§ MR. GOURLEYI beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty whether the report is true that the engines of H.M.S. Hero, on her trial trip, failed to produce the necessary indicated horse power until the spring's operating on the safety valves were screwed down; and, if so, whether it is in accordance with the usual practice of the Admiralty that these same engines should be paid for under the circumstances; whether it is true that the engines now being built to Government specification, out of the last moneys granted by Parliament, are not lighter than they have ever been before; and whether the Government will grant an investigation, by practical engineers of the mercantile marine, into the efficiency of these new engines?
§ * LORD GEORGE HAMILTONIn the trial in question a slight adjustment was made in the safety valves by compressing the springs one-eighth of an inch, as the steam was blowing off below that pressure. The average pressure was then 91.21 lb. per square inch. The contract provided that the boilers should be tested to a pressure of 180 lb., and that the working pressure should be 'JO lb. a square inch. The practice at the time was to allow the pressure stipulated for by contract to be regarded as the steam pressure at the engines and not at the boilers. A full official Report of the whole trial with the working pressures was received at the Admiralty before the machinery was paid for. The engines have since worked well.