§ COLONEL HUGHES-HALLETT (Rochester)asked the First Lord of the 791 Admiralty, Whether it is true that Mr. W. H. White is holding the appointment of Director of Naval Construction and Assistant Controller of the Navy at the Admiralty, at a salary of £2,000 per annum, while still acting as Consulting Naval Architect to Messieurs Armstrong, Mitchell, and Company (Limited), also at a salary of £2,000; and, whether Mr. W. H. White is under agreement to act as Consulting Naval Architect to Messieurs Armstrong, Mitchell, and Company for a period of ten years?
§ THE FIRST LORD (Lord GEORGE HAMILTON) (Middlesex, Ealing)Mr. White's salary as Director of Naval Construction is correctly stated; but all pecuniary relations between Mr. White and Messrs. Armstrong ceased on his appointment to the Admiralty. Mr. White, when I offered him the post of Director of Naval Construction, was under a legal obligation to remain with Messrs. Armstrong up to the end of March, 1888, as their Naval Constructor. As I explained on the 2nd of April of this year in the House, I succeeded in inducing Messrs. Armstrong to give up their claim upon his services, with the single stipulation that for the remainder of the term he was under contract to serve with them they might occasionally consult him provided that any such consultation should not in any way be inconsistent with or interfere with the discharge of his duties at the Admiralty.