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CONFIDENTIAL.

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Inspection of Troops and Defences at Hong Kong, by the Inspector-General of the Forces, 6th to 10th February, 1907.

On 6th February, 1907, I arrived at Hong Kong.

I was met on arrival by the Governor, Sir Matthew Nathan, K.C.M.G., and by Major-General R. G. Broadwood, C.B., Commanding at Hong Kong.

2. I was much impressed with the immense advance this Colony has made since my last visit, 17 years ago. It is impossible to travel in the Far East for any length of time without being struck by its huge and increasing possibili- ties, and the great advantage Great Britain possesses in the magnificent port at Hong Kong-a free port. Such a possession must excite the envy of other countries, who are on the alert to acquire, and are using every endeavour to oust us from the position of commercial supremacy we have in the past enjoyed. Events of the past years have completely changed the Far Eastern political situation; we have witnessed the China-Japanese war, the advent of Germany as a political factor of importance, the occupation of the Phillipine Islands by America, and finally the Russo-Japanese war and the rise of Japan into the ranks of first rate Powers (both naval and military, as well as commercial).

There are other factors which may still further change the aspect, viz., the development of Japanese aspirations, the awakening of China, and the com- pletion of the Panama Canal, which will establish American power in the Far East on a different footing.

These are facts which we cannot afford to overlook and which, in my opinion, it is necessary to bear in mind in any discussion regarding our defences in these seas.

3. Lately we have sent out to visit our defended ports the Committee under the Presidency of General Sir J. F. Owen, K.C.B., to report on the state of existing defences, those in contemplation, and to make suggestions.

I am cognisant of the general tenour of these recommendations, and I must say that in the main I agree most cordially with them. But whilst on the subject I feel it my duty to state that considerable feeling has arisen amongst the various Governors, Naval Commanders-in-Chief, and General Officers Commanding, that they, as executive officers on the spot, have neither been consulted nor asked their views.

I feel strongly that this was a mistake, and that the same, or even better results, would have been arrived at, had a little more courtesy been shown to the officials on the spot.

The policy of doing away with obsolete and redundant armament is so manifestly a correct one-and one I have always advocated-that it has been a marvel to me that such a Committee was not long ago appointed. I go further and urge the necessity for such a Committee to report on coast defence, both at home and abroad, at least once every ten years. We may then hope that our defences will keep abreast of modern improvements and changes in the political world.

4. I understand that the reference supplied to the Owen Committee precluded it from any consideration of defence from land attack. This may have been a wise provision, but I venture to submit that in some places it is not wise to make so drastic a proviso.

At Hong Kong the scheme of defence was evidently drawn up when the Chinese frontier was practically at Kowloon, and not a few of the guns were sited to bear on the mainland. Now by our recent treaty with China we have leased the whole of the Kowloon peninsula for 70 years, thus creating the

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