§ MR. LOCKIE () DevonportTo ask the Secretary to the Admiralty whether he is aware that certain shipwrights and machinemen in His Majesty's service were lately selected for service at Cape Town; that after they had purchased their outfits their appointments were countermanded; and whether, under these circumstances, they will be compensated for the expense to which they have been put.
(Answered by Mr. Arnold - Forster.) Twenty - one workmen in the Home dockyards were recently selected for service at the Cape of Good Hope naval yard, but as the result of further communications with the Commander-in-Chief on the Cape Station the numbers to be sent out were reduced to eleven. The Admiralty have no information to the effect that the other ten men had already purchased their outfits. If it be the case that they have been put to expense in this way, the proper course is for them to represent the facts through their superior officers, in order that each case may be considered on its merits.