§ ADMIRAL FIELD (Sussex, Eastbourne)asked the First Lord of the Treasury whether Her Majesty's Government will invite the Royal Commission now sitting to inquire into Naval and Military Administration, presided over by the noble Lord the Member for Rossendale, to present an interim 407 Report to Her Majesty containing a digest of the evidence given before the said Commission, both oral and written, up to the close of February last, with a view to the same being laid before Parliament, in order the better to enable Hon. Members to judge of the sufficiency or otherwise of the proposals of Her Majesty's Government for an increase to Her Majesty's Navy, in accordance with precedents, as in the case of the Report of the evidence taken by Royal Commission on the Education Acts presented in March 1888?
§ *MR. W. H. SMITHThe inquiry of the Royal Commission on Naval and Military Administration is approaching completion, and it is undesirable to interrupt their proceedings for the purpose of framing an ad interim Report. A large portion of the evidence received is of a highly confidential nature, and could not in any way be made public. It is to be remembered also that the terms of the reference to the Commission relate to the administration of the Naval and Military Departments, so that the result of their inquiry will have no bearing upon the naval proposals of Her Majesty's Government.