MR. GORSTasked the Secretary to the Admiralty, Whether he will state the amount of Naval force kept on foot by the various self-governing Colonies; and, whether there would be any objection to insert the names of the ships of the Colonial Navies, and their officers, in the official Navy List, as the names of the regiments of the Colonial Forces, and their officers, are inserted in the official Army List?
§ SIR THOMAS BRASSEYThe Naval Forces of the Colonies not being under the control of the Admiralty, we have not sufficiently accurate reports of their strength to enable me to reply in detail to the Question of my hon. Friend. I may say, however, that the Colony of Victoria possesses an ironclad, the Cerberus; and several of the Australian Colonies have commenced to provide themselves with efficient cruisers, gunboats, and torpedo-boats, and to organize a Naval Reserve. The Admiralty are fully prepared to insert the names of the ships of the Colonial Navies and their officers in the Navy List as soon as the Navy of any Colony is sufficiently organized.