SIR FREDERIC SMITHasked the noble Lord, the Secretary to the Admiralty, Whether a considerable reduction in the number of shipwrights and other workmen in Her Majesty's Dockyards has taken place since the close of the last Session of Parliament, or is now contemplated; and, if so, whether it is in consequence of any intention to substitute iron for wooden ships of war, or to employ private builders more extensively than heretofore?
§ LORD CLARENCE PAGETreplied that up to the present time there had been no reduction in the number of artificers employed in the dockyards, except such as had resulted from the omission to fill up the vacancies which had been caused by men leaving voluntarily. It was, how- 141 ever, the intention of the Admiralty that, on the 23rd of this month, a gradual reduction should commence, and should continue until the number of men employed in the dockyards was brought down to the fixed establishment. The men who were discharged would have railway passes given to them to return to their homes, and every other reasonable indulgence would be afforded to them on leaving the service. During the autumn it became evident that the work in the yards was in so forward a state that it was no longer necessary to retain the enormous establishments which then existed; but it was thought that it would be unfair to discharge men at the commencement of the winter, and the reduction had been postponed till the present time. In reply to the second part of the question, he had to state that the reduction certainly had reference partly to the substitution of iron for wooden ships. The Admiralty were now building six large iron ships by contract, and one in Her Majesty's Dockyard at Chatham, in order that they might test the comparative cost of the two systems of building.