§ MR. SYDNEY BUXTON (Tower Hamlets, Poplar)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty whether Messrs. Samuda Brothers have, in consequence of the complaint of the Admiralty Overseer, been compelled to discharge as incompetent several of the 1869 engineers and smiths that they lately engaged to work on H M.S. Sappho (now being built by contract) in the place of the men on strike; whether the work done by these incompetent men will be allowed to remain in the ship; and what steps the Admiralty propose to take to insure efficient work in the future?
§ LORD G. HAMILTONI have received no report nor any complaint of inefficient work done at Messrs. Samuda's yard. I should add that an officer is specially appointed by the Admiralty to watch the construction of vessels building by contract, and it is his duty to see that inefficient work is not put into them, and, if it is, to call the attention of the Admiralty to the fact.