§ MR. BOWERMAN (Deptford)To ask the Secretary to the Admiralty if he will state the reason why the Home establishments and ships under repair are being depleted of engine-room artificers to make up the necessary complements for ships commissioning.
(Answered by Mr. Edmund Robertson.) There has been no change in the direction of diminishing the number of engine room artificers available for the repair of ships in Home waters. The difference between the previous system and the present is that engine-room artificers awaiting draft, and borne in the depot's supernumerary, were then employed to some extent on work in ships in dockyard hands; now they are employed in effecting repairs in ships in commission, and thus arresting the development of defects which would necessitate the ship being placed in dockyard hands.