§ COLONEL HUGHES-HALLETT (Rochester)asked the Surveyor General of the Ordnance, Whether the trials made with the new Maxim machine-gun have proved that gun to be superior to any kind of machine-gun at present in existence; whether the Government purchased three of these guns in the month of February last, and what has been their destination; and, whether, in view of the fact that Foreign Governments are largely buying these Maxim guns, Her Majesty's Government will consider the advisability of giving orders for more guns of this pattern, to supersede the manufacture of Nordenfelt guns, which are still being made in spite of the Report of the Select Committee of May, 1881, which placed the Nordenfelt inferior to the Gardner?
§ THE SURVEYOR GENERAL(Mr. H. S. NORTHCOTE) (Exeter)The trials with the Maxim machine gun, which have hitherto been under the direct supervision of the inventor, have been sufficiently promising to justify the purchase of three for trial on board Her Majesty's ship Excellent, under conditions more nearly approaching those of actual warfare. The question of further orders of Maxim guns cannot be decided until these trials have conclusively demonstrated their serviceability. Nearly the whole of the Nordenfelt guns which have been ordered during the last 12 months have been ordered for the Admiralty at their special request; the orders given by the War Office for guns of this class for land service have been almost entirely for Gardner guns.