ADMIRAL FIELDI beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty whether representation was made by their Lordships to the Treasury respecting the making provision of a suitable residence for the First Sea Lord in Queen Anne's 1311 Gate, so that he should be near the Admiralty for the better discharge of his official duties, especially in time of war; whether, on the expiration of the lease of the house recently occupied by the late First Sea Lord, the landlord was willing to renew the lease at an increased rental of only £100, and did the Admiralty submit the proposal for Treasury approval, and with what result; and, seeing that in the evidence before the Duke of Somerset's Committee of 1871, stress was laid on the importance of one or more Sea Lords residing in the vicinity of the Admiralty, whether further representations will be made to the First Commissioner of Works, and to the Treasury, as to the necessity of thus meeting the wishes of the Admiralty in this matter in the interests of the public service.
MR. GOSCHENIt is not the custom to communicate to the House Departmental correspondence of the kind referred to. I am in agreement with the Committee of 1871, as to the importance of the Senior Naval Lord residing in the vicinity of the Admiralty, and as I stated in answer to the noble Lord the Member for Roxburgh, endeavours are being made to arrive at a settlement.