§ MR. HARMSWORTH (Caithnessshire)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Admiralty whether his attention has been drawn to the fact that the comparative merit of the shooting efficiency of twenty of the ships in the Mediterranean Squadron has been published; and whether he will now lay this information before the House.
§ THE SECRETARY TO THE ADMIRALTY (Mr. ARNOLD-FORSTER,) Belfast, W.My attention has been drawn to the fact that certain Returns with respect to gunnery in the Mediterranean have been published. They were not published with the authority of the Admiralty, and, as I have previously stated in answer to Questions, it is not considered to be in the interests of the service that detailed Returns with regard to the gunnery of individual ships should be given, especially in view of the fact that similar information is not obtainable with regard to ships of any other Navy. It is not proposed to lay any such Return as that referred to before Parliament. As I have already informed the hon. Member in answer to Questions, the Admiralty will always be prepared to give information to the House with respect to the progress of gunnery in the Navy, and an abstract of the Gunnery Returns showing the order of merit of the respective ships will, for the future, be issued to the ships, and will, of course, be available for the information of Parliament.