HC Deb 12 June 1888 vol 326 cc1830-1
MR. HANBURY (Preston)

asked the Secretary of State for War, Whether his attention has been called to the great divergence between the statements of the Adjutant General of the Army and the first Lord of the Admiralty as to the possibility of invading this country with a named number of men; and, what official and formally constituted system, in the shape of a Joint Committee or otherwise, exists for mutual information and joint action on the part of the Intelligence or other Departments of the War Office and Admiralty?

THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. E. STANHOPE) (Lincolnshire, Horncastle)

I have road the statements made on this subject both by my noble Friend and by the Adjutant General. I, for one, deprecate the raising of any such controversy in public; but, in my opinion, the main divergence arises from the fact that the conditions of the problem are different in the two calculations, and especially as regards the force to be transported. There is intimate and close communication between the two Intelligence Departments; and questions that arise affecting both the Admiralty and the War Office are habitually discussed between the two Directors. So far as I am concerned—and I am sure I may speak for my noble Friend also—I have done, and will do, everything I can to promote this object.