§ MR. BELLAIRS (Lynn Regis)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty whether, in order to prevent needless alarm being caused by the reports in the Press of a speech by Rear-Admiral Finnis, he will state how many vessels were under the command of the Rear-Admiral, representing, as alleged by him, a fleet of transports carrying 70,000 men, when he successfully eluded the British defending force in a fog and reached the coast of Scotland unobserved.
I beg also to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty whether his attention has been called to statements made by Rear-Admiral Finnis, in a speech at Dover, on 2nd December; whether the alleged successful invasion of Scotland by a fleet supposed to represent transports carrying 70,000 men, under the command of Rear-Admiral Finnis, was a part of secret manœuvres on which all information has been withheld from the House; and what steps he proposes to take in reference to the matter.
§ MR. MCKENNARear-Admiral Finnis has been on half-pay since January last. He was not entrusted with any command at the recent manœuvres. In reply to inquiries as to the speech which he is reported to have made, Admiral Finnis 57 states: "This report is a great misrepresentation and exaggeration of a very small part of the speech I made, and needless to say is not correct; the words 'during manœuvres,' etc., etc., and many others, were of course never used." I am taking further steps to discover the precise language used by Admiral Finnis. No such incident as is alluded to in the report of the speech, occurred in the manœuvres, nor did anything happen which could in the smallest degree give the slightest foundation for such a statement. I trust that with this information the public alarm which my hon. friend apprehends may be prevented.