§ MR. MONSELLsaid, he wished to ask the Under Secretary of State for War, What is the cause of the delay in the competitive trial to be made by the Ordnance Select Committee of the heavy rifled guns on various systems now lying ready at Woolwich; and whether there is any reason for delaying this trial until the extended trial, by another Committee, of the Armstrong and Whitworth systems is brought to a conclusion?
THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTON,in reply, said, the experimental establishment at Shoeburyness was almost entirely engaged in the trial of the Armstrong and 158 Whitworth systems, and it was quite impossible that the Ordnance Select Committee, to whom was intrusted the trial of the other systems of rifling, could carry on their course of experiments at the same time. A proposal, however, had a short time ago been made, that the trial of the heavy rifled guns on various systems should be made at Woolwich at short range as far as it could be done without danger, and that proposal was now under consideration by the Horse Guards.