§ SIR WILLIAM PLOWDEN (Wolverhampton, W.)asked the First Lord of the Admiralty, whether the Director of Dockyards, who was appointed upwards of a year ago, has yet been provided with a Chief Constructor as his assistant; has his staff been completed to its full assigned strength; and, is it now upon such a basis that the Director can be made directly responsible for the economical performance of work, and for preventing wasteful expenditure at the Dockyards?
§ THE FIRST LORD (Lord GEORGE HAMILTON) (Middlesex, Ealing)The Director of Dockyards has not yet been provided with a Chief Constructor as an assistant; but an arrangement is in course of completion by which that addition will be sanctioned by the Treasury. The Director of Dockyards does exercise now a salutary influence in the economical administration of the Dockyards, as is shown by the savings he has effected; but his efforts will, doubtless, 1344 be greatly supplemented by the assistance of an adequate staff.