MR. SEELYasked the First Lord of the Admiralty, Whether the Admiralty Order in Council is still in force; and if it be, whether under such Order it does not appear that only Naval Officers should be appointed Superintendents of the Royal Dockyards?
§ MR. GOSCHENreplied that the Admiralty Order of 1832 to which the Question of the hon. Member referred had been partly superseded by later Orders, although some of its provisions were still acted upon. That Order dealt with the subject of superintendence not only in the dockyards but in victualling yards also. It appeared to contemplate that the superintendents should be naval officers, but the Order was not mandatory, and was not regarded by the Admiralty in that light, as was shown by the fact that civilians had been appointed as superintendents in the victualling yards.
MR. SEELYgave notice that, on Tuesday, he would ask the right hon. Gentleman whether there has been any cases during the last 30 or 40 years of civilians having been appointed Superintendents of the dockyards.
§ MR. GOSCHENsaid, he could answer the hon. Gentleman at once, that there had been no cases of civilians having been appointed superintendents of the dockyards during the last 30 or 40 years; but there had been cases where civilians had been appointed superintendents of the victualling yards.