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57/HK 992 an for 3pss

4. General instructions in regard to cable censorship are contained in the Memorandum entitled "Censorship of Submarine Cables in Time of War," enclosed in the above-mentioned packet of documents.

Detailed arrangements of special application to Hong Kong are laid down in the following paragraphs.

in

5. The censorship staff will live on the premises of the Joint Telegraph Companies

Street.

6. The distribution of the censorship staff for duty will be.

7. The Censor will work in close association with the D.A.Q.M.G. in all matters affecting intelligence duties.

[Other special arrangements should follow.]

21. Page 23, (C), paragraph 3.-The duties in regard to receiving, collating, and distributing intelligence deserve somewhat fuller treatment here (cf. paragraph 10 above).

22. Page 23, (C), paragraph 4.—If a service of "scouts and runners between the outposts and headquarters of sections" is still required after the completion of the command telephone system, its organization should be worked out and recorded. No numbers are given in Chapter III (C), “ Action by D.A.Q.M.G.," nor is it clear whether these scouts and runners are the same as the 18 messengers mentioned at page 59 under "Action by O.C.A.S.C.," or among the 18 scouts and messengers referred to at page 103, bottom, under "Action by Captain-Superintendent of Police."

23. Page 24, (CC). Military signalling.-The_Brigade Signalling Officer is not mentioned in Chapter II (A), and there appears to be no necessity for the appointment of such an officer, nor for the taking over of regimental signallers from officers commanding infantry battalions, as proposed at page 24, (CC), paragraph 3, page 93, (iii), paragraph 9, and elsewhere in Chapter V. Every available rifle will be required for fighting purposes, and the simple signalling arrangements (which on the completion of the command system of telephones will probably only be required with moving troops in action, or to replace disabled telephonic communications) can with advantage be carried out by the regimental signallers with the regimental signalling equip- ment under the section commanders, as is correctly laid down in Chapter IV (i), paragraph 9.

24. Page 24, (D), paragraph 1.-If the issues to the C.R.A. were included in the time-table given at page 80 as Table H (ii), no special arrangement with the C.O.O. as to time of issue would be necessary,

25. Page 25, paragraph 8.—The statement that part of the movable armament is held in reserve by the Army Ordnance Department suggests the inference that a reduction is possible. None of the movable armament supplied is intended for reserve, as it has been decided by the War Office that all reserves for movable armament are to be held at home.

26. Page 26, Table D (i).—The chain of artillery command shows the four fire commanders directly under the Fortress Commander, instead of under their respective section commanders as should be the case.

The diagrammatic form of chain of command should be replaced by the recently revised tabular form as approved by the War Office.

27. Pages 26 and 27. Examination battery. The 3-pr. Q.F. practice battery at Stonecutter West has been told off as the Examination Battery, and the General Officer Commanding has asked for service ammunition for it (W.O. No. 57/Hong Kong/992). It has, however, been decided as a general principle that 3-pr. Q.F. guns are unsuitable even for a temporary examination battery, the report being very slight, and the splash of the shell difficult to see at a distance.

The Colonial Defence Committee recommend that a 16-pr. R.M.L. gun should be used, as proposed in paragraph 25 of their Remarks No. 340 R on the 1903 Defence Scheme, until the two 6-in. B.L., Mark VII, guns approved for Stonecutter West Battery have been mounted.

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