ADMIRAL FIELD (Sussex, Eastbourne)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether our Ambassador at Paris can be requested to ascertain and report as to the recent disastrous explosion of the magazine at Toulon; the causes of the said explosion; the nature of the high explosives stored there; the amount or weight of contents of magazine; the distance of magazine from the dockyard; and the number of lives lost and houses destroyed, the area of destruction, and the amount of damage done in or to the dockyard and town; and whether the French authorities contemplate re-erecting the magazine on the old site, or whether it is to be removed to a greater distance from the town and dockyard, together with any other information tending to elucidate the mystery of the explosion, for our better information and guidance in the construction and position of magazines in this country.
§ * MR. BRODRICKHer Majesty's Government are fully alive to the importance of obtaining full information as to the cause of such an explosion as occurred at Toulon. A report has been obtained, but any information of this character relating to foreign arsenals is necessarily regarded as confidential.
§ No answer was given.