§ MR. BELLAIRS (Lynn Regis)To ask the Secretary to the Admiralty whether the attention of the Board has been called to an advertisement of an agent at Portsmouth asking for volunteers for foreign warships from the Royal Navy belonging to numerous named ratings, such as torpedo and gunnery instructors, who have served their first period; whether inquiries have been made to protect men from imposition or the Royal Fleet Reserve from suffering losses; and whether the Admiralty can give any figures as to the number of men who have been trained in the Royal Navy and who subsequently joined foreign Navies since the Royal Fleet Reserve was established.
(Answered by Mr. Edmund Robertson.) The attention of the Admiralty had not previously been called to this advertisement. The regulations prescribe that, before a Fleet Reserve man is entered, the Registrar is to satisfy himself that the man fully understands the conditions of service in the Reserve. These conditions do not admit of Fleet Reserve men residing abroad without permission and any men accepting service in a foreign Navy without permission would be liable to forfeiture of retainer and right to pension. The answer to the last part of the Question is in the negative.