MR. GORSTasked the Secretary to the Admiralty, Whether it is a fact that six ships only of the Royal Navy have been commissioned at Chatham since 1880, while in the same period twenty-six have been commissioned at Devon-port, fourteen at Portsmouth, and twenty-nine at Sheerness; how many ships have been paid off at Chatham during the same period; and, whether there is any reason for diminishing the number of Her Majesty's ships commissioned and paid off at Chatham?
§ MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANThe number of ships commissioned between the 1st of January, 1881, and the 1st of June, 1884, at the ports named in the hon. and learned Member's Question, was as follows: —At Chatham, 7; at Sheerness, 29; at Portsmouth, 29; at Devonport, 30. There were four ships paid off at Chatham within the same period. The matter is decided by consideration of the public interest; and Chatham, being used more especially as a building yard rather than as a repairing yard, is naturally a less fit place for paying off and commissioning ships.