§ MR. EDMUND ROBERTSON (Dundee)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty whether his attention has been called to the Report of the Public Accounts Committee animadverting on the failure of the Admiralty to enforce penalties for breaches of contract for the amount of £113,760 under the Shipbuilding Vote in the year 1898–99, and on the failure of the Admiralty to answer the Treasury Letter relating thereto, dated 28th March 1899, and to similar animadversions in connection with Vote 9; and whether he can now state to the House the defence, if any, of the Admiralty to these censures.
MR. GOSCHENNo, Sir. My attention has not been specially called to the Report in question. I am informed that the letter referred to did not seem to call for a reply, and that none was asked for. The defence of the Admiralty to the so-called "censures," if I wished to make one, would be that the question involved is one of administration, on which it is possible to hold opposite views, and not one of finance. I may remind the hon. and learned Gentleman once more that the policy of the present board as to penalties is still the same as that of the board of which he was a Member.
MR. GIBSON BOWLES (Lynn Regis)Was not the Admiralty's defence before the Committee that it was practically impossible to enforce these penalty clauses