§ MR. BELLAIRS (Lynn Regis)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty why the request of the Commander-in-Chief of the Channel Fleet, on the conclusion of the naval manœuvres, that the fleets might be combined for tactical exercises, was refused by the Admiralty.
§ THE SECRETARY OF THE ADMIRALTY (Mr. MCKENNA,) Monmouth, N.I can only repeat the reply I gave to my hon. Friend in answer to a similar Question on 1st August. I must decline to answer any Question relating to the manœuvres, the subject of which can only have been communicated to the hon. Member by a breach of confidence.
§ MR. BELLAIRSasked whether the right hon. Gentleman was aware that the request was made to the Admiralty by wireless telegraphy, and that the message was published in the Naval and Military Record, a journal which was often inspired by the Board of Admiralty.
§ MR. MCKENNANo, sir, I am not aware of that fact.
§ MR. BELLAIRSIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that I communicated the fact to him by letter, to which I received no reply.
§ MR. MCKENNAI am not aware of that fact either.
§ MR. BELLAIRSI beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty on what occasions have the fully commissioned ships of the Home Fleet comprised in the six battleships of the Note division, or the eight battleships with nucleus crews in the Portsmouth and Devonport divisions, been placed under the present Commander-in-Chief of the Channel Fleet for tactical exercises in conjunction with the Channel Fleet of fourteen battleships; and whether the "Dreadnought" has ever been so exercised.
§ MR. MCKENNASo far as it is in the public interest to reply to my hon. friend, I have already done so in my 1680 reply to the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Croydon, on 3rd November.