MR. POWELL WILLIAMSIn the absence of the hon. Member for West Belfast, I beg to ask the Secretary to the Admiralty what was the total sum, whether derived from a cash provision or otherwise, expended during the last financial year upon construction for the Royal Navy; and by what amount does such sum exceed or fall short of the sum to be expended during the current year?
SIR U. KAY-SHUTTLEWORTHThe estimated expenditure from cash provision and otherwise upon new construction in 1893–4 (exclusive of contract ships building under the Naval Defence Act, the charge for which falls on the Consolidated Fund, and is spread equally over seven years) is £2,398,600. To this ought to be added the provision of £45,125 made under Vote 8 (see footnote, page 164 of the Estimates) for Transferable Gun-mountings and Auxiliary Machinery for the New Ships, making a total of £2,443,725, as compared with the actual expenditure of £2,268,000 in 1892–3, or an increased estimated expenditure in the current year of about £175,000. The difference between these figures and those given on September 1, in reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Gateshead, is due to two causes—first, the inclusion in 1893–4 of £50,000, being savings from previous years; secondly, the substitution in the case of 1892–3 of the ascertained actual expenditure (per Expense Accounts) for the cash provision made in the Estimates.