§ 29. Mr. JOYNSON-HICKSasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether, in August and September, 1912, eight scouts, employed as flotilla cruisers, were paid off ostensibly to be fitted with a heavier armament; whether this work could have been completed in at most two weeks, but is still, after six months, not completed; and whether the paying-off of these vessels formed an excuse for utilising their crews to man vessels which had just been completed?
§ The FIRST LORD of the ADMIRALTY (Mr. Churchill)All possible speed has been used in rearming and retubing the Scouts. It is not understood how the hon. Gentleman could have been led to suppose that seventy-two 4-in. guns could be manufactured in a fortnight.