HC Deb 25 March 1925 vol 182 cc409-10
14. Colonel DAY

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty if he will give particulars of the number of persons employed on the Admiralty staff to-day and the corresponding number in 1913, and the total personnel of the Navy on each of these dates?

Mr. DAVIDSON

The Admiralty Staff (Headquarters and Outports) on 31st December, 1913, numbered 5,311. On the 1st March, 1925, the comparable figure was 7,971. The numbers borne on Vote A were 144,419 on the 15th December, 1913, and 100,104 on the 15th March, 1925. As the question appears to assume that the numbers of the personnel of the Fleet are the main factor governing the numbers of Admiralty staff, I would refer the hon. and gallant Member to a very full answer exposing this fallacy, which was given to the hon. Member for West Middlesbrough (Mr. Trevelyan Thomson) on the 12th March, 1924, by my predecessor.