§ 15. Sir W. BYLESasked the First Lord of the Admiralty what addition to the Navy Estimates for the current year will be necessary to provide for the acceleration in shipbuilding announced last Thursday; and whether the Estimates already provided for the Navy exceed those of any previous year?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLI am advised that the additional expense will be about half a million this year and about a quarter of a million next year, with corresponding reductions in the two following years. But everything depends on the progress made and the earning powers of the contractors. The answer to the second part of the question is in the affirmative.
§ Mr. CROFTIs that assuming that these three ships will not be eventually paid for by the Dominion of Canada?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLI cannot base any calculations upon the action of any Government other than His Majesty's Government. These ships are ships of the British programme, which are being built six, seven, or eight months earlier than they would otherwise have been built. They are proposals entirely self-contained.
§ Mr. CROFTDoes that mean that the three additional ships will not be laid down, supposing the Canadian proposals fall to the ground?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLI think we had better advance in this matter step by step. Provision is made now for six or seven months in advance. We shall have time to con- 1236 sider further matters when the period of delay gained by this antedating of the ships has expired.