C. O P Y.
No.: 2391.
Enclosure No. 3 to Despatch No.44 Zor the 4th.
C. O.
45603
Sir,
October, 1902,
.0
5 NOV
H.. H.. S.. "Tamar",
Hongkong, 8th. June, 1900,
11
I beg leave to bring to Your Excellency's notice the fact that the land on which the Naval Rifle Range at Kowloon is now situated was granted to the Admiralty in 1873 for use as a Rifle Range "so long as the land is not required for building on or other important "purposes"
The land has since been held on these conditions, never having been required for other purposes, and I should be glad to know if the Hongkong Government would agree to the conditions being waived and the Admiralty given a permanent tenure of the land.
In putting this matter forward I would draw attention to the necessity for giving every facility for training men in musketry practice, and if it could be felt that the Naval Authorities were secure in their possession of the Range at Kowloon, there is every probability that an arrangement would be come to by which the Military would also reap considerable benefib.
This arrangement has already been under the consider- ation of the Naval and Military Authorities nd is proposal that the old Military Range at Kowloon shall be made safe up to 300 yards and transferred to the Navy in exchange for the use of the Range at Stone- cutter's. By this means the Naval Musketry practice can be centralised at Kowloon, and be carried out as efficiently as if the Stonecutter's Range were being used in addition to the present Kowloon Range. The Military Authorities would then have the sole use of the Range at Stonecutter's and thus be relieved of the great difficulty they now labour under of having no means of carrying out Musketry practice ex- cept when the Navy can lend one of their Ranges.
It is not bard to recognise therefore bow great would be the benefit to both branches of the service, and the Commander- in-Chief bas desired me to ascertain whether the Government of Hongkong would allow of the scheme being carried through by co-operating with the Naval and Militery Authorities and granting the land to the Admiralty.
I have etc.,'
His Excellency The Officer
Administering the Government of Songkong.
(81.) F. Powell, Commodore.
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