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allotted to No. IV Section; on page 68, 4-6-6-in. Howitzers and 6-7-pr. guns are shown in this Section.
20. Page 39, fourth and penultimate paragraphs.-These paragraphs are now mis- leading. They originally appeared in the 1897 Scheme, and have not been corrected in the two subsequent revisions.
The Committee understand that a Howitzer battery at Wong-nei-Cheong has been completed, and that the General Officer Commanding is still negotiating for a site at Sandy Bay for 4-5-in. B. L. howitzers.
21. Page 39 (E), line 11.-There is now no sub-section (iii) in Chapter III (E), but such a sub-section is required to describe the action to be taken by the Royal Engineer officer in charge of telephones, as stated in paragraph 15 above.
22. Page 39 and 40 E (i) Works.-The expression "engineer district" in the first line of this sub-section is a survival from the 1897 Scheme, in the revision of which that organization was discarded.
It would appear from the note on p. 23 that it is intended that the fortress engineers should not report at once to the Section Commanders, but should on mobilization join the Reserve, apparently for employment in connection with the more important types of field-works, which, with the mat sheds, are to be carried out by contract labour. It is not stated when these details would join the Section commands, but it is presumably contemplated that after the preliminary arrangements for the work have been made they should become directly responsible to their respective Section Com- manders, the Commanding Royal Engineer only exercising a general control over the engineer duties as Staff Officer to the Fortress Commander (see Colonial Defence Committee Remarks, No. 172 K, dated the 30th November, 1897, on the 1897 Defence Scheme). There do not appear to be any very cogent reasons why the sectional organization should not come into force at once in the case of the fortress engineers. It is desirable that the point should be considered, and the arrangements recorded. Sub-section E (i) would be much improved by revision and by the addition of Tables specifying the different projects, with the details of the supervision, working parties, time and tools required for each.
23. Page 40, penultimate paragraph.-It is here contemplated to stop running the electric lights while the mines are being laid out.
The Colonial Defence Committee are unable to concur in this proposal, and con- sider that the programme of work should be based on the assumption that the lights must continue to be run at night, in accordance with the arrangements laid down in paragraph 20 of their Remarks, No. 172 R, on the 1897 Defence Scheme.
24. Page 45 (F).-It would be advisable to state the positions of the dressing stations in this Chapter as well as in Chapter IV. The method of quartering shown in Chapter II, Table B (v), does not agree with that indicated in Chapter IV. It is not clear in these two places that the Royal Army Medical Corps personnel only proceed to their dressing stations from the central hospital when their Section is attacked-the arrangement apparently contemplated in Chapter III (F).
The method of dealing with volunteers who would apply for enrolment at the Military Hospital, Wellington Barracks (p. 83), is not clearly stated.
25. Page 47, paragraph 3 (a) and 4.-It appears to be nowhere stated in the Defence Scheme where the field magazines for the sectional first and second reserve ammunition are situated.
26. Page 48, line 2.-No other reference to the visual signalling stations is traced in the Scheme.
27. Page 48, paragraph 8 (b) and (c).-The same Staff Officer is referred to under different names. Any special action that may be required in connection with guards which is not provided for in the ordinary instructions to Section
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