§ MR. BELLAIRS (Lynn Regis)To ask the Secretary to the Admiralty whether he is aware that the new heater torpedo gives an increased speed of over 33 per cent. for torpedoes fired at a ship 1,500 yards off, 44 per cent. at over 3,000 yards off, and over 50 per cent. at over 4,000 yards off; and whether, under these circumstances, he will endeavour to cancel all orders for torpedoes of old-fashioned type without heaters.
(Answered by Mr. Edmund Robertson.) The Admiralty are fully aware of the increased efficiency of modern Whitehead torpedoes, but it is not in the public interest to detail the steps taken by the Department as the result of these improvements.
§ MR. BELLAIRSTo ask the Secretary to the Admiralty whether he is aware of the activity of foreign navies in ordering the new heater torpedoes invented by the Whitehead firm since the Russo-Japanese War; and in view of the 399 reduction of the Vote for torpedoes and guncotton from £394,000 in 1906–7 to £307,000 in 1907–8, and £209,000 for the new financial year, whether he can state if any of the now heater torpedoes have been ordered for the British Navy.
(Answered by Mr. Edmund Robertson.) The Answer to both Questions is in the affirmative.
§ MR. BELLAIRSTo ask the Secretary to the Admiralty whether torpedoes are being manufactured at Weymouth and supplied to a foreign Power whose speeds and radius of action are far superior to the Admiralty pattern of torpedo, either cold or hot; and, if so, why the usual proportion of orders for torpedoes was last year altered in favour of the Government establishment at Woolwich.
(Answered by Mr. Edmund Robertson.) The reply to the first Question is in the negative, and the second Question therefore does not arise.