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Appendix No. 4. following communication he has received from Commodore Sir F. Richards, K.C.B., commanding on the

Station, after the Report had been submitted for his perusal :---

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

Purpose of this Report.

家

December 24. Having been absent from the Cape during the sitting of the Committee, and not having taken part in its deliberations, I can only express a general concurrence in the Report. I have already, in a letter addressed to Sir Bartle Frere,* dated the 6th December, 1879, given my opinion on this subject, which is somewhat opposed to works (clauses 11-13), mainly on the grounds of too extended a distribution for estimated personnel. I entirely concur in opinion in paragraph 16, but do not consider it would obviate the necessity of the provision mentioned in paragraph 17.”

I have, &c.

(For Assistant Military Secretary),

(Signed) G. E. BOYLE, Major, D.A.A. and Q.M.G.

Inclosure 3 in No. 31.

Preliminary Report of Committee on Local Defence, Cape of Good Hope. 1881.

THE following Report has been drawn up, agreeably to the instructions contained in the letter from the Secretary of State, dated the 8th June, 1881,† with reference to the measures considered necessary by the Committee for the more efficient protection of Cape Town and Simon's Bay-places defined in the said letter as being "ports of the highest importance as coaling and refitting stations both for Her Majesty's ships and for the mercantile marine of Great Britain and her Colonial and Indian dependencies."

2. The defences of the entire Cape Peninsula are comprised in the works erected for the protection Defences of the Cape of the places above mentioned, and the existing works, as well as those proposed, have been considered by the Committee under the following heads, the strongly-marked natural features of the peninsula rendering obvious the lines of demarcation between the different groups :-

Peninsula.

Enumeration of Table of :- Bay defences (a).

Fort Wynyard.

Proposed work at Green Point.

Work on Signal Hill recommended.

(a.) Table Bay.

(b) Hout Bay and Chapman's Bay.

(c) Simon's Bay.

3. Taking these in order, the existing works for the defence of Table Bay are found to consist

1. Fort Wynyard.

2. Amsterdam Battery.

3. Imhoff Battery.

4. Fort Knokke.

5. Craig's Tower.

Of these, the Imhoff Battery, and in its present form, Craig's Tower, have been left out of conside- ration; the remainder will be considered in the above order, that is, from west to east.

4. As regards Fort Wynyard, the Committee are unable to acquiesce in the opinion expressed (by Colonel Nugent) in the Confidential Memorandum that it is self-defensible, inasmuch as it has not sufficient accommodation for the men required to fight the guns, and is destitute both of cooking arrangements and of a water supply. The Committee would recommend that, should the armament of this work be altered, as proposed, by the substitution of three 18-ton guns, to be shielded, for two out of the five 7-inch guns now mounted, the three remaining 7-inch guns should be mounted en barbette, since their range, as at presented mounted, is so restricted laterally that in many cases only two guns could be brought to bear on a given spot.

5. For the purpose of making Table Bay "a port of refuge and refitting station in which ships may lie in security," a work to the westward of Fort Wynyard is considered absolutely essential by the Committee on the grounds that at present an enemy's vessels lying a certain distance west of Green Point could entirely command the flank and rear of Fort Wynyard, the magazine, the docks, and the lower part of Cape Town, at a distance of 2,600 yards, and that from a position in which it would at present be impossible to bring a single gun to bear upon her. For such a work Green Point itself would seem to be the most suitable site, especially as by its selection Three Anchor Bay would be This work should be really self-defensible, provided brought within the scope of fire from the work.

with casemated accommodation for the necessary detachment of artillery to serve the guns, and for one of infantry also, since the communication between it and Cape Town would be unavoidably quite exposed to an enemy's fire. It should be placed à fleur d'eau, and be armed with the heaviest guns thought advisable-at least two guns, 10-inch or upwards-since it would certainly have to bear the whole brunt of an attack from the westward. Such a work would be able to render most valuable support to Fort Wynyard; they would, in conjunction, close the left flank of the line of defence against shipping by rendering it impossible for any vessel to approach on that side to bombard the docks in the face of such a fire as they would be able to direct against her.

6. To obtain additional support for the work at Green Point and Fort Wynyard, and more especially for the former as most exposed, it is recommended that an inclosed work should be constructed on the slope of Signal Hill, which might serve as a keep to the batteries below, and should be at such an elevation as to be able to direct a plunging fire—a fire considered much more efficacious than direct against iron-clads-upon an enemy's vessel or vessels attempting to silence the new work The battery included in at Green Point by superior weight of metal at comparatively close quarters. this keep or inclosed work would not be expensive to construct; it should be armed with three or four

No, 10 in Appendix No. 1, First Report. See First Report, Appendix 2, No. 1.

* Inclosure in No. 26,

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