§ MR. WILLIAM JOHNSTONI beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty whether H. M. S. St. Vincent, training ship at Portsmouth, has now got 700 boys on board; and whether it has been represented to him that it is in much too crowded a condition, and that its present state is deleterious to the health of the lads on board?
MR. GOSCHENIt has not been represented to me that the ship is in much too crowded a condition, nor that the present state is deleterious to the health of the lads. The number of boys on board is 679, and the sanitary condition of the ship is reported to me as being good. The established complement was recently reduced by 110, and since then no representation as to overcrowding has been made so far as I am aware. The complements of all training ships were revised and reduced not long ago.