§ MR. WATT (Glasgow, College)On behalf of the hon. Member for Lynn Regis, I beg to ask the Secretary to the Admiralty whether, in view of the fact that we place no restriction on the sale of new warships to foreign Powers, the Board will consider the advisability, in the case of the sale of obsolete ships, of allowing them to be bought without any provision as to their being broken up in this country; and whether this practice 350 cannot be tried as an experiment, on a small scale, in order to ascertain how far it is desirable to extend it.
§ THE SECRETARY TO THE ADMIRALTY (Mr. EDMUND ROBERTSON,) DundeeObsolete ships are not in all cases sold on condition that they are to be broken up in this country. The circumstances of each case are separately considered.
§ MR. WATTHas the right hon. Gentleman received any approximate estimate of the prices which would be obtained if the ships sold recently had had not been sold subject to the stipulation that they should be broken up?
§ MR. EDMUND ROBERTSONI have not.
§ MR. R. DUNCAN (Lanarkshire, Govan)Have any applications been received from the Colonies for any of these ships to be used for training or other purposes?
§ MR. EDMUND ROBERTSONI do not think so.
§ MR. BELLAIRSI beg to ask the Secretary to the Admiralty whether, before selling any more of our old soft-ended battleships, or ships which have no armour at the bow and stern, the Board will take into consideration the small price realised, and the advisability of utilising one of them as a target in order to test what would happen to the many soft-ended battleships in the British Navy if their ends are fired at with high explosive shells from the large number of 6-inch and 6.5-inch guns carried in foreign warships.
§ MR. EDMUND ROBERTSONIt is not proposed to utilise one of the ships of this type as a target for the purpose suggested. The professional advisers of the Admiralty do not consider that any additional information, at all commensurate with the expense involved, could be obtained in this way.