§ 26. Mr. HARMSWORTHasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he will confer with technical experts in his Department in regard to the existing 76,000 items of stores compared with the number of 33,000 items in 1914, with a view to the adoption of such an amount of standardisation as would reduce the present figure?
Mr. DAVIDSONThe question of standardisation is always borne in mind when considering the introduction of new patterns of stores into the Admiralty service, with a view to reducing as much as possible the number of different descriptions of stores maintained in stock. The increase in the number of items of stores as compared with that in 1914 is due to the development of additional technical and scientific equipment, and the manifold needs of the modern war vessel of every type in the present-day fleets.