§ MR. WRIGHTSON (Stockton)asked the Secretary to the Admiralty whether it was the practice of the authorities in Devonport and Pembroke Dockyards to employ shipwrights who were workers in wood to do the work of fitters who were workers in iron; and whether, in the case of iron watertight doors in the Renown, now in Pembroke Dockyard, they had been so defectively fitted by shipwrights that properly-trained fitters had to be finally employed to rectify these defects before the proper tests could be applied?
§ MR. E. ROBERTSONThe practice at all the Dockyards is, to employ men of the trade, called shipwrights, on work in connection with the construction and repairs of the hulls and fitting of ships, usually done in private yards by iron shipbuilders, shipwrights, and fitters. 448 The Dockyard shipwright is, and has been for more than 30 years, a worker in metal as well as in wood. The only ground for the statement in the second part of the question is as follows:—The watertight doors of the Renown were supplied by contract, and separated from their frames by fitters at Pembroke Dockyard. The shipwrights fitted and fastened the frames of the doors to the bulkheads of the ship. The doors were then attached to the frames by the fitters and subjected to the usual water test, when it was found that out of the nine frames that had been fitted by the shipwrights one only leaked at its joining with the bulkhead. A fitter being at hand, attending to the hanging of the doors, the foreman of the ship ordered him to make good the defect discovered, instead of sending for a shipwright to rectify it. This small incident cannot be taken as proof of the general inefficiency of the shipwrights' fitting work, as similar adjustments of work done by all trades are sometimes necessary.
MR. J. RICHARDSON (Durham)Is it not a fact that a Committee has been appointed to decide what is carpenters' work and what is fitters' work?
§ MR. ROBERTSONNo, I do not think so.
§ MR. WILLIAM ALLAN: (Gateshead)Is it not a fact that shipwrights do work on Her Majesty's ships in dockyards which would not be allowed to be done by shipwrights in private yards; and is it not a fact that you can see daylight through some of the fittings and joinings? Further, may I ask whether there is any private yard in Great Britain which would allow shipwrights to do the same work on ships that shipwrights have to do in Her Majesty's dockyards?
§ MR. ROBERTSONIt appears to me that that question is covered by the answer I have already given. As to daylight being seen through the joints, that I am not prepared to assent to.
§ MR. KEARLEYDoes the hon. Gentleman intend to appoint a Committee?
§ MR. ROBERTSONUpon that point I can make no statement without further notice.