§ MR. BELLAIRSTo ask the Secretary to the Admiralty how many skilled and how many unskilled ratings are embraced in the two-fifths complement of nucleus crews, and how many will then be in the new skeleton crews; and how many battleships and cruisers which, on 1st May, 1906, were fully manned or partially manned, will, under the new scheme of distribution, be degraded to ships with skeleton crews.
§ (Answered by MR. Edmund Robertson.) It has always been the practice of the Admiralty to treat details of complement as strictly confidential, and I regret, therefore, that I cannot give my hon. friend the information asked for.