§ 10. Mr. HOUSTONasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he can state why no effective measures have been taken to destroy Zeebrugge; whether all the monitors or shallow-water craft specially designed and built for this class of work are available for operations against this nest of small craft or whether they are employed elsewhere; and whether he can state what distance in a direct line Zeebrugge is from Dover?
Mr. BALFOURI do not think it desirable that questions of this kind about operations of war should be either put or answered. What my hon. Friend rightly calls a "nest of small craft" is also a naval base, defended by powerful shore batteries. It is 72 nautical miles from Dover.
§ Mr. HOUSTONIs it not the fact that these monitors were designed and built for this work, and that they were directed away from that work to the perfectly futile work of the Dardanelles, as I venture to think?