§ MR. BELLAIRSI beg to ask the Secretary to the Admiralty whether refrigerating machinery has already been ordered sufficient to equip the whole of the magazines of our fifty-one battleships, twenty-eight armoured cruisers, and seventy-six unarmoured cruisers, together with the plant for the ships now building; whether provision was made for all this plant in the Navy Estimates, and, if so, where; and whether he can state the estimated cost of fitting such refrigerating plant in the whole Navy or in the case of one battleship, such as the "Agamemnon."
§ MR. EDMUND ROBERTSONAs regards the first part of the Question, I have nothing to add to the reply which I gave to the hon. Member for Guildford on Tuesday. No provision has been made in the Estimates, but if the expenditure during the current financial year cannot be met from surpluses, it will be provided for by a Supplementary Estimate in the usual way. As regards the last part of the Question, the cost of the plant alone in the case of the" Agamemnon" is £1,900; the cost of fitting cannot at present be stated.