§ MR. PULESTON (Devonport)asked the First Lord of the Admiralty, Whether it has been definitely determined to build two of the five new cruisers by contract, so that prices may check one another; whether the new arrangements and appointments in the Admiralty and the Dockyards were ostensibly made to secure the more effective supervision; whether it is found now that these are ineffective, or that work cannot be as well and as cheaply done in the Dockyards as in private yards; whether, when the original estimate for ships built in the Dockyards is exceeded, it is owing to changes made during construction; and, 502 whether, if the accounts of ships built in the Dockyards were kept in the same manner as the accounts kept for those built in private yards, it could be shown that the actual cost of the former is not so great as that of the latter?
§ THE FIRST LORD (Lord GEOEGE HAMILTON) (Middlesex, Ealing)Two of the five new cruisers will be built by contract. The new arrangements made for supervision of work in the Dockyards have secured good results, as is shown by the fact that for the first time for many years past there was no Supplementary Dockyard Vote for the past year. The excess over estimates for ships built in Dockyards has not always been due to changes made during construction; but under the present arrangements we believe that instead of ships' estimates for building being exceeded they will be built within the estimates. I am not conversant with the methods of account kept for ships built in private yards; but I imagine they include depreciation of plant, which is not charged in Dockyard-built ships. The present Board of Admiralty are of opinion that the Dockyards should build the great bulk of the ships required for the Navy; and this year out of 13 ships of different types 11 have been, or will be, laid down in the Dockyards.