§ 1. Lieut-Colonel Liptonasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he will set up an independent committee of inquiry to investigate service conditions in the Royal Navy.
§ Lieut.-Colonel LiptonIs the right hon. Gentleman aware of the widespread frustration in all ranks of the Service and of the low morale of the Royal Navy—now at its lowest ebb in living memory, according to most distinguished naval authorities—and is he also aware that if he persists in the present policy he will make of the Navy a junk heap of obsolescent scrap-iron?
§ Mr. ThomasI accept nothing that the hon. and gallant Gentleman has said in his supplementary question. I might tell him that a few weeks ago I concluded a 25,000-mile tour of, the Far East, including some of the most difficult and unpleasant stations. I spoke to the officers and the lower deck on all possible occasions, and I did not find that the morale of the Navy was low at all.