§ MR. PLATT-HIGGINSTo ask the Secretary to the Admiralty if he is aware that the Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean station has laid it down that, for purposes of official entertainments, engineer officers of the rank of inspectors of machinery shall rank with commanders in command; and whether, in view of the fact that, according to the King's and Admiralty instructions, inspectors of machinery have the relative rank of captain, he will take steps to ensure that these officers shall not lie for social purposes degraded below their proper rank.
(Answered by Mr. Arnold-Forster) The Admiralty are still without information on this subject. The Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean, was communicated with about a fortnight ago, but his reply has not yet been received, though it is now daily expected.