MR. ESMONDEsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for War, Whether it is true that the studded shot system hitherto adopted with heavy rifled ordnance has been, or is about to be, abandoned; and, if so, whether he is prepared to state the causes which have rendered such course necessary, and to produce the Report or Reports of the Ordnance Select Committee on the subject, or of the experiments which have led to it; whether any trials have been made of a proposed new system submitted to the Government of rifling heavy ordnance with perfect semi-circular projections raised in the gun, and corresponding semi-circular grooves in the shot, thus strengthening the gun itself and making it and the shot both rifled; and whether he is prepared to produce any Report made on such proposed system, or of the trials thereof, if any such have been made; and, if no trial has been made of such proposed new system for rotating heavy projectiles intended for the penetration of armour-plating, whether he is prepared to state the reasons why such trial has not been made?
§ SIR JOHN PAKINGTON, in reply, said, it was not true that the studded shot system hitherto adopted with heavy rifled ordnance had been, or was about to be, abandoned. With regard to a proposal made by a gentleman named Murphy for a new plan of rifling heavy ordnance, no trial of it had yet been made by the Ordnance Select Committee. That Committee, how- 952 ever, bad made a Report which he was willing to produce if the hon. Gentleman would move for it, and there would be found an answer to his Question as to the reasons why the trial had not been made.