§ MR. HANBURY (Preston)asked the First Lord of the Admiralty, Whether the cutlasses supplied to Her Majesty's Ship Acorn, commissioned for service on the West Coast of Africa, have been found to be defective; and what steps are being taken to replace admittedly defective weapons by others which satisfy 1267 the existing official tests, if such tests are more severe than those which were considered sufficient in the year 1871? The hon. Gentleman also asked, whether it was the case that an order had been sent to the Small Arms Factory at Enfield to at once discontinue the testing of sword-bayonets and cutlasses for the Navy, on the ground that they were all too soft for use?
§ THE FIRST LORD (Lord GEORGE HAMILTON) (Middlesex, Ealing)No Report as to the cutlasses supplied to Her Majesty's ship Acorn has been received at the Admiralty. The cutlasses being War Office stores, I am unable to say what steps it is proposed to take to replace defective weapons.