RICTLY
The Inter- national bituation.
gkong
te anta
affected.
Are our Defences
Suffer::
CONFIDENTIA Ž.
Enclosure
Namorandum regarding Defence,
20584
Rece REG 22 AUG 10
There is I think no necessity for me to
455
waste time in demonstrating that the International situat- -ion gives cause for the most serious anxiety at the pre- -gent time. The Senior Navel and "ilitary Officers to whom
I have spoken regard the situation as critical. There are
two separate wars spoken of as daily topics of conversation
*.g. Great Britain and Germany, and America and Japan. I believe that not one of these four Powers has the slightest
inclination for war but at any moment a question might
arise and suddenly grow critical, and the nation concerned
wight consider that it could not withdraw without humilia-
tion, and find itself involved against ita will. In either of these wars, we should find ourselves involved, and our
existence at stake.
th
The preparedness or otherwise of Creat
Britain to face such a strugrlo, is not a matter orar
which * in Hongkong have any control, we can only
consider what would be its immediate effect upon ourselves, and how we can in our own interests, minimised the risk of logs to ourselves. I cannot in this Memorandum go into
questions of Schemes of Defence, and the probable situat-
-ion in which we should find ourselves at the outbreak of
war for these matters are of course confidmtial. Put it is
sufficiently obvious to every man who thinks for himself,
that, however effectively our fleet were reinforced in
these waters, a period equal to the time it would take the
reinforcements to reach the Far East would have to elaj se
during which we should have to depend vary largely upon
ourselves, and even at a later period our defence must be
adequate to repel any raid which had dodged the Fleet. The
vital question to us is
*
Are we in a position to do this 7
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