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a manner as possible it is sometimes forgotten that heavy guns can on emergency be worked with reduced numbers until the arrival of artillery reinforcements from the central reserve or from batteries not engaged, but that every man unnecessarily removed from the mobile defence for sedentary duty represents a real loss although this cannot be shown as a deficiency from an arithmetically calculated total.

It may be added that as the whole of the approved armament has to be manned it makes no difference, so far as numbers are concerned, whether the Volunteers take the movable or the fixed guns. The number of non-commissioned officers and men required for manning the fixed armament is 836 (W.O. No. 20/Artillery/2914) or, adding 10 per cent. for casualties, 920. There are provided in Army Estimates for 1903-4, 1,084 Regular artillery, and of these 1,028 were efficient on the 1st November last. There seems therefore no sufficient reason for calling upon the Volunteers to assist in the task, to them uncongenial, of assisting the Royal Garrison Artillery in subordinate and laborious capacities with the heavy guns, while they can usefully be employed in making good the deficiency in the numbers required for movable

armament.

The Committee are therefore of opinion that the training of the Volunteers should be confined to manning light mobile armament and to machine gun and infantry duties, for which more Europeans at Hong Kong are much required, and that they should not receive a partial training with the fixed armament as is still proposed in the correspondence under consideration. A similar proposal at Singapore has recently been negatived by the General Officer Commanding with the entire concurrence of the Colonial Defence Committee.

4. Major Pritchard expresses the opinion (Appendix II, Enclosure 1 in No. 1, paragraph 5) that the Hong Kong Volunteers could not be organized in one company for work with the movable armament and one as a machine gun or infantry unit, specially trained to machine gun work, because a choice would have to be given to the men as to which company they preferred to join, and it is natural to suppose that the great majority would favour the lighter work, and so render the garrison company too small for further use.'

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The history of the Hong Kong Volunteers summarised in paragraph 8 of the Committee's Remarks, No. 311 R., shows, however, that since 1883 when the "field battery" was formed, enough Volunteers to man from 8 to 12 field guns have always been forthcoming, although for the last ten years the Volunteer Corps have possessed Maxim guns of their own, and for much of that time there has been dissatisfaction with the artillery armament of 7-pr. guns of 200 lb. There seems therefore a reasonable prospect of keeping up 100 to 120 men for light artillery duties provided that due encouragement is given to this part of the corps.

The Colonial Defence Committee consider that Volunteers cannot be expected to make themselves proficient in the service of two weapons so different as field guns and machine guns, and, strictly speaking, Volunteers manning machine guns ought not to be described as artillery; but, in order to meet the point raised by the Commandant, they recommend, as the simplest means of obtaining the services required from the Hong Kong Volunteer Corps with the least possible dislocation of existing arrange- ments, that the constitution, titles and uniform should remain unaltered for the present, but that steps should be taken by the Commandant to ensure as far as possible the specialization in either movable armament duties or in machine gun duties of all ranks belonging to the two-company unit designated the Hong Kong Volunteer Artillery (Hong Kong Volunteer Regulations, 1902, section 5, and first schedule), and that officers and men should as far as possible be posted to the two companies according to their qualifications for artillery or machine gun duties, as the case may be.

The question of pattern of small arms will in future present no difficulty as the Government of Hong Kong are re-arming the Volunteers with the new short rifle, which is equally suitable for artillery and infantry.

5. The report on the Engineer Company shows that the training of this valuable addition to the garrison is conducted on sound principles, and that the company is in a satisfactory condition of efficiency.

(Signed)

J. E. CLAUSON, Secretary,

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Colonial Defence Committee.

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December 18, 1903.

5.S.W. 5/1/04 1.0. 083/3968.

Approved by 5.5.0

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