§ *MR. REESI beg to ask the Secretary to the Admiralty whether any battleship is included in the China squadron at the present time; and whether, if the Answer be in the negative, the American, French, and German Eastern fleets are in like 1580 manner composed exclusively of cruisers, destroyers, and smaller vessels.
§ MR. EDMUND ROBERTSONThere is no battleship in the China squadron at the present time; and, except the "Redoubtable," a third class battleship of the French Navy, launched in 1876, in commission at Saigon, and two armoured coast-defence ships of the United States Navy in reserve in the Philippines, the ships composing the French, American, and German squadrons in the Eastern seas are of the classes referred to in the Question.