§ MR. H. E. KEARLEY (Devonport)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty—(1) whether he is aware that considerable dissatisfaction has been recently occasioned in the Naval ports among petty officers by the issuing of an order to the effect that any petty officer or man seen on shore wearing plain clothes will be taken before the captain; and (2) in view of the fact that the privilege of wearing mufti on shore has been allowed without challenge by the Admiralty since 1876, when the Admiralty directed that plain clothes were not to be worn when on leave without special permission, and that in consequence of the agitation occasioned by the order it was cancelled before it had been in force three months, whether he will consider the advisability of withdrawing the present rule?
THE FIRST LORD OF THE ADMIRALTY (Mr. G. J.GOSCHEN, St. George's,) Hanover SquareMy answer to the first question is "No"; in the second question both preambles are erroneous. There has been no change in the orders of 1876.