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It would command the road Appendix No. 4. powerful long-range 6-inch guns of new type, mounted en barbette. leading round The Lion to Camp's Bay, and so deny that approach to an enemy who might have succeeded in effecting a landing there.

7. The Amsterdam Battery may be remarked upon as having a good command, although considered "too retired for offensive purposes.'

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CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

The Amsterdam

8. With regard to the remark that "strength should be given to Fort Knokke, on the south of the Battery. bay, rather than to the Amsterdam Battery," the Committee are the less prepared to acquiesce in it that Fort Knokke and this remark is subsequently qualified by the further observation, in the Confidential Memorandum, that Craig's Tower. the space in Fort Knokke "is restricted, and it may be necessary to occupy the site of Craig's Tower in addition to or in lieu of it." The main objection urged against Fort Knokke is that the presence in Table Bay of a large number of vessels at anchor (which would probably frequently be the case in time of maritime war) would quite mask the direct fire of the guns of this work (one 7-inch 64-ton gun and one 64-pr.); further it would appear that one gun only flanks the coast to the east of north, and that the fort itself is too far retired to be able to keep hostile shipping at a proper distance, even in that direction, or efficiently to support the forts to the westward.

9. It may be considered as a certain result of the establishment of a new and powerful work at Defences to the cast- Green Point, and of increasing the defensive powers of Fort Wynyard, that an enemy's vessel or vessels ward. would be inclined to avoid the works to the westward, and work round by the eastern coast of Table Bay. It is therefore recommended that additional strength should be given to Craig's Tower, nearly 1,000 yards to the eastward of Fort Knokke, and about 100 yards more to the northward, in order to enable it to some extent to resist such a hostile advance, and at the same time to obtain a cross fire with the guns of Amsterdam Battery. But even more strongly to resist such an advance, the Committee would advocate the construction of a new work, similar to that proposed for Green Point, in being made, like it, self-defensible, and to mount at least two 10-inch guns, shielded, considerably more to the north-east of Craig's Tower, on the spit of land called Paarden Island, between the two months of Salt River, as near to the eastern mouth as a suitable site can be found. Such a work would serve the purpose of closing the right flank of the defences, in the same manner as that proposed for Green Point the left. It would, in conjunction with Fort Knokke and Craig's Tower remodelled in place of the latter, and while combining its fire also to a slight extent with that of Fort Wynyard, command a large area of the bay, and prevent an enemy from taking up a position anywhere within that area from which he might be able seriously to damage the shipping or the docks. It should command the beach to the westward, so as to prevent an enemy landing anywhere to the southward of the second mouth of Salt River.

10. In their recommendation of new works the Committee have not been unmindful of the prin- General considerations ciple laid down in the Confidential Memorandum, "that no disposition of batteries, however heavily as to defence of Table arined, will prevent the partial destruction of the towns and public establishments," since Table Bay Bay.

is "so wide and open as rather to resemble a roadstead than a bay." But they are of opinion that any source of weakness occasioned by this circumstance would be very greatly reduced by the measures they have recommended; that in the face of such batteries as those already existing and now proposed, a hostile squadron would be unable to inflict any damage upon Cape Town at all commensurate with the probable losses and the certain reduction in efficiency both in its fighting and steaming powers it would thereby incur, from expenditure of coals and ammunition.

11. At Hout Bay the Committee consider necessary works on both the eastern and western sides Hout Bay (1). of the bay. That on the eastern side should occupy the site of the old block-house or be placed below it, since it would then completely command the opposite side and the landing-place at only 1,600 yards in distance, and the entrance of the bay at 3,500. This battery should be armed with 12-ton guns order to give the long range necessary to prevent an enemy anchoring in the entrance if desirous of shelter from the south-east. Being high above water, it would be difficult to silence. The work on the point at the western side should be designed to give efficient protection to the submarine mining estab- lishment the maintenance of which at Hout Bay is contemplated. It might be provided with one of Nordenfeldt's machine-guns, which would be found very useful in flanking the beach.

12. The road from Wynberg to Hout Bay, the only existing one to the latter place, since the path- Communications with way by the coast from Camp's Bay may be left out of account, could, it has been ascertained, be put Hout Bay. into good order at very small expense. But the establishment of any communication between Hout

Bay and Chapman's Bay to the southward would be very difficult, since the sea face of Chapman's Peak

is quite precipitous, and the ascent to the saddle behind it is very steep and rugged.

13. To the southward of Chapman's Bay a work, armed with guns of long range, should be estab- Chapman's Bay. lished to deny that bay to an enemy, and though certainly at a long distance-a circumstance, however, of the less importance from the natural features alluded to in the last paragraph-to protect the This work should be connected by telegraph with approach to Hout Bay from the south-east. Wynberg and Cape Town, so that infantry might be summoned from the former place in time, con- veyed in carts, if possible, and accompanied by artillery, if required, to resist any sudden attempt at a landing.

14. In the event of a necessity arising for fortifying the southern portion only of the Cape Work at Elsie's Peak Peninsula, in order to cover Simon's Bay on the land side, this work at Chapman's Bay might form the recommended (c). western extremity of a line of defence, of which another new work contemplated at Elsie's Peak might form the eastern, The main object of the latter would, of course, be sea defence, but it would at the same time offer the great advantage of thoroughly covering the approach by land to Simon's Town in the event of a small hostile force landing on the Cape Flats near Muizenberg. Placed on the brow of the peak, about 200 feet above sea-level, it would also command the landing-place at Kalk Bay, the only spot round that part of the shore where continuous landing could be carried on for any length of time.

15. With regard to the construction of a new battery, about 900 yards in advance towards the New battery at south-east at Simon's Town, the Committee consider that it is undoubtedly essential, but that the site Simon's Town. chosen should be more to the southward than marked in map accompanying the Confidential Memo-

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