§ VISCOUNT CASTLEREAGH (Maidstone)To ask the Secretary to the Admiralty what is the value of the reserve stock of naval stores at Malta, Gibraltar, Bermuda, Halifax, Jamaica, Trincomalee, Vancouver, and at the three home ports at the present moment.
(Answered by Mr. Edmund Robertson.) The value of reserves of naval stores (exclusive of coals for the Fleet) may be taken approximately at £4,000,000. The precise value and disposition of the stocks, so far as the home yards are concerned, is shown annually in the Navy Dockyard Expense Accounts presented to Parliament, but as regards the foreign yards it is not considered desirable to indicate the actual disposition of the stocks. As regards Halifax, Jamaica, Trincomalee, and Vancouver, no reserves, other than coals for the Fleet, have been kept at these yards since March, 1905, when these depots were closed.