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The recommendation at p. 12 for two search lights to aid the artillery defence must also be reconsidered in the sense of the same instructions, which point out that a night attack by heavy war-ships is improbable under any conditions, but that the possibility of a raiding attack by second class torpedo-boats, such as are carried by large cruizers, for the purpose of destroying shipping at anchor, docks, or coal stores, must always be kept in view at every port. The best mode, as a rule, of employing the electric light against this class of attack is as fixed divergent beams illuminating definite areas of water in advance of the mine-fields.

3. Page 13. Look-out Stations.-As regards the use of the lighthouses on Isle Aux Fouquets and Flat Island as signalling-stations in war time, it is to be observed that both the Admiralty and Board of Trade have pointed out the undesirability of giving a belligerent character to lighthouses. This does not imply that information may not be obtained from lighthouse keepers, but that the lighthouses must not ostensibly or in any recognizable way be given a part in the defence. If the use of these two lighthouses as signalling- stations cannot be dispensed with, it would, for instance, be desirable in their case to devise some method of signalling that would be less recognizable as such by an enemy than the method of flags on a signal mast.

4. Page 15. Food Supply. The Committee are of opinion that it will suffice to conclude the arrangements for a three months' supply of rice from India.

5. Garrison. The Committee concur in the views expressed at p. 21 as to the most probable form of attack, and at p. 29 as to the numerical insufficiency of the present garrison to meet it.

In their Memorandum No. 31 of December 1887, and again in their Remarks of April 1888, the Colonial Defence Committee pointed out that the special position of Mauritius, in close proximity to Réunion and the French establishment in Madagascar, rendered it peculiarly liable to French attack. In the event of the Suez Canal being closed, Mauritius would at once become a most important coaling station on the alternative route to India and China. This consideration alone would fully justify a determined attempt to capture the island at the outbreak of war, especially since a brief occupation would suffice for the destruction of the defences and coal stores. They recommended a garrison of—

Regulars

Volunteers or Militia

1,484 550

The conditions are still the same as in 1887, except that the French force in Réunion has been partly concentrated at Diego Suarez, and although our ships, resting on such bases as Zanzibar, Johanna, or ports in Madagascar itself, might be trusted to watch that place, it must be recognized as a distinct possibility that an attempt might be made at the outbreak of war to rush the island in some such manner as sketched at p. 31, and that "previous preparations for this might have been quietly made by directing drafts of troops, nominally for Diego Suarez, Annam, or Tonquin, to concentrate near Mauritius."

The Committee are therefore of opinion that, as the idea of raising a local force has been abandoned, and as the Admiralty has distinctly stated that it cannot undertake to insure the safe arrival of reinforcements at outbreak of war, at least the present authorized war garrison of 1,494 regulars should be maintained in peace time in the island. They understand that there is no likelihood at present of the War Office being able to make such an arrangement, having due regard to the wants of other stations, but they desire to again urge that this important matter may not be lost sight of.

6. The Scheme proposes to adhere for the present to Position No. 2 on the north side of Port Louis, owing to insufficiency of force to occupy the more advantageous Position No. 3. The reasons given for this decision are irresistible, and the Colonial Defence Committee consider that, with the present strength of the garrison, no other course is open. They are, however, of opinion that, in view of the future possibility of the garrison being increased, it is desirable to take measures to facilitate the occupation of Position No. 3 by the construction of earthworks, as proposed by the General Officer Commanding, so as to bring it, as well as the position on the south side

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