§ MR. BELLAIRSI beg to ask the Secretary to the Admiralty whether he is aware that, following on the change of Admiralty policy, by which three times as many orders for torpedoes have been given to Woolwich as compared with Messrs. Whitehead's works at Weymouth, over 30 per cent. of the men employed by Messrs. Whitehead have been discharged since the beginning of this year and more are to follow; and whether he can state why so large a proportion of orders have been allotted to Woolwich, whereas formerly the orders wore equally divided.
§ MR. EDMUND ROBERTSONThe Admiralty have -no information as to any discharges from Messrs. Whitehead's works, either present or prospective. As regards the second part of the Question, it was considered that the existing situation justified the allocation to Woolwich of a larger proportion of orders than has been usual in previous years.
§ MR. BELLAIRSThen had the allocation nothing to do with the merits of the work 1 Seeing that the torpedoes manufactured by this firm are 1¼ knots faster on the 2,000 yards range than the Woolwich torpedoes, ought not the efficiency of the Service to be the first consideration?
§ MR. EDMUND ROBERTSONrepeated the first part of his Answer.