§ COLONEL HUGHES-HALLETT (Rochester)asked the Secretary to the Admiralty, Whether it is true, as recently stated in The Admiralty and Horse Guards Gazette, that practice with the four 38-ton muzzle-loading guns on board H.M.S. Ajax off the coast of Spain, had to be stopped in consequence of defective construction at the vents, which rendered practice dangerous; whether any Report thereon from the Admiral, or from the Captain of the Ship, has been received; and, whether he will lay it upon the Table?
§ THE FIRST LORD (Lord GEORGE HAMILTON) (Middlesex, Ealing)(who replied) said: It is true that practice from the 38-ton guns of the Ajax was temporarily stopped in consequence of 164 defects in connection with the vents. The guns have been thoroughly overhauled since the return of the ship to England by the officers of the War Department, who have reported that, owing to the nuts which secure the axial vents not having been properly tightened up, a small escape of gas had taken place, slightly eroding the steel of the gun tubes where the vent passes through them. These slight defects have been repaired, and the guns are now perfectly efficient and serviceable. Instructions have been issued to insure the proper tightening up of the screws in future.