§ SIR H. DRUMMOND WOLFFasked the Secretary to the Admiralty, Whether the Depot Ship at Portsmouth will, in three years, be unfit for service; and, whether, meanwhile, provision will be made by the erection of Naval Barracks; and, if not, if he can state the reasons for which Her Majesty's Government have relinquished the intention of erecting the Naval Barracks, of which the foundations had been begun?
§ MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANIt is hard to say when the Depot Ship at Portsmouth will become unfit for service, and I should be sorry to accept the time named by the hon. Member. As to the erection of barracks, it is not in- 219 tended to proceed with it until we have seen whether the Naval Barracks now under construction at Devonport succeed. There is also some doubt as to the suitableness of the site on which the commencement of a building had been made at Portsmouth.