§ MR. BELLAIRS (Lynn Regis)To ask the Secretary to the Admiralty whether his 'attention has been drawn to the fact that under the old system of limited competition for cadetships at Dartmouth there has only been a withdrawal of two cadets out of 191 entered, although paragraph 17 of the regulations respecting naval cadets lays down that it is to be distinctly understood that the period of training is a time of probation; and whether, having regard to the fact that during the same period, of 222 boys, entered at Osborne under the new system 32 have been withdrawn, the Admiralty will reconsider the present scheme of entry, since each cadet lost costs the country, according to official figures, £98 per annum.
(Answered by Mr. Edmund Robertson.) The figures quoted have already been given in reply to a Question in this House; and the Answer to the second Question is in the negative.