§ SIR JOHN HAYsaid, he had given Notice that he would call attention to the want of a sufficient number of Ironclads for the National defence and of cruising vessels for training seamen. He would not, however, occupy the time of the House then, as the discussion of the subject might be taken on the Building Vote. But with regard to Vote 15, he desired to say—and it was more convenient to say it with the Speaker in the Chair—that he looked with great alarm and regret on the stagnation of promotion in the Royal Navy. The arrangements could give content to comparatively but a small number of officers on the war list; and he was quite sure that the numbers of captains and commanders required re-adjustment in order to give lieutenants a fair chance of rising according to merit, and not by seniority. He could give names familiar enough in the Service as instances. One officer of considerable distinction and standing, who had been mentioned in despatches for distinguished services, he could name, who, in consequence of the limited number of commanders, had never obtained that position which throughout the Service he was known to deserve. There was really no inducement, no stimulus to men, except so far as to perform their duty, to exert themselves, where promotion, which, of all things the naval officer most desired, was barred by the limited numbers on the upper list. He would not trespass further upon the time of the House; but he thought it right, on behalf of the Navy, to place on record his opinion in regard to the subject, and to request the Secretary to the Admiralty to bring this matter to the notice of the Board of Admiralty during the Recess, and the strong desire that existed in the Navy with regard to the re-adjustment of the lists of captains and commanders, so as to give more encouragement and more rapid promotion through that list 1111 to lieutenants, who, after all, were the backbone of the Navy.