§ MR. O'BEIRNEsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for War, When the Report of the Committee appointed to superintend the experiments upon the Malta and Gibraltar Shields will be placed upon the table; and whether the same Committee had been instructed to superintend and report upon the experiments to be made with reference to the Bermuda Fort and the Plymouth Breakwater Fort; and if the Committee have not been so instructed, is it his intention to place those experiments also under their superintendence?
§ SIR JOHN PAKINGTONsaid, in reply, that the Committee on the Malta and Gibraltar Shields had almost completed their Report, and he expected to be able to lay it upon the table of the House in the course of next week. That Committee was not instructed to superintend and report upon the experiments made with the Bermuda and Plymouth Breakwater Shields; their duty was performed when they reported on the Malta and Gibraltar 730 Shields, and, that duty being completed, their labours would be at an end. But four shields on the Gibraltar principle had been sent to Bermuda, and those would be included in the Committee's Report. As the hon. Gentleman had referred to the Bermuda Shield, he was, no doubt, aware that the shields intended for Bermuda and Plymouth were on the same principle. A target had been constructed on that principle, which was to be experimented on shortly, but it would not be by the same Committee.