§ SIR WILLIAM ALLAN (Gateshead)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Admiralty what is the nature of the defects in the machinery of H.M.S. "Hyacinth" which prevent her having her new trial with H.M.S. "Minerva."
§ MR. ARNOLD-FORSTERThere are no defects in the machinery of H.M.S. "Hyacinth" which prevent her from proceeding with trials with H.M.S. "Minerva." As the object of these particular trials is to test various propellers of different form and dimensions, some time is necessarily occupied between the trials in changing the propeller blades.
§ SIR WILLIAM ALLANMay I ask the hon. Gentleman why proper screws were not designed for this ship at first?
§ MR. ARNOLD-FORSTERThe hon. Member knows that the question of screws is one which is being experimented on in almost every country, and we are experimenting in order to ascertain if better results are to be obtained from these screws than from the original ones.
§ SIR WILLIAM ALLANThe powers of the screws have been known for years, and no more experiments are necessary.