CAB11-57-1 — Page 191

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Sub-Enclosure.

(No. 1.)

O.C.S.M. to C.R.E.

Sir,

Wellington Barracks, January 27, 1902. I BEG to inclose, for your information, a correspondence which has recently passed between this office and the Commandant, Hong Kong Volunteer Corps, about the strength of "E" Company, Hong Kong Volunteers. It will be seen that there are only 8 rank and file trained in the corps and 15 under instruction, excluding the two officers.

This shows a great leakage, as many more than this number have been trained, and it seems desirable to reconsider the conditions of service training, if the Company is to be retained, or, as I hope, increased.

It has been suggested to me that improvement might be effected if arrangements could be made for training the N.C.O's. and men at Kowloon in the same way as the artillery company are trained, but this would require some extra plant and expenditure, which would only be justified by some certainty of a successful increase of efficiency.

It is also possible that the conditions of service as regards drill, &c., may be unnecessarily severe in the case of a company which in time of war would be split up into small detachments; but of this I have no certain knowledge.

I would therefore suggest that a meeting might be arranged between myself, the Com- mandant, Hong Kong Volunteer Corps, and the O.C. "E" Company, to see if any improvements in these or other respects are possible and desirable, with the view to placing this valuable portion of the local corps on a satisfactory footing and establishing a better system of communi- cation between the volunteers and the O.C.S.M.

I am, &c.

(Signed)

W. BAKER BROWN,

Major, R.E., O.C.S.M.

(No. 2.)

G.O.C. to C.R.E.

I THINK this is a most sensible suggestion, and I recommend that O.C. Hong Kong Volunteers be approached with a view to arranging a meeting as suggested by Major Baker Brown. It must be understood that I should not feel myself justified in making any recom- mendations to the War Office unless I had some assurance that a strong and permanent addition to the engineer company of the Hong Kong Volunteers would be the result.

As regards the paragraph in Major Baker Brown's letter which touches on the question of drill, I, for one, should be satisfied if the drill of this unit were confined to the very simplest of movements, shooting being the only essential; however, these and other points could be discussed if a meeting as suggested could be arranged.

(Signed)

W. J. GASCOIGNE, Major-General.

February 1, 1902.

(No. 3.)

O.C.R.G.A. to D.A.A.G.(4).

I HAVE the honour to submit for consideration the following observations on volunteering in Hong Kong :-

1. We want artillerymen for the guns of the fortress, both for those in the works and for those that are movable.

We shall want more when the new works have been completed.

2. If the R.G.A. companies are increased, their barracks will take up valuable ground.

3. Garrison artillery is the best of all arms for volunteers, because each man can be assigned

a certain post in a certain battery, or in a certain unit of the movable armament. He can, there- fore, become thoroughly efficient with much less trouble than in any other arm.

Moreover, if assigned to a gun or other duty in a fort, a volunteer, even in war time, can nearly always be spared during business hours.

4. The "posts" in forts include those connected with scientific range-finding, the working and maintenance of telephones and other electrical installations, signalling, &c., and also such simple duties as serving out ammunition. Therefore, there is ample ground for individual choice and the employment of the skill and experience gained in men's ordinary business.

5. I understand that the field battery find the 2.5-inch R.M.L. screw guns too heavy. These before long will be withdrawn. It will then be a question whether it shall be assigned field pieces or mountain guns. The field pieces are movable, but cannot be called mobile with man draught. The mountain guns are heavier than the 2.5-inch guns, and if assigned to them the whole battery would, on mobilization, have to be kept constantly on duty at long distances from Victoria. It is impossible to train volunteers sufficiently for mountain artillery work.

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