§ GENERAL LAURIE (Pembroke and Haverfordwest)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Admiralty whether he can state the actual number of efficient seamen of twenty years of age obtained from each 1,000 lads entered at ordinary enrolling age; whether he can state the actual amount expended directly or indirectly on such 1,000 youths, including all expenditure on those who do not attain the age of twenty as able seamen, and can thus ascertain the total cost of each able seaman becoming fit for active service; and whether he has compared such cost with the expense incurred by the War Office in enrolling immature youths from civil life for the Army with the object of developing them into efficient soldiers.
§ THE SECRETARY TO THE ADMIRALTY (Mr. PRETYMAN, Suffolk, Wood-bridge)The number of seamen of twenty years of age obtained from 1,000 entrants as boys is about 800. The total cost of a man to date of becoming A.B. is estimated at about £240. This figure includes cost of training, pay, victualling, and clothing, both for those who attain the rating of A.B. and those who do not. The Admiralty have no data which would enable any such comparison to be made as that suggested in the last part of the hon. Member's Question.
† See (4) Debates, cxxvii., 380.