§ MR. HOLMSsaid, he wished to ask the Secretary to the Admiralty, Whether it is true that at any of the Home Victualling Yards articles of provisions or clothing have been kept so long in store that they have had to be condemned as useless; and, if so, whether he can state what the articles are and how long they have been in store; and, whether he can say if any purchases of such articles have been made notwithstanding there were such stocks in store?
§ MR. BAXTERIt is true, Sir, that articles, both of provisions and 575 clotting, have been kept in store till they perished from age. At Plymouth Victualling Yard, on a recent inspection, it was found that a quantity of flushing jackets had been in store since 1854, and had become useless; that upwards of 2,000 sets of materials for making trousers were in the same condition; that lime-juice and prepared soup had become deteriorated through age and unfit for issue; and that 4,000lbs. of pickles had to be condemned. The extent to which articles remain in stock which ought to have been issued or sold long ago has not yet been fully ascertained; but a thorough inquiry is now being made by the Superintendent of Victualling into the state of the stores both at home and abroad. Purchases of some of the articles in question have been made at dates subsequent to the laying in of the stocks to which my hon. Friend refers.