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by the War Office to the Colonial Defence Committee who, mainly on military grounds and partly in view of the small number of men that would be made available for holding so detached a post as Tanjong Katong Fort, concurred in the proposal to abandon it, and suggested that its two 8-inch B.L. guns should be mounted in Fort Serapong or Fort Connaught, preferably the former. This recommendation was accepted and embodied in a despatch to the Colony dated the 12th July, 1894. The Governor was informed that the Secretary of State for War would not raise any objection to the suggested abandonment of Tanjong Katong Fort, provided that its guns were remounted in Fort Serapong or other works, and that the Colony would bear the cost of the necessary alterations, which was estimated approximately at 7,000l. The Tanjong Katong site was under these conditions to revert to the Colony. In a despatch dated the 14th November, 1894, the Governor submitted that the expense of making new emplacements could not in fairness be held to be a charge on the Colonial revenues, and that those revenues were unable to stand such charges. As a compromise, the War Office suggested in a letter to the General Officer Com- manding, dated the 5th February, 1895, that the Colony should mount the two 8-inch guns in Fort Connaught at a cost of about 7001., and pointed out that that this cost would be more than covered by the value of the Tanjong Katong site. No direct answer appears to have been received to this proposal.

The Colonial Defence Committee, since their recommendation of January 1894 to abandon the fort referred to above, have only dealt with the question in their Remarks, dated the 30th May, 1894, and the 2nd July, 1895, on the Revisions of the Defence Schemes for those years to the extent of pointing out that, if the abandonment be accepted, a more concentrated disposition of the garrison would be possible. They had previously, in their Remarks dated the 27th May, 1893, stated that, "if an adequate garrison cannot be allotted to the outlying work at Tanjong Katong, it would appear to be a matter for consideration whether definite arrangements should not be made to govern the withdrawal of its garrison in the case of such an attack (by 400 to 500 men with field guns), and for disabling its guns so as to prevent an enemy turning them after capture against the town and port."

Definite arrangements for this purpose have now been embodied in the Defence Scheme (p. 24), but they are not in the opinion of the Committee entirely satisfactory, and in view of the strong arguments adduced by the Governor in his despatch of the 31st January, 1896 (pp. 9 and 10), against the abandonment of the work at an early period of an attack, the Committee withdraw their suggestion that such action should be taken. It was made because the Defence Scheme showed no adequate garrison allotted to the work, and that there would be difficulty in providing such a garrison from the small number of troops available at the station. They now accept the opinion that the retention of the work renders the provision of a sufficient force to hold it an absolute necessity. Something might be done in this direction by the redistribution of the garrison in the way proposed in paragraph 10 of these Remarks, and something more by allotting to Tanjong Katong some of the machine-guns available at the station, as these weapons are of special value in increasing the power of resistance of a small infantry garrison. Again, the complete clearance of the ground for at least 400 yards round the fort would be essential to secure its effective defence. An entirely satisfactory solution of the problem would, however, necessitate an increase in the garrison of Singapore.

Before they make proposals to this effect the Committee recommend that the Colony be pressed to give a definite reply to the suggestion contained in the War Office letter of the 5th February, 1895, quoted above, and to decide once and for all on the abandonment or retention of Tanjong Katong. On purely military grounds the Committee advocate now, as they did before, its abandonment. On grounds of economy the abandonment of the fort would be the more advantageous course for the Colony, for, if the War Office assumption is correct, the cost of mounting its armament on Blakan Mati Island would be covered by the value of the Tanjong Katong site which would revert to the Colony, while the retention of the work would necessitate costly clearance to secure its efficiency.

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