13. Captain HALLasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether an assistant secretary to the Admiralty is due for retirement at an early date; and, if so, whether this opportunity will be taken to revert to the pre-War position and merge the section concerned into another Department?
Mr. ALEXANDERThe answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. As regards the second part, the position has already been carefully reviewed and it has been decided that it would not make for convenience or efficiency to make any change in the present arrangement.
Captain HALLIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that in 1914 the 980 Admiralty Secretariat consisted of one permanent secretary and two assistant secretaries. It now consists of one permanent secretary, one deputy-secretary, two principal assistant secretaries, and seven assistant secretaries, and does he not think that as vacancies occur economies could be made?
Mr. ALEXANDERI have seen the hon. and gallant Member's article in a Conservative newspaper this morning—[HON. MEMBERS: "The 'Daily Mail'!"]—giving similar figures. I should say at once that those figures would require careful examination and qualification. In this particular case the man to be appointed will be in charge of the Labour Department of the Admiralty which is concerned with the workers in the Dockyards, and I should have thought that the hon. Member sitting for a dockyard constituency would have desired that it should be properly staffed.
Captain HALLCan the right hon. Gentleman say whether the man to be appointed will be sympathetic to the point of view of the men working in the dockyards?