§ MR. BELLAIRSTo ask the Secretary to the Admiralty, how many signatures are required to make an order of the Admiralty executive in reference to the removal of an officer from the command of his fleet, ship, or barracks, or whether this power can be exercised by the First Lord of the Admiralty without the concurrence of the Sea Lords forming the Board of Admiralty; and whether he can state in what respects the practice is a variation, and under what patent or Order in Council, from that pursued in April, 1795, when the decision of Lord Spencer to supersede Admiral Lord Hood in the command of the Mediterranean Fleet could not be carried into effect until he obtained the signatures of two of the Sea Lords.
§ (Answered by Mr. Edmund Robertson.) The Board of Admiralty are not prepared to discuss their present methods of administration of Admiralty business and the methods practised by their predecessors in 1795. The hon. Member may rest assured that provisions contained in the letters patent under which the Lords Commissioners exercise their authority are duly observed.