§ MR. WHITEsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for War, Whether it is true that the 7-inch Whitworth Gun, tiled at Shoeburyness, proved, as regards endurance, to be a failure; and whether any subsequent and special experiments have been made, so as to justify the War Office in feeling confidence in the safety and serviceable qualities of the Whitworth system when applied to guns of 8 inch and 9-inch calibre?
THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTONsaid, in reply, that the Whitworth gun to which the hon. Member referred, although it was a rifled gun, was not constructed entirely on Mr. Whitworth's principle, but on a principle almost entirely similar to that of the Armstrong gun. That gun had been proved only experimentally, and, in general, with excessive charges, and no 283 doubt it had suffered considerably by the firing. With regard to the experiments conducted by the Armstrong and Whitworth Committee, although they were not conducted with guns of the size referred to, yet they showed that guns constructed on the Whitworth principle, from 12-pounders to 70-pounders, possessed most extraordinary durability and endurance. There were no guns of 8 or 9-inch calibre in the service, and there were, therefore, no positive data as to their endurance. Some experimental trials had, however, been ordered to take place.