§ MR. BOWERMAN (Deptford)To ask the Secretary to the Admiralty if he can state the total number of engine-room artificers short of those required for manning the ships of the various Fleets, and the reason those returning from foreign service are being asked to give up part of the leave usually granted to such men for recuperation.
(Answered by Mr. Edmund Robertson.) There is no shortage of engine-room artificers, the numbers now borne being sufficient to man the present war Fleet. Nothing is known of any engine-room artificers having been asked to give up their leave on return from foreign service. Two engine-room artificers in H.M.S. "Drake," of the second cruiser squadron, on that ship paying off recently, were asked if they would like to give up their leave for instruction in turbines, for which two engine-room artificers were required at the time, and for which these two men were specially suitable The inquiry was made in the interests of the chief petty officers themselves as well as of the service, and they voluntarily accepted the offer, naming their own date for commencing instruction.