§ MR. MORROGH (Cork, S.E.)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he has seen a paragraph in the Cork papers, with reference to the break down of Her Majesty's gunboat Spanker, of the "Western" Fleet, now engaged in the annual Naval Manœuvres; whether this gunboat has sailed, or is about to sail, to Plymouth or Portsmouth, to have the necessary repairs effected; and whether these repairs could be done at Haulbowline Docks?
§ MR. CHAPLIN (for Lord G. HAMILTON)The report in question has not been brought to the notice of the First Lord of the Admiralty. The accident to the machinery of the Spanker occurred soon after she had left Torbay, and it was, therefore, the convenient and natural course to take her to Devonport. The defects to the Spanker have been 933 already made good, and she is now with the Western Fleet engaged in the manœuvres.