§ LORD ALFRED CHURCHILLsaid, he wished to ask the Secretary to the Admiralty, Whether Her Majesty's ship Fawn, which has recently sailed for Australia, has been sent there as an augmentation to the squadron at present on that station, or for the purpose of relieving another vessel ordered home; whether the attention of the Government has been called to the fact that France has within the last year reorganized her Military and Naval Establishments at New Caledonia, and has now made it her principal station in those seas; and whether it is intended to place our Naval Commanding Officers upon a more equal footing with the French by creating the Australian station into an Admiral's command?
§ LORD CLARENCE PAGETsaid, the Fawn had been sent to relieve a vessel which had been ordered homo, and not despatched by way of augmentation to our naval force in the Australian Colony. 646 With respect to the increase of the French establishment at New Caledonia, he had to inform the noble Lord that it was a mistake to suppose that France had an establishment at that station. They had, however, an Admiral in the Pacific, and a Governor in New Caledonia, under his command. We had a Commodore at the Australian station, and it was not the intention of the Government to convert that station into an Admiral's command.