ADMIRAL MAYNE (Pembroke and Haverfordwest)asked the First Lord of the Admiralty, Whether he has yet had time to consider and decide upon the Estimate for erecting sheers at Pembroke, which was officially sent in to the Admiralty on the 31st March; whether, in view of the small sum for which the present obsolete sheers can be replaced by efficient ones, he still intends to run the risk, which must to some ex-tent exist, of sending the Aurora and Nile to another port without their engines; and, whether sending vessels built at one port to be engined and boilered at another causes delay in their completion, and consequent additional expense to the country?
§ THE FIRST LORD (Lord GEORGE HAMILTON) (Middlesex, Ealing)It has been decided not to erect the sheers at Pembroke at present. It is believed that arrangements can be made for putting in the engines and boilers of the Nile at Pembroke, and that it will only be necessary to send the Aurora elsewhere. As a matter of economy, there is no practical difference in the cost as between vessels sent from Pembroke to another yard before they are engined, or retained at Pembroke till the stage of progress is reached at which they could have their engines placed on board.