§ COLONEL WELBY (Taunton)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury, seeing that the land, marine, and submarine defences of the shores and ports of the United Kingdom are partly under the War Office and partly under the Admiralty, whether the Committee of Imperial Defence has worked out a complete and united scheme for repelling invasion raids; and whether he can see his way to manæuvres this autumn which will put that scheme into practice by land and sea, over a stretch of exposed coast in the defence of which both Departments are concerned.
§ THE PRIME MINISTER AND FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY (Mr. A. J. BALFOUR, Manchester, E.)In answer to my hon. and gallant friend, I have to say that the submarine defences referred to in the first sentence of his Question are already under the sole charge of the Admiralty, a change which has been brought about very largely in consequence of discussions in the Defence Committee. As regards the latter part of his Question, I would venture to suggest to my hon. and gallant friend and the House that, though, of course, I have no objection to these Questions being asked, I think they would be asked more usefully when I have had the opportunity of explaining to the House at length, and possibly in some detail, the views to which the Defence Committee have come and which I promised to lay before the Committee of the House at an early date after Easter. It is difficult to deal with these complicated problems by way of Question and Answer; and, if 1281 they are to be so dealt with, they can be dealt with with much more advantage when the House have the general views of the Government before them and have had time to consider them.
§ COLONEL WELBYCan my right hon. friend say whether the submarine defences of the non-naval as well as the naval ports have been taken over by the Admiralty?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURI do not know that the change has already been effected, but it is certainly in process of being effected, and will be completed, I hope, shortly.