§ MR. J. G. WEIR (Ross and Cromarty)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty if he will state whether the new battleship Mars has been taken over from the contractors; and whether, during her construction, there was any departure from the original specification; and, if so, will he state the amount represented by the changes?
§ MR. MACARTNEYThe Mars has been taken over from the contractors, and is now approaching completion, but the final payments under the contract have not yet been made, her trials being incomplete. During her construction certain additions were made to the original specification. The aggregate amount of these additions to the contract is about £11,000, on a grand total for the original contract work of £832,000.