ADMIRAL MAYNE (Pembroke and Haverfordwest)asked the First Lord of the Admiralty, Whether it is true, as stated in the newspapers, that—
The Admiralty have decided to build two very fine sheathed cruizers at a cost of nearly £500,000, for the building of which three leading shipbuilding firms are in correspondence with the Admiralty;and, if so, why these vessels should not be built on some of the many vacant building slips in Her Majesty's Dockyards?
§ THE FIRST LORD (Lord GEORGE HAMILTON) (Middlesex, Ealing)In the Official Memorandum and Estimates laid before Parliament for 1887–8 the Admiralty propose to lay down five new cruizers, costing about £140,000 each, three of which were to be built in the Dockyards, and two by contract; and there has been no departure from that programme. It is advisable, when a number of ships of a new type are to be built, to put some out to contract, as the contract and dockyard prices check one another.