H.M.S." CORNFLOWER TELEPHONE 31860
LADY
TOWN OFFICE TELEPHONE 3348′
30
HONG KONG NAVAL VOLUNTEER FORCE
A. S. R. 9
Certain members of Hong Kong Naval Volunteer Force were mobilised by His Excellency The Governor under a Proclamation signed by His Excellency on 30th August. Others were mobilised under Proclamation on 4th September.
One week has elapsed since I issued the first "Auxiliary Services Routine" which are orders issued to mobilised officers and men and relate to routine duties and the operation of Hong Kong Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve under war conditions.
I selected the words "Auxiliary Services" because they describe the duties that H.K. R. N.V. R. will fulfil for the present Night Patrols, Examination Service, Minesweeping and Minewatching duties for which members have been preparing themselves since H.K. N. V. F. was formed five and a half years ago.the revived this particular use of the word "Routine" from my experience of word as used by the Captain of Motor Launches of the Dover Patrol in his daily issue of Motor Launch Routine (11. L. R.) during the last war,
about which
A week is a short period to review events but so much progress' has been made during that period that it is worthy of record.
This young Force had been concentrating on training and was suddenly mobilised under war conditions. Its volunteer officers were given the problem of organising a routine to cover all the varied duties of the unit and to put that routine into operation. It was necessary to have "Cornflower" moved from its moorings into the Dockyard Basin and to remove the Town Office and staff into the ship. At the end of one week we have settled down to a fairly satisfactory routine. The rough edges have been removed but much has yet to be done, and is being done, for the personal comfort of officers and men,
It may be taken that H.K..V.F. has secured the honour of being one of the first, perhaps the first, Naval Volunteer Units within the British Empire to be mobilised and sent to sea, before the outbreak of war,
with its own officers in command of some of the craft of the auxiliary vessels flotilla. Within one week its own officers are in command of all the ships of the flotilla. One Minewatching station has been manned, the Examination Service is in operation, and the Communication service is also in operation.
My officers and men must have sensed the pride I have felt in them and it is with great satisfaction that I have received a message from His Excellency the Governor
"The outbreak of war between Britain and Germany has inevitably imposed upon me the necessity of calling up a considerable number of the members of the Hong Kong Naval Volunteer Force. It is a very regrettable fact that that process cannot yet be regarded as being ended.
"I wish in the first place to acknowledge both the ready alacrity with which those who were called up turned out and the high senge of public spirit of many of their employers who were seriously embarrassed by the sudden depletion of their staffs.
"Secondly I appeal to all employers to undertake to take back into their businesses the Volunteers thus lled up as soon as they are released. "
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