§ 72. Mr. Edelmanasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether, in view of the shortage of engineer officers in the Royal Navy and of the high standard of all candidates at this year's examinations, he will increase the number of appointments to the rank of warrant-engineer by the inclusion of those who reached a percentage of over 75 per cent. in the recent examinations.
Mr. AlexanderNo, Sir. The proportion of Warrant-Engineers to the Keyham trained engineers in the Engineering Branch of the Royal Navy is carefully calculated to meet the requirements of the Fleet. The Warrant-Engineer lacks the long scientific training of the Keyham man and is not therefore generally interchangeable with men trained under the Keyham scheme.