§ 40. Commander BELLAIRSasked the Prime Minister whether he is aware that Canadian representatives at the Imperial Conference of 1909 sought the advice of' the Admiralty in order to carry out the Resolution of the Canadian Parliament of 29th March, 1909, on the basis of an annual naval expenditure of £400,000 or £1600,000 per annum, including the maintenance of Esquimalt and Halifax dockyards; whether the Admiralty supplied them with two plans for building and maintaining cruisers and destroyers; whether this contribution was ever made in the way the Imperial Government were led to believe it would be made; and what is the naval expenditure of Canada to-day?
§ The PRIME MINISTERThe answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. As regards the second part, the Admiralty supplied plans and specifications of cruisers and destroyers. I understand that the, Dominion Government did not build the cruisers or destroyers, but have maintained the Esquimalt and Halifax dockyards. The naval expenditure of the Dominion for the 11 months ended 25th February, 1922, was 1,791,129 dollars.