§ MR. YERBURGH (Chester)To ask the Secretary to the Admiralty if he will explain why, in view of the statement of the late Secretary to the Admiralty upon the 23rd June, 1903, that the battleships of the 1903–4 programme would be laid down at an early date and be built by contract, the said ships were not laid down before January, 1904, and are being built in the Government dockyards; and whether the Admiralty adhere to the intention they expressed in August, 1903, of laying down three battleships in April next.
(Answered by Mr. Pretyman.) The hon. Member will find the matter referred to in his Question fully dealt with in the Memorandum of the First Lord accompanying the Estimates, which will 1304 very shortly be laid upon the Table; and I suggest the hon. Member should kindly defer any Question ho may have to ask till after he has read that statement.