CAB11-57-1 — Page 170

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6

No. 3.

Letter of War Office.

(083/3671.) Sir,

War Office, April 19, 1900.

WITH reference to your Confidential letter No. 1970/1 b, of the 14th February last, I am directed to acquaint you that the Secretary of State for War has approved of the formation of a small Coolie Transport Establishment with the Army Service Corps in your command, as a tentative arrangement for one year, in lieu of hiring coolie labour for transport services under contract. The Establishment to be as follows, the expenditure being kept within the present limit under the contract system :-

4 Headmen, at 48 Carriers, at

10 dollars per month.

8 "

"

I am to add that the men should not be enlisted, but employed on a weekly engagement. A report of the experiment should be furnished at the end of the present year, statements being furnished showing the daily services performed by the coolies, and what the cost would have been if the service had been performed by contract.

I have, &c.

The General Officer Commanding in

(Signed)

A. G. RAPER, A.Q.M.G. (for Q.M.G.).

China and Hong Kong.

No. 4.

Sir,

Letter of General Officer Commanding.

Hong Kong, January 4, 1901.

I HAVE the honour to report that as a battery of 2·95-inch Q.F. guns with sixty sets of saddlery for mule transport having been received, the circumstances under which I wrote my Confidential letter* of the 14th February, 1900, withdrawing my previous proposal for a mountain battery to be added to this command, are to some extent modified.

2. I would now propose that a small cadre of mules and drivers, &c., should be maintained and attached to the Hong Kong-Singapore Battalion Royal Artillery.

3. There are at present in the station thirty-four mules fit for the purpose, captured and sent here by General Gaselee from North China, and the remainder could probably be obtained from the same source without any expense.

4. A table of personnel I would propose, with monthly rates of pay, is forwarded herewith. The jemadar should be obtained from a mountain battery in India, and the drivers and the followers should be enlisted there.

5. This Establishment would enable the whole battery to be drilled, and the equipment of the gun mules to be fitted, and the whole kept in serviceable order, and a section or half- battery would be dispatched at short notice with a good supply of ammunition and complete for

service.

Under-Secretary of State for War.

I have, &c.

(Signed)

W. J. GASCOIGNE, Major-General,

Commanding in China and Hong Kong.

Enclosure in No. 4.

TABLE of Personnel, &c., required for Maintenance of a Mountain Battery at Hong Kong.

Driver's Establishment for Mules.

1 Jemadar

1 Havildar

3 Naicks

Personnel.

40 Drivers

1 Farrier

1 Smith

1 Collar-maker

5 Followers

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1

36 Mules (Ordnance) and 1 Pony.

}

{

1

Rate of Pay.

Remarks.

Dol. c. 44.00

Also rations and clothing.

I

10 25

25 05

t

300 00

t

19 80

h

9.00

9.00

t

35 00

452 10

To be attached to one of the Hong Kong-Singapore Battalion Companies.

* No. 2 above.

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