§ MR. AKERS-DOUGLASasked the Secretary to the Admiralty, Whether his attention has been called to a statement contained in the "Echo" of June 11th, that—
On the completion of the works for the extension of the Chatham Dockyard, upon which about 1,500 convicts are employed, Chatham will cease to he a penal station, as the convicts will be removed to other places and the prison will be converted into a Naval barrack. The officers and men of the Naval Reserve will be transferred from Sheerness to Chatham;and, whether such statement is correct?
§ Mr. SHAW LEFEVREIt is true that the work on the extension of Chatham Dockyard will be nearly complete in about a year's time, and there will then be no further employment for the convicts. It will then be for the consideration of the Home Office whether to maintain the convict prison there; but I have heard of no proposal to convert the prison into a barrack for officers and seamen, in lieu of the naval barracks at Sheerness, and there is no such intention.