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(p. 24, para. 11). These works will require skilled labour, and will have to be arranged for by the Commanding Royal Engineer, so that his portion of the Scheme should deal with the steps to be taken to complete them. Similarly, with regard to the Submarine Mining arrangements. The measures to be taken for laying the mine-fields are only roughly indicated, and the chain of responsi- bility for this part of the defence is by no means clear.

16. The instructions to the Intelligence Officer are not as clear as they should be. Para 11 on p. 24 states the best points for look-out stations, but

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it appears that stations are already established there, and are manned by at some of them civilian personnel, though there is nothing to show of what this personnel consists. Whether the Intelligence Officer or the Signalling Officer is respon- sible that these stations are established is left somewhat obscure. With regard to para. 12, care should be taken that nothing is done that would rob the lighthouses of their neutral character or draw on them an enemy's fire. It is presumed that the Memorandum mentioned in para. 15, p. 24, will be issued by or through the Chief Secretary.

It should be stated under what authority and by whom the Volunteer Cycle Corps, mentioned in para. 16, is to be raised. It would be useful if this corps could be formed at once, and essential that the requisite uniforms should be obtained, so as to secure the members belligerent rights.

17. The orders to the District Signalling Officer contemplate the organiza- tion of an extensive system of visual signalling, for which additional personnel has to be trained, and which would absorb (when in full swing) 187 men. An examination of the system proposed shows that many of the points between which signalling is to be established are already connected by telegraph, so that visual signalling is in these cases extravagantly employed. The true use of army signalling is to supplement existing lines of electric communication, not to duplicate them. If the signalling proposals are reconsidered, it will probably be found that a considerable reduction can be effected.

As remarked previously, the execution of the alterations to the tele- graphic system spoken of in paragraphs 4 to 6, p. 24, is a matter to be dealt with by the Commanding Royal Engineer. The Signalling Officer has neither personnel, nor material, and possibly not the technical knowledge to enable him to effect this.

18. The action to be taken by the Principal Medical Officer is not clearly described in the orders on p. 29. It is of especial importance that the medical action to be taken in each phase of the defence (vide para. 12 of these remarks) should be distinguished. To some extent, this distinction has been drawn in the Distribution Table on p. 31, but it can hardly be necessary to employ civilian practitioners immediately on the outbreak of war, as apparently is contemplated by para. 5, p. 29.

19. It appears that hospitals on a small scale are to be established in each fort and outlying battery, equipped with medical appliances, and furnished with medical comforts, &c. It is impossible to judge, without local know- ledge, of the suitability or necessity of such an arrangement, but it seems improbable that anything more than a small dressing-station would be required in the majority of the works, whence the wounded could be removed after an action to the central hospitals, and the arrangements in the Scheme certainly do not tend to economy. It is stated that the Medical Staff Corps would have to be supplemented by 253 warrant officers, non-commissioned officers, and men, and that 43 civil surgeons would have to be employed. This conside- rable augmentation of the Medical Staff is to some extent due to the dissemi- nation which characterises the medical arrangements, and this portion of the Scheme should be reconsidered with a view to the greater concentration, if practicable, of the hospitals.

20. Para. 7, p. 29, directs that any equipment, medicines, &c., which cannot be procured locally, are to be demanded from England. The Scheme, however, does not show, as it should do, what amounts of each of the articles mentioned are required, or how far the local resources are sufficient to meet these wants. In fact, the paragraph as it stands is practically meaningless, inasmuch as directions to the Principal Medical Officer in Malta to demand from England such articles as he cannot obtain locally on mobilization will not further their supply if this demand is postponed till the emergency occurs. If, upon inquiry and calculation, local resources are found insufficient to meet

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