§ 11. Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHYasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether the full Report of the Harper Committee on the Battle of Jutland has been supplied to the Royal Naval Staff College for the use of officer-students and their instructors?
§ Sir J. CRAIGI would refer the hon. and gallant Member to my reply to the same question on the 1st December and add that his reference to the full Report of the Harper Committee on the battle of Jutland shows him to be under a misapprehension. As I have already explained in reply to other questions, Captain Harper did not draw up any Report on the battle, but simply a record of events based on official British documents.
§ Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHYHas the record of events been placed at the disposal of the Royal Naval College, and in view of the fact that the students and instructors of the Royal Naval College are the principal means of drawing up a sound doctrine for the future of the Navy how can they do that without full information?
§ Sir J. CRAIGI think I answered that question last Wednesday.
§ Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHYCan the hon. Gentleman tell me whether the materials gathered by Captain Harper and his committee have been placed at the disposal of the Royal Naval College?
§ Sir J. CRAIGI answered that question last Wednesday. I think there were three supplementary questions, and I did my best to answer them.
§ Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHYI beg to give notice that I will raise this matter on the Adjournment to-morrow.
§ 12. Rear-Admiral ADAIRasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether, amongst other documents relating to the battle of Jutland, he will publish the accounts given by the gunnery officer of the "Derfflinger" of his experiences in the battle and the official reports made by Admirals Hipper and Scheer?
§ Sir J. CRAIGAdmiral Scheer's report, which is the only official German report in the possession of the Admiralty, will be published among the other official documents relating to the battle.
§ Rear-Admiral ADAIRCan the hon. Gentleman say whether this so-called secret report of Admiral Von Scheer to the German Emperor, which, according to to-day's newspapers, is to be published in Germany, is known to the Admiralty, and will be published?
§ Sir J. CRAIGI am afraid that I have not seen the papers to-day, and I cannot answer without notice.
§ Viscount CURZONCan the hon. Gentleman say whether the first part of the question is not to be considered to be answered in the affirmative?
§ Sir J. CRAIGI have answered that. The only German official report in the possession of the Admiralty will be published.
§ 13. Viscount CURZONasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether the refusal to include the Harper diagrams in the Jutland papers may be reconsidered; and whether, in the interests of economy as well as of historical accuracy, he will recognise the peculiar advantages to be derived from the pub lication of the original track-charts, as correlated by Captain Harper, a highly skilled expert in navigation, rather than by the publication of track-charts of individual units, which, by reason of high speed, frequent alterations of course, and other disconcerting factors during the battle, must inevitably be liable to certain margins of errors?
§ Sir J. CRAIGAs I explained in my reply on the 1st December, the inclusion of Captain Harper's diagrams would be quite outside the scope of the Jutland Papers as promised by the Prime Minister.
§ Viscount CURZONDoes the hon. Gentleman think that records kept by certain ships constantly under helm and under fire are as reliable as those correlated by Captain Harper in his very exhaustive inquiry?
§ Sir J. CRAIGThat question also has been answered on former occasions. Facts were asked for, and the facts at the disposal of the Admiralty, which have been promised by the Prime Minister, will be published.
Lieut.-Colonel A. MURRAYCan the hon. Gentleman say why it is outside the scope of the Prime Minister's promise to supply this information?
§ Sir J. CRAIGIf my hon. Friend had been in the House and had heard the series of questions which were put and answered he would have thoroughly understood the differentiation between Captain Harper's report and official records.
§ Commander BELLAIRSAs we are to get so little out of the Harper report, will the hon. Gentleman give the expenses of this committee of four officers which made exhaustive inquiry and provided a narrative?
§ Rear-Admiral ADAIRIs the hon. Gentleman aware that the official despatches will be so much Greek to the general public and to most of the Members of this House, and that it is only by such a report as Captain Harper's that anything intelligible can be made out of them?
§ Sir J. CRAIGThe hon. and gallant Member will recollect that that was the attitude which the Admiralty took up in the first instance; but the demand of the House for immediate publication of the official documents was granted by the Prime Minister. So we had no other alternative. The Admiralty was rather turned down by the House as to the procedure which they proposed to take, and which we were advised was the best course.
§ Viscount CURZONDid not the Admiralty themselves object to the publication of the Harper report?
§ Sir J. CRAIGMy Noble Friend knows that in the first instance the Admiralty proposed to hand over the Captain Harper report and all documents bearing on this question to the historian of the War and to leave it to him to correlate and bring the whole thing out in consecutive order. My Noble Friend was one of those who objected most strongly to that, and it was only at the desire of himself and other Members that the official records are being published.
§ Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHYWhy is the diagram not to be published?
§ Sir J. CRAIGBecause it is not official.