§ MR. CHARLES MCARTHUR (Liverpool, Exchange)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Board of Trade whether, having regard to the fact that 4,326 boy sailors wore enrolled in the Royal Naval Reserve under the scheme of 1898, which expired on March 31st, and to the probability that under the simpler scheme of a capitation grant for each boy carried, as recently proposed by the Admiralty and Board of Trade, the number of such enrolments would be greatly increased, he will say in what way effect is now to be given to the policy of encouraging the training of British boys for the mercantile marine and as a Reserve for the Royal Navy.
§ MR. BONAR LAWI am not in a position to promise that the scheme will be revived in any form, but I fully sympathise with the objects for which it was framed, and I will take an opportunity of discussing the subject generally with my hon. friend the Secretary to the Admiralty.