§ Mr. LEA (St. Pancras, E.)To ask the Secretary to the Admiralty whether any reward has been conferred upon the workman from the Ayrshire Foundry Company who first drew the attention of the Admiralty to the fraud committed by that company, whereby a battleship, costing nearly £2,000,000 sterling, and its crew of over 700 men might have been lost; and, if so, what was the nature and the amount of the reward; and, if not, why.
(Answered by Mr. Edmund Robertson.) The hon. Member's Question relates to transactions which took place long before the present Board came into office. I am 668 told that the Admiralty was first informed of the defect in the rudder by a person who had been employed as works manager by the Ayrshire Foundry Company, but had left the firm's employment at the time of furnishing the information. According to his own statement, he had known for many months of this defect, and had himself, although under protest, assisted in concealing it. Under the circumstances it did not appear to the Board of Admiralty of the day that he ought to be rewarded, and no reward has been made.