§ MAJOR RASCH (Essex, S.E.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Admiralty whether, although dredging has been carried on in the Medway for a considerable time, it has been found impracticable to move the Benbow, when coaled, from Sheerness to Chatham; and whether, under these circumstances, he will suspend dredging operations which have failed to form a channel, and of which the chief result is the destruction of the Kent and Essex fishing grounds from the mud and rubbish thus discharged on them?
§ THE CIVIL LORD OF THE ADMIRALLY (Mr. E. ROBERTSON,) DundeeIt is true that at present it is not safe to take the heavier battleships of the present day down the Channel of the Medway at all high tides at their full draught. The improvement of such a channel sufficiently for this purpose is not an operation which can be carried out in a brief space of time. As it is, however, manifestly necessary that the channel should be so improved in order to obtain the full value of the great Dockyard at Chatham, it is intended to proceed uninterruptedly with the work, which is now in a forward state.