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Printed for the use of the Colonial Office, March 13, 1896.
SECRET.
No. 135 R.
MALTA.
MALTA.
5.
W.O. No.
3508
Defence Scheme revised to January 1896.
Remarks by the Colonial Defence Committee.
Covering Letter of Commander-in-chief, Malta.
Page 5, paragraph 3.-The Commander-in-chief states that the sectional organization of command, as laid down in the Scheme (p. 17), will be found in fair agreement with the Special Army Order of December 10, 1895, on this subject.
The Colonial Defence Committee note one considerable divergence from the instructions contained in that order, viz. :-the appointment of the G.O.C., R.A. to command the Central Section of the Defence, and it does not appear to them that the special conditions which would justify the Senior Officer of Artillery not being on the staff of the Fortress Commander, obtain in the case of Malta. It might well happen that operations on the North- West front might for a time give greater importance to the action of artillery there than in the coast batteries, in which case the Fortress Commander would doubtless desire the assistance of the G.O.C., R.A. in directing this action. Under these circumstances it is suggested that the proposed appointment be reconsidered.
2. Page 5, paragraph 5.-The suggestion contained at the end of this paragraph that in the next revision of the Scheme the detachment R.E., now with the Central Reserve, should be transferred to the Eastern Section is concurred in by the Committee.
3. Page 5, paragraphs 4, 6, and 7.-The Commander-in-chief, Malta, refers to certain important questions of armament and R.A. personnel, which he has brought forward in other letters.
The Committee are informed that these are now under the consideration of the War Office. Their general view on these subjects is that the substitu- tion of Q.F. for medium M.L. guns of the existing armament should be pressed on, but that no considerable addition to the heavy gun defence of the fortress is at present urgent. They look upon every reduction in the number of infantry detached for artillery work as a distinct advantage, and consider that this should be clearly kept in view in framing the next revision of the Defence Scheme.
4. Page 6, paragraphs 8-13.-The Commander-in-chief, Malta, recom- mends that the appointment of District Signalling Officer, in charge of the communications by Telegraph, Telephone, and Visual Signalling throughout
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