§ 21. Mr. HURDasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether the American historians and American publishers, whose text books on the Great War are being used in leading English public schools, have made any application to the Admiralty for access to official documents on the Battle of Jutland; and whether, if such an application is now made, it will be acceded to, in view of the fact that these text books relegate the battle to a few lines of a footnote and leave the impression that, if there was any victory, it was more German than British?
§ Mr. AMERYI am not aware of any such application having been made, and I would point out that the official documents are already accessible to the public without special application, as they were published as a Parliamentary Paper in 1920. In addition, the Official Narrative of the Battle will be published in the autumn.
§ Mr. HURDIs it a fact that the Admiralty are stopping the preparation of monographs on the War which would enable schoolboys to know the facts?
§ Lieut.-Colonel NALLWill the right hon. Gentleman make any representation to the Board of Education as to whether books of doubtful veracity on naval matters are being used in schools?
Mr. C. WILSONIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that the concluding paragraph in the "Encyclopaedia Britannica" states that
The Battle of Jutland taken by itself must rank merely as a great and unique opportunity of which advantage was not sufficiently taken.
§ Mr. PRINGLEIs the right hon. Gentleman not aware that all this misapprehension is due to the official statement issued by the Admiralty at the time?