§ MR. BELLAIRS (Lynn Regis)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Admiralty whether the crews of the armoured ships of the Channel Fleet and the Nore division of the Home Fleet will remain with their ships for the full two years commission; if not what distinction is to be made between the two fleets in respect of the length of service in these ships; and whether the boys drafted into the Home Fleet to complete their training, instead of being sent to sea for four months in a training cruiser, are regarded as excess complement.
§ THE SECRETARY TO THE ADMIRALTY (MR. EDMUND ROBERTSON, Dundee)The system of two years commissions for the Channel, Atlantic and Foreign Fleets will not be abandoned. The length of time served by nucleus crews in the Home Fleet is not a fixed period, but must depend on the proportion of ships in the Home and Foreign Fleets respectively. The arrangements in regard to the drafting of boys to the Home Fleet are still so far incomplete that it is impossible to make any statement.