§ MR. RIDSDALE (Brighton)To ask the Secretary to the Admiralty on what grounds it has been decided to abandon the construction of one of the four armoured cruisers provided for in the Navy Estimates of 1905–6, and authorised by Parliament.
(Answered by Mr. Edmund Robertson.) The fourth armoured cruiser in 1905–6 was not proceeded with, as a careful scrutiny of the progress of warship building in other countries, and the existing strength of foreign navies, proved it to be unnecessary to proceed with this vessel when the time arrived, late in the year, for giving the orders for the new ships to be laid down.