OP Y.
ecret.
Enclosure 1.
Head Quarters,
South China Comand,
Hongkong, 15th. April, 1912.
103
Your Excellency,
In reply to your Secret letter without number of the 11th. April, 1912, giving cover to a copy of a telegram from the Secretary of State for the Colonies regarding a certain lease, I have the honour to inform you that the Military object- -ions to the said lease were most fully detailed in my lo.K/376 of 25th. August, 1911, to His Excellency the Governor of Hongkong and in my K/378/4 of lat. September, 1911, to the Secretary of
the Army Council.
2.
I am still of opinion that from the point of
view of the Fortress Commander here these objections to the pro- -posed lease are very strong ones and are equally applicable to a similar lease of any site in the Colony.
3.
As however a copy of the above letter was sent under cover of my K/378/4 of 1st. September, 1911, to the Secretary of the Army Council these objections, to which I can add nothing further, have already doubtless received due consider- -ation from superior authorities at Home and have, for reasons I presque of general political or economical expediency, been held insufficient to make it advisable to refuse the rant of the lease
As Fortress Com.ander here in view of the
4.
small strength of the Garrison I much regret this decision.
5.
As regards reservations about the Cable fut
and its appurtenances. The only safeguards which appear to me
feasible are:-
(a). That the Cable Hut snould be enclosed on the
South, East and West sides by a wall loopholed for Musketry and
extended by a high unclimable fence well out into the sea on the
Western and Eastern faces.
(b).
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