CAB9-1_PT1 — Page 299

SECRET.

108-R

Printed for the use of the Colonial Office. July 4, 1895.

STRAITS SETTLEMENTS.

Page 299

STRAITS.

No. 32.

Defence Scheme revised to September 1894.

Remarks by the Colonial Defence Committee.

Covering Letter of the Governor.

1. THE two important subjects dealt with in the remarks of the Colonial Defence Committee on the revision of the Defence Scheme to September 1893 have again been brought forward in the letter of the Governor, dated the 1st February, 1895, covering the scheme revised to September 1894. These subjects are (1) the abandonment of Tanjong Katong Fort, and (2) the with- drawal of two companies of infantry from Penang.

2. The question of the abandonment of Tanjong Katong Fort is under- stood to be still the subject of correspondence between the War Office, Colonial Office, and local authorities. The Colonial Defence Committee do not propose to add to their former remark on the subject, which was, that if the abandonment be accepted a more concentrated distribution of the garrison would be possible.

3. The importance of at once taking steps towards the withdrawal of the two companies of infantry from Penang was urged by the Local Committee in a communication, dated October 1893, in connection with the revision of the Defence Scheme to September 1893. It was recommended by the Colonial Defence Committee in their Memorandum No. 47 B, dated the 19th January, 1894. The Governor, in forwarding the present revision, proposes that the troops be not withdrawn till time of anticipated attack. The only new element of the question which has not previously been before the Colonial Defence Committee is the opinion of the Governor, that the companies could be placed in Singapore within forty-eight hours of the first alarm of war instead of ninety-six hours, the time previously assumed and on which the present Defence Scheme is based. The Committee do not consider that this reduction in time is sufficient reason for them to reverse their previous recommendation, which was arrived at on grounds fully stated in above-quoted Memorandum. With regard to the Governor's suggestion, that the existence of two companies of infantry at Penang obviates the necessity for increasing the police force there, it is considered that the retention of a military force at Penang for police duties is undesirable.

Letter of Local Defence Committee.

4. The Local Defence Committee, in their letter of the 25th January, 1895, accompanying the Defence Scheme, make various suggestions which · will now be dealt with.

5. In paragraph 1 the majority of the Local Defence Committee recom- mended the acquisition and fortification of certain sites in time of peace to

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