§ SIR FORTESCUE FLANNERYI beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty whether an order has been issued, or is in contemplation, withdrawing from the engineering branch the control of the various electrical motors, and placing these complicated machines in charge of lieutenants; and whether it is contemplated that the necessary duty of overhauling and repairing the motors shall be performed by the engineering branch.
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE ADMIRALTY (Mr. G. J. GOSCHEN, St. George's, Hanover Square)No change in the present Regulations as to the charge of electric motors is contemplated. In 1898 the torpedo officer, or where none is borne the gunnery officer, was made responsible for electric motors. Before that time electric motors were not specially mentioned in the Regulations, as there were scarcely any in the Service, but in the few cases in which they were fitted it was the practice for the torpedo officer to take charge of them. The motors are kept in repair by the torpedo staff,