§ MR. HANBURY (Preston)asked the First Lord of the Admiralty, Whether he accepts as correct the statement in the First Report of the Committee on Army Estimates that—
The Admiralty are now solely responsible to Parliament for the sufficiency or insufficiency of warlike stores provided for the use of the Navy;and, if not, which Department is, in fact, responsible for the sufficiency of Vote 9, now for the first time included in Navy Estimates; whether, when that Vote was transferred to and included in Navy Estimates, a complete statement had been furnished by the War Office to the Admiralty of moneys received and moneys actually expended by the War Office for naval ordnance up to that date, and whether any amount so received by the War Office still remains unaccounted for to the Admiralty, and is not represented by ordnance stores of equal value held for or handed over to the Navy by the War Office; whether a complete statement had then been, or has since been, furnished to the Admiralty of the number and kinds of guns, and also of the amount and description of ammunition in the hands of the War Office and belonging to the Navy; whether a complete statement had then been, or has since been, furnished by the War Office to the Admiralty of liabilities incurred and unpaid amounts chargeable to Naval Votes, and whether fresh liabilities are still being discovered; whether the Director of Naval Ordnance has declined responsibility for the sufficiency of the Vote as it now stands, in the absence of proper information from the War Office as to the stores of naval guns and ammunition in its charge and available for use; and, whether the Admiralty some time since sanctioned a further expenditure on account of this Vote; and, if so, whether the increased charge so sanctioned will be provided for out of savings on other Votes or by a Supplementary Estimate?
§ THE FIRST LORD (Lord GEORGE HAMILTON) (Middlesex, Ealing)The Admiralty have only accepted responsibility in reference to the ordnance stores, concerning the amount of which they have complete information; and their position is made clear both in my Memorandum explanatory of the Estimates, as well as in a letter addressed to the War Office on the 27th of April, 1887, and which, I understand, was laid before the Committee on Army Estimates. The transfer of the Vote to the Navy Estimates was made before complete statements of the nature alluded to—of moneys received and expended—were furnished. The information as to guns in the hands of the War Office is complete; that relating to ammunition and other naval stores is promised in its entirety by September 10. As regards foreign stations the information is complete. The record of liabilities incurred and unpaid amounts chargeable to Naval Votes is complete, but has not yet been furnished in full detail from the ordnance factory. There was a large surrender on last year's Vote, the contractors being unable to earn the sums contained in the Estimates to cover the orders given to them. To prevent this year a recurrence of this surrender, a larger proportion of orders to the money voted have been given. I cannot now say whether a Supplementary Estimate will be necessary, as the sums to be paid within the financial year entirely depend upon the progress made by the contractors with the work given to them.