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CHAPTER VI (i).

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(4.)-Action by Secretary, Sanitary Board.

1. The second of the Proclamations to be issued by the Colonial Secretary calls upon volunteers for sanitary duties to apply at the Sanitary Board Office to receive instructions.

2. It will be the duty of the Secretary of the Board to confer with the Colonial and Military Authorities as to the best means of utilizing the services of such volunteers and the allocation and distribution of the work to be performed by them. He will himself use his best endeavours to draw up a scheme based upon the numbers of volunteers and the nature of the services to be performed.

(5.)-Action by Harbour Master.

The important responsibilities of this officer in the event of war are detailed in the following regulations for harbour traffic. These responsibilities will be amplified when the further instructions now being considered by the War Office have been issued to the station, and drawn up in detailed form.

Regulation of Harbour Traffic.

The following regulations for harbour traffic will be put in force when considered necessary, at the discretion of the Governor, in consultation with Senior Naval and Military Officers, and notification of their being put in force will be sent to the neighbouring ports in China, Japan, Singapore, Manila, &c. :—

1. The concurrence of the Senior Naval Officer will be obtained before any steps are taken to interfere with the free entrance of vessels into the harbour.

2. Mines will be laid down and will be made active, only with the concurrence of the Senior Naval Officer.

3. On the outbreak of war directions will be given to the mercantile marine of the positions outside which vessels must bring-to for examination.

4. Acting under the direction of the Senior Naval Officer, the Harbour Master is responsible for regulating the admission, outgoing, and conduct in harbour of ships of all kinds. He will also arrange for the anchoring of the smaller class of ships between Devil's Peak and Kowloon Rock.

5. In the Harbour Master's office is a list of 130 launches which may be hired for examining purposes, and also a list of officers of the mercantile marine who might be engaged at short notice. All expenses in connection with the examination of shipping will be borne by the Colony.

6. All steam-vessels and ships will be made to bring-to for examination outside Lyemun Pass if entering from the east, or in Belchers Bay if coming from the west, and will not cross a line joining Lyemun Reverse Battery and the north-east point of the Lyemun Pass on the east, and a line joining Stonecutters West and Belchers Point Battery on the west, until provided by the Harbour Master with the permissory signal, and with either a pilot or full instructions as to the passage to be taken through the mine-fields. All such ships coming from the west will enter by the Sulphur Channel.

When the enemy's vessels are in the China Sea in the neighbourhood of Hong Kong, merchant vessels will be chary of leaving the port, and there will thus be no difficulty in obtaining Britishers for the examination service. Under ordinary circumstances it is not possible to do more than indicate whence the supply of examining officers should be obtained.

7. Junks and local sailing-craft will at night, if coming from the east, anchor in Sywan Bay, or if it is blowing strong from the north-east, in Junk Bay; if coming from the west they will anchor in the red sector of Green Island light.

By day they will be permitted to enter the eastern entrance, but on the west they will be subject to the regulations which are laid down in paragraph 6 for steam-vessels and ships; if allowed to go at their own free will they might purposely or by accident become entangled in the mine-fields.

8. The permissory signal will consist of flags by day and coloured lamps by night, to be altered from day to day, and will be sent daily to O.C. Sections I and V by the Chief Staff Officer

9. Any steam-vessel or ship attempting to pass the lines above indicated without showing the permissory signal will be first warned by a shot fired across the bows. If this is insufficient, she is to be treated as an enemy both by batteries and mines without further question.

10. No steam-vessel or ship is to leave the harbour without receiving a pilot or instructions from the Harbour Master for her guidance through the mine-fields.

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