MR. WINGFIELD BAKERasked the First Lord of the Admiralty, Whether Her Majesty's Ship "Tenedos" is not now perfectly ready for sea, and has been so since May 1871; and, whether the First Lord, bearing in mind the promise as to the trial of the new anchor gear with which the "Tenedos" is fitted, will state whether he will have her put into Commission, and within what time?
§ MR. GOSCHENsaid, in reply, that the Tenedos had been quite ready for some time past to go to sea. She was in what was called the "First Reserve." It was not the intention of the Admiralty to put her into commission at present. She would be put into commission as soon as she was required to relieve a ship of a similar class on some foreign station. He did not think it was advisable or necessary, in order to test a small portion of the machinery and appliances of a ship, to put her into commission for three years. Such machinery 249 would be tested as a matter of experiment.