§ MR. BELLAIRSTo ask the Prime Minister whether he is aware that considerably increased accommodation has been and is being made in our dockyards abroad, under various Works Bills, while the fleets relying on them have been largely reduced; whether, under these circumstances, the Government will utilise the docks and plant in dockyards abroad by contracting for the repairs of British merchant ships; and whether, in cases where the coal accommodation is in excess of peace requirements, they will prevent deterioration by undertaking to supply British merchant vessels at trade prices.
(Answered by Mr. Edmund Robertson.) The reply to the first part of the Question is in the affirmative, and to the second and third parts in the negative.