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form part of the land defences of Singapore. No special reasons are, how- ever, advanced which would lead the Committee to depart from their general recommendation, that expenditure of this nature should not be incurred in time of peace.

6. În paragraph 2" the Local Defence Committee unanimously reiterate their former opinion, that there should be some torpedo-boats attached to the station, not necessarily to be permanently attached to the place." It is not clear what advantage the Committee expect will be derived from such an arrangement unless it is that the torpedo-boats would be available to assist in the defence of the harbour. The Colonial Defence Committee explained in paragraph 7 of their Memorandum 47 A, dated the 19th January, 1894, why such assistance could not be usefully rendered by torpedo-boats, and they adhere to their opinion, that the recommendations of the Local Com- mittee in this regard should not be entertained.

7. In paragraphs 3 and 5 the Local Committee recommend that the arcs of fire of certain 9.2-in. and 10-in. B.L. guns be extended, and that these guns be provided with shrapnel shell to enable them to take part in the land defence. The Colonial Defence Committee do not consider guns of

these calibres suited for such work.

8. The proposal in paragraph 6, that a local Ordinance should be passed to empower the General Officer Commanding to requisition steamers and launches whenever the station is placed in a state of siege, is recom- mended for approval.

Defence Scheme.

9. Before passing to the detailed consideration of the scheme itself, the Colonial Defence Committee wish to point out that the Local Defence Com- mittee at Singapore refer in their Report to the instructions and the approval of the Colonial Defence Committee. It is pointed out that no instructions are issued by this body whose recommendations, if approved by the War Office and Admiralty, are communicated to the Local Committee through the Colonial Office.

CHAPTER I.

10. Page 17, line 20.-Reference is made to "definite arrangements to withdraw the garrison (of Tanjong Katong), and disable the guns in case a land attack is sufficiently strong to make it necessary." On pp. 28 and 29, reasons are given why definite arrangements cannot be made. This is not considered a satisfactory method of dealing with the question.

CHAPTER II.

11. No advantage seems to be gained by giving in this and the sub- sequent chapters the names of the officers who are to undertake the various duties in connection with the Defence Scheme. As a general rule it is desirable that all appointments under the Defence Scheme should be with reference to the appointment or post held in peace, in so far as this is consistent with independent commands being allotted in accordance with army rank.

12. Page 20, line 3.-Under the heading (A) "Divisions of Command,” it would be convenient if the following information were given, viz., com- position and position of the Head-quarter Staff, the officers to command the various sections, and their staff, with the position of their sectional head- quarters. This information need not then appear on Tables B 1, pp. 23 and 25.

13. Page 22. The Return of launches at the foot of this page gives similar information to the Return in Chapter III, p. 42, to which there is already a reference on p. 22. The Return on p. 22 might be omitted.

14. Pages 22 and 27.—The sub-heads of communications, as detailed in these pages, would be more correctly described as-

1. Lines of communication.

2. Communication of orders and intelligence.

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