§ MR. HANBURYI beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty whether it is the fact that the Medea, designed to make 19¾ knots, did not succeed in making more than 16 on her recent experimental cruise to Gibraltar and back, and whether, after cruising even at that speed, her boilers must be retubed throughout; and when were the two 110-ton guns of the Victoria tested, or has neither of them been tested yet?
§ * LORD G. HAMILTONThe Medea was designed to make about 20 knots on the measured mile and with forced draught, and this was accomplished by her sister ship, the Medusa. In her experimental cruise, subsequent to the forced draught trials, the Medea did not make more than 16 knots in a sea-way, with natural draught, and the tubes of the boilers leaked considerably from the results of the forced draught trials. The boilers will not require re-tubing. The Admiralty are carefully watching the trials of these and similar ships, as the problem to be solved is to test the power of the engines to develop the horse power contracted for under forced draught without injuring the boilers by the test applied. One of the 110-ton guns on board the Victoria has been tested, but the second gun has not been accepted, and is about to be returned.