§ MR. MYERI beg to ask the Prime Minister if he will consider the desirability of not making any further reductions in naval expenditure, seeing that such reductions would necessitate the discharge of a great number of workmen, until the working classes of this country are more fully employed.
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER (Mr. ASQUITH,) Fife, E.No, Sir, my right hon. friend does not see how a naval programme which is based on considerations of security alone can be modified in the way that my hon. friend suggests.
§ MR. WEDGWOODMay I ask whether the policy of building battleships to help the poor meets with the approval of the Government?
§ MR. ASQUITHThe hon. Member had better wait for the Naval Estimates.
§ MR. BELLAIRSI beg to ask the Prime Minister whether he has received a memorial from a number of Members of Parliament urging the further reduction of naval expenditure beyond £8,000,000 which have been taken off the gross Navy Estimates since 1904–5; whether the memorial was signed by Members at the end of last session before the publication of the German Navy Bill; and whether he can state when it was presented to him.
§ MR. ASQUITHMy right hon. friend the Prime Minister informs me that he has received a memorial on the question of naval expenditure. He receives a very considerable number of memorials dealing with a large range of 458 topics, and he cannot but think that it would be more convenient to the House if hon. Members desiring to obtain information on such matters were to put themselves in communication with the promoters rather than the recipients of these memorials.
§ MR. BELLAIRSI avail myself of the right hon. Gentleman's suggestion and ask the promoters whether this memorial was presented after the details were published of the German Navy Bill, and that the signatures were collected long before.
§ [No reply was given.]