§ MR. OWEN PHILIPPSTo ask the First Lord of the Admiralty if he can see his way to increase the number of apprentices to be entered at the Welsh dockyards in 1909 to at least twenty-six so as to bring up the total number of apprentices entered for the four years 1906 to 1909, inclusive, to the general average of the other five royal dockyards, namely, 72 per cent. of the average number of men employed.
(Answered by Mr. McKenna.) The number of apprentices to be entered at the several dockyards next year has not been settled. The numbers are fixed with regard to what are considered to be the reasonable requirements at the time, and, whilst the numbers of apprentices already serving are always kept in view, no undertaking can be given that the number to be entered at Pembroke Dock next year will be increased on the grounds indicated in the Question.