SIR JOHN COLOMB&c.) (Tower Hamlets, Bow,asked the First Lord of the Admiralty, Whether he will cause a chart showing the area within which the naval experimental operations now being carried on are to be conducted; and, whether he can arrange for the attendance of an officer from the Naval Intelligence Department to indicate on the chart, by distinguishing pins or by other means, the positions of the ironclads and cruisers comprising the Squadrons, so far as they can be ascertained, at noon each day?
§ THE FIRST LORD (Lord GEORGE HAMILTON) (Middlesex, Ealing)I have instructed the Hydrographer to furnish the Librarian of the House with copies of charts of the British Isles and of Lough Swilly and Bantry Bay. It is, however, quite impracticable, as the hon. and gallant Gentleman will admit, to predict the movements of the two Fleets, which depend upon the discretion of the Commanders-in-Chief, or to assign the probable locality of ships in constant movement, and whose position, both actual and relative, varies from hour to hour.