§ MR. ARNOLD-FORSTERI beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether, in the opinion of the Army Council, a hostile landing in the neighbourhood of Chatham, Portsmouth, or Devonport is a contingency which must be contemplated and provided against; whether, in the opinion of the Army Council, the danger to our great dockyards likely to result from such a landing has been diminished or increased by the removal of the whole of the guns and ammunition from the land defences of the ports in question; and whether any other Power which contemplates the landing of troops upon its shores has added to the strength of its defences by removing their armaments.
§ MR. HALDANEThe present policy in regard to the landward defences of our naval ports was deliberately adopted after full consideration by the Government in power in 1900. The present Government does not propose in this respect to depart from the decision of its predecessors. It concurs in the policy adopted in 1900 and followed by every Secretary of State since then. The defence of our principal naval ports has been greatly strengthened by the substitution of modern movable armament for the obsolete guns which were dis- 766 carded as a result of the Report of Sir Robert Grant's Committee in 1900.
§ MR. ARNOLD-FORSTERMay I infer that no question of invasion is anticipated by the present Government?
§ MR. HALDANENothing of the sort.