§ SIR SAMUEL WILSON (Portsmouth)asked the First Lord of the Admiralty, Whether his attention has been called to an article, which appeared in The Times of the 13th instant, explanatory of a scheme submitted by Colonel Crease, C.B., E.M.A., for the conversion of the whole Royal Marine Corps into Marine Artillery; whether this proposition of Colonel Crease's is being at present considered by the Board of Admiralty; and, whether he has any objection to lay Colonel Crease's complete scheme upon the Table of the House, so that Members may have the opportunity of making themselves acquainted with a proposition which, while claiming to save some £18,000 a-year in the Naval Estimates, seems likely to prove advantageous to the Service and to the country?
§ THE FIRST LORD (Lord GEORGE HAMILTON) (Middlesex, Ealing)A scheme for the conversion of the whole Royal Marine Corps into Royal Marine Artillery has been forwarded by Colonel Crease, and is under examination by the Admiralty. I am informed that this examination has made clear that the scheme will not fulfil the promise of economy claimed for it. It is not usual, and would not in this case be advantageous to the Service, to officially publish an inchoate scheme of this kind.