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separate. The Scheme itself should form a record of the measures to be taken on the outbreak of war, based on the existing state of the defensive resources of the Colony at the time being, and if the Local Committee are of opinion that any addition to these resources is necessary, or that measures are called for which are not within the competence of the local authorities to carry out, these matters should be dealt with in a communication distinct from the Scheme.

For instance, the supply of extra machine-guns, the establishment of permanent telephonic communication between the batteries on Ladder Hill and Munden's Hill, the installation of a search light at Munden's Point, and the construction of the road from Sandy Bay Gate to Hutt's Gate-all of them recommendations in which the Colonial Defence Committee fully concur- should form the subject of representations which it is within the power of the Officer Commanding Troops to put forward in the ordinary course. Surely the intervention of the Local Committee cannot be required on such a subject as the planting of a few prickly pear trees or the best tint for painting guns. It may further be observed that no recommendations " are necessary for the removal of the Commissariat Stores and treasure-chest to High Knoll, or for fixing the head-quarters of the transport at Red Hill, or for any other arrange- ments that may be considered best. If the measures recommend themselves to the Local Committee, they should record in decided terms that such and such "will be" carried out, without the use of any such lax language as "would, could, or should."

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With regard to the recommendation that tentage for at least 200 men should be available, the present number of tents being insufficient, it is noticed that the Annual Return of Naval and Military Resources for the year ending 31st December, 1892, shows 350 as the number of men that can be accom- modated by the existing supply.

4. The recommendations of Colonel MacLean, so far as approved of by the Local Committee, should have been embodied by them in the Scheme. At present it is a matter involving some considerable research to find out to what extent they do approve of his separate Report, and how far they intend to adopt its recommendations.

5. The question of detaching a force down the south slopes of the Ridges to dispute a landing in Sandy Bay was fully considered in the Scheme of 1888, and the unanimous decision of the Local Committee then was that such a course would be inadvisable, and that the main principle of the land defence should be to keep the troops concentrated in a central position on the Ridges ready to confine the enemy to any valley in which he might attempt to land. The Colonial Defence Committee in their remarks on that Scheme concurred in this decision, and the Local Committee in their present Report do not say anything to lead to the belief that they have changed their views. This question might therefore have been considered as settled, and need not have been raised again by Colonel MacLean's recommendations to the contrary.

6. With regard to the opinion of the Local Committee that Munden's Point Battery should not be manned, the Colonial Defence Committee are of opinion that it is an exaggerated view of the defects of this battery to state that if attacked it would "act as a shell-trap." The battery is casemated, and experience has shown that there is little danger to be apprehended from splinters of bursting shells flying backwards. The battery plays an important part in the defence of Jamestown anchorage in commanding water that is dead to the batteries on the higher ground of Ladder Hill and Munden's Hill, and every effort should be made to man it. The substitution of 4.7-inch Q.F. guns has lately been proposed for the existing 7-inch R.M.L. guns, and as one or more of these Q.F. guns would probably be mounted near the extremity of the point with a large arc of fire seaward, the objections to the present battery on the score of its limited range would in a large measure be removed, and fewer men would be required to man it.

7. There is no Table showing the strength of the infantry. The reinforce- ment by two companies of infantry from the Cape, and twenty non-commissioned officers and men of Royal Engineers from home, to bring the garrison up to the approved war strength on the imminence of war with a Maritime Power, alters the strength of the garrison to such an extent as to call for more detailed consideration than that given to it on p. 4 of the Scheme. It would alter

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