§ MR. BLAKEasked the First Lord of the Admiralty, Whether his attention has been called to a letter of Mr. John Lloyd, in the "Daily News" of the 9th instant, on the subject of bullying and cruelty, which practices are alleged to prevail among the Cadets on Her Majesty's Training Ship "Britannia" at Dartmouth; whether such allegations are true; and, if so, what steps he has taken to prevent such practices in future; and, whether he will lay upon the Table of the House the Report of the Admiral who recently held a Court of Inquiry on beard Her Majesty's Ship "Britannia relative to these charges, and state the decision of the Admiralty thereon?
§ MR. HUNTIn reply to the hon. Member, I have to say that I have seen the letter to which this Question refers. The allegations contained in it are of a general character, and I can only reply generally as to whether they are true. I am sorry to say there were some cases of bullying on beard the Britannia. I believe that in every school, of every kind, bullying does occur to a certain extent at certain times. The Britannia was no exception to the rule; but great pains had been taken of late years to repress all such practices, and with very 1976 considerable success. I have reason to think that the practice of bullying on beard the Britannia has been very considerably diminished. Ever since I have been at the head of the Admiralty I have taken very severe measures to repress such practices whenever they have been brought to my notice. These are the instructions given to the captain of a ship in regard to all such matters: In the case of minor offences he deals with them himself, but serious offences are brought under the notice of the Admiralty. The hon. Member asks me to lay on the Table the Report of the Admiralty. All I can say on that subject is that there is no precedent, either in the Army or Navy, for producing a copy of the report of a Court of Inquiry. But, even if this were not the practice, I should not feel disposed to lay this Report upon the Table, for the following reason: I should be very sorry myself to see all my schoolboy delinquencies recorded in a Blue Book, and I think, probably, the hon. Member who puts the Question shares my views with regard to himself. As regards the decision of the Admiralty, I would say this, that certain specific charges were brought in the case to which the letter relates, and the decision of the Admiralty was that those charges had not been substantiated in any important point.