CAB9-1_PT2 — Page 279

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CHAPTER II.

2. Page 9 (A), paragraph 1.-The D.A.A.G. (A) and D.A.A.G. (B) should be shown on the staff of the Fortress Commander, and the O.Ç.R.A., C.R.E., S.M.O., and C.0.0. attached to that staff.

The submarine mining defence will be directly under the O.C. the West India Submaring Mining Company R.E., as laid down in paragraph 9 on page 39 of the Scheme.

It is not traced that any reference is made in the Scheme to the Garrison Adjutant, to whom special duties will probably fall on mobilization.

3. Page 9 (A), paragraph 3.—The O.C. Field Force will require a staff officer, who should be designated in the Defence Scheme by the appointment he holds in peace.

Requisitions for the necessary supplies and transport for the Field Force, including the Flying Column, should be made out in peace time, and should be in the hands of the O.C. Army Service Corps. It is not clear that this has been done.

4. Page 10, Table B.-It is noted that the Spanish Town Artillery Militia have disappeared from the list of troops available, while the Kingston Artillery Militia has not been increased. When the approved armament is all mounted at the station, the artillery force available there will be insufficient to man it. The Colonial Defence Committee adhere to the opinion expressed in their Memorandum, No. 112 M, dated the 23rd August, 1897, as to the strength of both artillery and infantry militia which should be provided by the Colony. The Committee have been informed that the militia vote has been increased, and they trust that it will eventually be found possible for the Colony to furnish the two companies of artillery and the battalion of infantry, which they hold to be necessary to make the Defence Scheme for Jamaica entirely satisfactory.

5. Pages 11 and 12. Table B (i).—It is presumed that the officer and forty-three gunners told off to Apostle's Battery are intended to man the two 6-inch B.L. guns about to be mounted there as well as the two machine-guns. There is nothing in the Table to show why they are required.

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6. Page 13.-"Traffic Communications" should be substituted for the heading Lines of Communication" in the next revision of the Scheme.

7. Page 13. Communication of Orders.--A reference should be made under this heading to the communication of intelligence from the look-out stations, of which a list is given on page 20, to an officer at the Kingston Telegraph Office.

8. Page 14. General Remarks on Communications, paragraph 3.--It should be made clear in the Scheme that the telephone lines between the forts are laid in accordance with the authorized chain of command.

9. Page 14 (D), paragraph 2.—If the organization recommended in the first paragraph of these Remarks is adopted, Fort Augusta will no longer be shown under the command of the O.C. Port Royal detachment on pages 14 and 39, or be referred to under the orders of the Officers Commanding the detachments in the Western Harbour forts on page 40. It is not apparent why anything more than a quard over the magazine is required at Fort Augusta. An attack from Port Hender- son, which is well inside all the defences of the harbour, is most improbable.

10. Page 14 (D), paragraph 3.—More details on the lines given in the last revision of the Defence Scheme are needed as regards the mode of meeting an attack from the direction of Spanish town. The records in the Defence Scheme are required as much for the information of future G.O.Cs. and Staff Officers as of those who make up the Scheme.

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