SIR JOHN HAYsaid, he would beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty, Whether there is any truth in the report that it is intended to arm any of Her Majesty's ships with Guns manufactured on the Whitworth pattern; and, if so, if he will lay on the Table of the House any Report which has led him to adopt this Gun for further trial?
§ MR. CHILDERS, in reply, said, the Admiralty had proposed to the War Department that Sir Joseph Whitworth and Co. should be called upon to tender for the construction of a rifled muzzle-loading gun on his principle and of his metal, for the purpose of competition with a rifled gun constructed on the service principle. Their object in doing so was to decide by experiment which of the competitive principles it would be 172 most advisable to adopt for the very large guns which were to be used in the large turret-ships now in course of construction. It had not yet been decided whether Sir Joseph Whitworth's tender should be accepted.