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Appendix No. 4.

SINGAPORE. Existing batteries.

Mount Siloso.

5 10-in. guns.

2 64-prs.

Cost-

Battery

Armament

Gun detachments, 120 men.

£

The batteries lately constructed are :-

衢

1. At Mount Siloso, west of Blakang Mati Island ..

(To protect western entrance to harbour.)

2. At Blakang Mati East, on same island

3. At Mount Palmer, on the main island of Singapore

•

3 7-in, guns. 2 64-prs.

4 7-in. guns.

12 64-prs.

3 7-in. guns. 12 64-prs.

The two latter protecting the eastern entrance to the harbour, Mount Palmer also bringing a fire to bear on the "roads."

Western Entrance.

At Mount Siloso the Committee have proposed in lieu of the present armament one 64-pounder, two 7-inch guns, and two guns of heavier calibre, which they term armour- piercing guns, or guns which will pierce armour 8 inches thick at 3,000 yards.

In the War Office Memorandum, dated the 20th October, 1880,* there were proposed for this battery three 10-inch guns and two 64-pounders, the number of heavy guns 8,000 17,925 being limited by the supposed want of room for more thau three.

25,925

Redoubt on Mount Imbeah.

Machine gun. Garrison, 50 men,

By the removal of more rock at Point Rinan, however, which may be done at no great expense, space can be procured for two more 10-inch guns, and it would be well to mount them, so making the armament five 10-inch guns and two 64-pounders.

One of the 10-inch guns and one 64-pounder on the left of the battery should bring a fire to bear upon the southern shore of Blakang Mati Island; the other 64-pounder should be well under cover behind the point on the right to flank the submarine mine-field, the remaining guns being so arranged as to bring a converging fire upon the approaches to the

entrance.

This battery is at present unprovided with proper arrangements for its self-defence; a main magazine, laboratory, and artillery stores have yet to be provided, as well as a guard- room for men in charge of the battery in time of peace.

The requirements necessary for the completion of the battery are laid down in the following extracts from paragraphs 70, 71, 72 of Captain McCallum's Report of the 17th January, 1880 :†

"70. The concrete escarp wall, as at present constructed, is of minimum section, and Chinese coolie labour at Singapore not being very good at any time, I would propose that a 2 ft. 6 in. facing should be given to it of Malacca stone, a cheap, tough conglomerate, which is taken out in handy blocks, and becomes hard on exposure to the air. The present gorge parapet should be thrown forward into the hollow in front of the counter scarp, and its place supplied by a loopholed wall. The ditches also should be generally improved. The escarp of the horn-work and its redan should be heightened and so con- structed from re-entering angle to re-entering angle that a chemin des rondes may run all round, from which the hollows and slopes in front may be searched by musketry fire. The present gorge wall should be continued until it meets the cliff on the reverse of the 9-inch gun emplacements, and, in like manner, the loopholed wall should be carried round the cliff until it meets the flank parapet of the right 9-inch gun.

"71. Between the present 9-inch battery and the lower 7-inch battery should be con- structed a main magazine, protected behind the cliff in front, when the present spacious ammunition stores could be strengthened from the inside and converted into expense magazines, with separate supply passages, as at present designed.

"72. The bastion parapet of the horn-work may be removed, and its place supplied on one side of the entrance by a small laboratory, and on the other by an artillery store. A cement tank for water may be constructed under the terreplein of the 7-inch battery. I do not recommend that any permanent barrack should be constructed in the work itself, but only a guard-house in the redan. All the buildings in Singapore are very open, and a wooden fabric with attap roof is all that is required here. The interior space in the battery is limited, and any buildings constructed therein would be much hotter and more unhealthy than if erected outside. In time of war, temporary leantos could be constructed along the line of the gorge wall for the shelter of the garrison on duty.”

It would appear to be hardly necessary to mount a 7-inch gun in the salient of the redan of the gorge, as proposed in paragraph 69.

As the barracks required for the gun detachments need not be built for occupation in time of peace, it will be necessary at present only to prepare the ground for them by levelling and draining.

They should, I think, be placed on the ground immediately in rear of the battery, and not on the western slope of Mount Imbeah; the latter position may be more exposed to cool breezes than the other, but as the barracks will not be intended for permanent occupation, this will not compensate for the disadvantage of their being at a greater distance from the work.

They need only be of light construction, with attap roofs, and could be put up in a short time when wanted for about 51. a man.

A small infantry redoubt capable of being defended by half a company should be placed on the summit of Mount Imbeal; a machine gun may also be provided for this work.

* No. 77.

† Inclosure 15 in No. 74.

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