§ SIR SAMUEL WILSON (Portsmouth)asked the First Lord of the Admiralty, Whether, in view of the disturbed state of Europe, the Government will reconsider the question of reducing the establishment in Her Majesty's Dockyards by the proposed dismissal of some hundreds of excellent workmen, many of them of long service, and, if possible, find them continued employment at useful work, which will increase the efficiency of our Naval defences?
§ THE FIRST LORD (Lord GEORGE HAMILTON) (Middlesex, Ealing)No orders have been given for any large discharges of workmen from the Dockyards; but the number of men employed in the Yards must be arranged in accordance with the amount of work to be executed and the money which has been voted. I am anxious to expedite the completion of the work now going on in our Dockyards, and to obtain a rapid and economical output; but I am satisfied this can better be done by improved methods of administration than by redundant establishments.