§ MR. WEDGWOOD (Newcastle-under-Lyme)To ask the Secretary to the Admiralty whether he can state the numbers of officers and men of the Engine-room department borne on 31st March, 1876 and on 31st March, 1908, respectively.
(Answered by Mr. Edmund Robertson.) The number of officers and men of the engine-room department borne on the 31st March, 1876 was 5,118; the number 1550 likely to be borne on 31st instant cannot be stated with precision, but the latest returns available give a total of 35,849.
§ MR. WEDGWOODTo ask the Secretary to the Admiralty whether his attention has been called to the Report of Admiral Sir Cooper Key's Committee, made in 1876, to the effect that, in view of the number of the engine-room staff and the extent of the chief engineers' duties, engineer officers should in future be classed with the military or executive branch of the Navy; and whether, in view of the increase in the numbers of the engine-room staff and engineers' duties since 1876, he proposes to deal with this question of the status of engineers during the current Session of Parliament.
(Answered by Mr. Edmund Robertson). My attention has been called to this Report, but I can add nothing at present to the statement which I made in reply to my hon. friend on 10th March.