§ MR. BELLAIRSI beg to ask the Prime Minister whether he is aware that in the two years prior to the general election £1,606,000 was voted under Army Estimates and £5,270,000 under Navy Estimates for guns, projectiles, ammunition, torpedoes, and gun-cotton, while in the last two years, 1907–8 and 36 1908–9, £897,000 under Army Estimates and £2,351,000 under Navy Estimates have been voted in each case; and whether the Defence Committee have examined these figures during the recess and can give the corresponding figures of actual expenditure, together with an assurance that, in spite of these reductions of 44 per cent. for the Army and 56 per cent. in the case of the Navy in the amount voted for these war stores, there has been no diminution in our immediate readiness for war.
§ MR. MCKENNAThe Prime Minister has asked me to reply to that part of the Question which concerns the Admiralty. The figure for the items quoted for 1904–5, 1905–6, is correct—that for 1907–8, 1908–9, incorrect, and should be £3,351,000 not £2,351,000; the percentage reduction is therefore 36 per cent., not 56 per cent. The actual expenditure for the period 1904–5 was £5,254,294. The full expenditure for 1907–8, 1908–9 has not yet been incurred, and therefore cannot be given. There has been no diminution in our immediate readiness for war.