§ MR. BELLAIRS (Lynn Reg's)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty, in view of the grave disapprobation expressed by the Board of Admiralty to the Rear-Admiral commanding the First 390 Cruiser Squadron for his signal reflecting on an order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Channel Fleet, whether the Rear-Admiral complied with their Lordships censure by making a written apology to the Commander-in-Chief, and, if so, on what date.
§ MR. MCKENNAThe incident refered to by my hon. friend occurred as far back as November, 1907. The present Board of Admiralty regard it as closed, and consider it inadvisable to answer further Questions on the subject.
§ MR. BELLAIRSMay I ask if, when the Board of Admiralty administered this grave censure, they took any steps to find out if the Rear-Admiral complied with the terms of the censure by making a written apology?
§ MR. MCKENNAI do not accept my hon. friend's statement as complete, but I can only repeat what I have said: the Admiralty consider it inadvisable to answer further Questions on the subject.
§ MR. BELLAIRSI beg to say I made no statement of facts. I asked a Question, which has not been answered.