CO129-555-4 Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps- annual report 1934-5 6-8-1935 - 6-8-1935 — Page 36

COPY.

CONFIDENTIAL.

36

Enclosure No.2.

SUBJECT: Annual Report on the HONG KONG Volunteer

Defence Corps, 1935.

From: -

To:-

C.R.C.C. No.C/12198(G).

The General Officer Commanding.

The British Troops in CHINA.

The Under-Secretary of State,

The War Office, LONDON, S.W.1.

Hong Kong,

8th July, 1935.

Sir,

I have the honour to forward the Annual Report

on the HONG KONG Volunteer Defence Corps for the year

1934/35. During that period I have frequently watched

the various units on the range, at their practice seaward,

at field exercises and at their defence posts during the

Combined Operations exercise, and I can confidently report

that the Corps as a whole is now more appropriately

organized, and the units more efficient in the task of the

defence of the Colony, than at any time during my tenure

of the appointment of General Officer Commanding The

British Troops in CHINA.

2.

In the opening words of the report it is stated

that the numerical strength of the Corps has increased by

111 since the last Annual Report. Included in this figure.

are 41 Chinese recruits in the new Railway Operating

Detachment, 17 Indians and a nett increase of 52 Portuguese in the Corps Infantry. The nett European (British)

strength has increased by 1.

3.

I estimate that, in the Colony, there are some

300 young British men of an age suitable to join the

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