§ Although three successive Boards of Admiralty have been in office since 1885, the policy pursued, so far as shipbuilding and dockyard administration are concerned, has been uniform and continuous. The enormous liabilities and the great number of ships ordered in 1885 induced the Board of July, 1885, of which I was the Head, to concentrate their attention to bringing to as rapid a completion as was possible the programme of shipbuilding they found prescribed, without enlarging it; certain gaps in it were filled, and the vessels laid down for that purpose were in most instances of small displacement, and absolutely necessary to provide for the reliefs of the next and subsequent year.
§ The following Statement shows the progress made both in the past and that contemplated in the forthcoming financial year.