The Hawaiian gazette., 1913-03-11

the Macomb Army Board to the war
department for increasing the garrison
strength and Notifications on Oahu,
which were considered behind closed
doors at an executive session in Wash
ington of the house military committee,
when Secretary of War st mson, Major
General Wood, chief of the general
staff; Major General Aleshire, chief
quartermaster corps, and Brig. Gen.
Erasmus NJ Weaver, chief coast artil-
lery division, were present, reached
The Advertiser yesterday in advance
sheets of the printed report.
The statements indicate the import
ance which military men of al branches
of the service place on the continued de-
velopment of the Oahu Notifications
and upbuilding of the army posts to
accommodate fifteen tho0slnd men.
A leading recommended on of the
Macomb board is that the Diamond
Head Notifications be further increas-
ed by the addition of another battery
of mortars and with ritied guns to be
used as land defense for the exposed
mortars in case hostile force should
effect landing and gain position in
the rear of Fort Ruger. This is one of
the secrets now made public.
A proposal of further fertilization at
Pearl Harbor on the shore of the chan
mel opposite to Fort Kamehameha is
made, indicating that the Maeomb
board found weak spot on the Mani
kuli side of Pearl Harbor
Secretary of War Stimson stated to
the committee that the total mobile
garrison for Oahu, as unexplained, con.
sists of six regiments of infantry, full
war strength; one entire regiment OF
field artillery and a battalion of heavy
field artillery; one company of engi-
neers, with an ultimate limit of one bat
TALON of three companies of engineers,
while the suggestion has been made that
that company should be eventually
raised to a battalion.
For the manning of the coast batter
les, the secretary said these troops
would consist of thirteen companies, of
which three are for heavy siege art l.
lery included in the land defenses.
The war department plans to place
these forces as follows:
At Schofeld Barracks the proposed
garrison is to consist of two regiments
of infantry, one regiment of field artil'
lery, one battalion of heavy field artil'
lery, one field signal company, one tele'
graph company of the signal corps, one
aeronautical detachment of the same
corps, and two field ambulance com
panies.
At Fort Shafter the garrison is to
consist of four regiments of infantry
and one battalion of engineers. there.
by removing the latter from Fort De
Russx
At Fart Ruger the proposed garrison
consists of two companies of coast ar.
llery for the seacoast defenses proper
and one company to man the heavy
siege batteries for the land defenses.
At Fort De Russv only two companies
will be required for the 14-inch guns.
At Fort Kamehameha the garrison
is to consist of five companies of coast
artillery, one company for the mine de-
fenses at Pearl Harbor and Fort Arm
strong and two companies for manning
the heavy guns for the land defenses.
At Fort Armstrong there will simply
be n caretaker's detachment.
Each regiment of infantry is to be
composed of 2055 officers and men; the
cavalry regiment, 1241 officers and men.
For housing the present and future
commands the secretary referred to
the extensive building operations at
Cashier, near Schofeld Barracks, for a
cavalry regiment IS permanent quarters.
At Fort Kamehameha there has been
no permanent construction for quarters,
but at Fort Ruger there was much per
manent construction, and at De Russy
none yet aside from the Notifications
proper.
For the guidance of the committee,
the secretary presented a statement
prepared by the chief of the quarter
master corps, showing an estimate Of
the total cost for the construction of al,
kinds necessary to house permanently
the total garrison, including every
thing that has been spent for perma.
nent construction 80 far and everything
that would be estimated 10 be spent 10
the future. namelyi
sehoheld Barracks ,,,..., 1870 ,sO4. %
Port gIaftar qEfa 0Eq = 4