§ MR. BELLAIRS (Lynn Regis)To ask the Secretary of State for War whether his attention has been drawn to the Statement of Admiralty Policy, issued on 30th November, in which a protest is made against the Navy Estimates bearing any charges incurred on behalf of other departments; and whether he will take advantage of this policy to negotiate for the transfer of the cost of the shore defences of naval dockyards from the Army to the Navy Estimates.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Haldane.) The question of the transfer of the responsibility for such defences to the Admiralty has been considered on previous occasions, and it has been always decided to leave matters unchanged, except in respect of the submarine mining defences. I do not propose, at the present moment, to re-open the general question. To transfer the cost of the defences without the responsibility would not apparently serve any good purpose.