§ SIR EDWARD GOURLEY (Sunderland)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty, (1) can he state to the House at what time, and where, it is intended to mobilise the Channel and Reserve Squadrons for the annual exercises and manœuvres; (2) whether the operations are to be held between the English Channel, East Coast of Scotland, and north of Europe, or only upon the old routes, or both; (3) will he state the number and classes of vessels that will be manœuvred at sea, and how many, and the description of vessels which will 430 form the reserve for harbour defence and relief operations; (4) whether experiments in coaling will be performed at sea; and (5) can he also state what number of men of the coastguard, and how many of the first and second class reserves of seamen, and how many of stokers and firemen are to be embarked, and upon what terms?
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE ADMIRALTYThe answer to the first Question is that the Channel and Reserve Squadrons have been already mobilised. I am not prepared at present to answer the second Question. The information asked for in the third Question will be published later, as in former years. The answer to the fourth Question is in the negative. The answer to the fifth Question is that 1,858 Coastguardsmen and 676 first and second class and 136 firemen of the Royal Naval Reserve have been embarked upon the same terms as in previous years.