)
C. A. S. DICKINS. CHAS. F. HOTHAM. J. F. A. McNAIR.
.
7
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 885
Inclosure 14 in No. 224.
Further Report of Defence Committee.
THE Defence Committee, having read and considered a letter to his Excellency the Governor from the Officer commanding Royal Artillery in China and the Straits Settle- ments, dated the 28th ultimo, in which the inefficiency of the batteries at Mounts Palmer and Faber is brought into notice, and the site at Tanjong Kutong for a temporary sand-bag battery condemned, but in which no suggestions are offered of more favourable sites for the placing of the available 68-pounder guns in position, are still of opinion that the course recommended by them in their former Reports for the hurried defence of the Settlement is the best that can be devised; and the Committee are further strengthened in this belief from a perusal of the able Report of Sir William Jervois on the defences of the place, in which the sites of Mounts Palmer and Tanjong Kutong are selected for the more perma nent batteries.
Though Mount Faber, it is true, has not been so selected, it has the advantage of providing for immediate use substantial brick-and-mortar platforms for two Henry guns, which will more or less command the entrance to New Harbour, a point which, in the view of the Committee, is of no small importance.
(Signed)
Singapore, May 1, 1878.
C. A. S. DICKINS, Colonel Commanding, Straits Settle-
ments.
CHAS. F. HOTHAM, Captain, R.N.
J. F. A. McNAIR, Colonial Engineer, Straits Settlements.
May 4, 1878.
Colonial Secretary,
Will you ascertain if a suitable launch can be procured for this purpose at a reasonable rate? If so she should be fitted at the dock on Captain Hotham's drawings with as little delay as possible, and then placed in the hands of the Senior Naval Officer for completion.
WILLIAM C. F. ROBINSON.
May 6, 1878.
His Excellency the Governor,
(Signed)
I looked at a variety of steam launches on Saturday, in company with the Senior Naval Officer, Master Attendant, and First Licutenant of the "Charybdis," and we found only one suitable launch.
She is a very fine fast boat, just completed by the New Harbour Dock Company, and would be a most serviceable boat for general purposes, being a seagoing launch. She could be bought, I believe, for 7,000 dollars. There is no other boat so suitable, but one that is being built and will be ready in six weeks or two months is admirably adapted for a torpedo launch.
J. DOUGLAS.
May 5, 1878.
(Signed)
Inclosure 15 in No. 224.
Further Report from Defence Committee.
ON a perusal of the Circular (Secret) from the Right Honourable the Secretary of State, dated the 20th March, 1878, and forwarded by his Excellency the Governor for the consideration and remarks of the Defence Committee of the 30th ultimo,
Inclosure 16 in No. 224.
His Excellency the Governor,
May 14, 1878. IN pursuance of your verbal instructions on my minute of the 5th instant, I have tried the steam launch, in company with the First Lieutenant of Her Majesty's ship "Charybdis," and the Master Attendant, and we found that though she is somewhat
4
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
·ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO