CAPTAIN COLOMB&c.) (Tower Hamlets, Bow,asked the First Lord of the Admiralty, Whether any "general idea" has been laid down by the Admiralty for the conduct of the Naval operations now being carried on in the vicinity of our coasts; if so, whether the conditions assumed by such "general idea" are considered to be applicable to the defence in war of our coasts, commercial ports, and commerce by our sea-going force; whether such "general idea "involves any of the following assumptions, and, if so, which:—That the enemy's force has not been masked by a British force off the enemy's ports; that the enemy's ports have not been "observed" from the outbreak of hostilities by either our war fleet or by a flotilla of our fast merchant steamers; that the movements of the enemy's force have not been continuously watched by our war ships or auxiliary merchant steamers from the moment of its putting to sea; that we have abandoned the command of the sea outside the chain of defending ships?
§ THE FIRST LORD (Lord GEORGE HAMILTON) (Middlesex, Ealing)The 1131 Question of the hon. and gallant Member is of a somewhat argumentative and contentious character, and one that can hardly be answered within the limits of an answer to a Question. I will endeavour, however, to satisfy the hon. and gallant Member. The Admiralty have not assumed that the conditions under which the present naval manœuvres are being carried out can be made identical with those existing in time of actual war; but they have framed Regulations by which a certain approximation to the conditions of actual warfare is made. The object of these experiments is to give officers a tactital knowledge and the men experience of the duties they will have to undertake. We believe that the Admirals and Commodores in command will also obtain a clearer insight into the strategical principles which should govern the defence of our coasts and commerce.
§ CAPTAIN COLOMBI should like to ask, whether the First Lord of the Admiralty considers that "of certain approximations" to the circumstances of actual warfare is defending ourselves in our own waters?
§ [No reply.]