§ 46. Mr. GINNELLasked the Prime Minister if, in view of the statement made at Dundee by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, he will say if in 1911 he laid on him the duty of putting the fleet in a state of instant and constant readiness for war with Germany; and, if so, will he say how that fact can be reconciled with the statements of himself and other Members of the Government that they neither expected war nor did anything to bring it about?
§ The PRIME MINISTER (Mr. Asquith)It is the duty of every First Lord of the Admiralty to maintain the Fleet at all times in a state of instant and constant readiness for use, and the fact that that duty is being properly performed does not indicate any expectation of, and still less any desire for, war.