§ THE EARL OF HARDWICKEsaid, he wished to ask the noble Duke the First Lord of the Admiralty, Whether it is true that the Government have determined to alter the Armstrong guns so as to make them muzzle-loaders and also to form the interior on the shunt principle of the Armstrong gun? He believed that the experiments at Shoeburyness between Sir William Armstrong's gun and Mr. Whitworth's had not been concluded and he would therefore only express as hope that the Government would not act precipitately in the matter.
THE DUKE SOMERSETsaid, that the Government about two, years ago ordered a number of seventy-pounders to be constructed, part at Woolwich and part at Elswick, so that the service should not be left without a supply of guns; but the Admiralty had not yet been able to pronounce whether muzzle-loading guns should: be definitively adopted or not for the naval service. The guns which had been made could easily be adapted to either muzzle or breech-loading. When the experiments were concluded, the report and the decision of the Government should be laid before Parliament at the earliest possible moment.