§ 19. Mr. Langford-Holtasked the Civil Lord of the Admiralty if he will give a list of the moorings maintained by his Department, and the number of hours each of these moorings have been used during the financial year 1959–60.
§ The Civil Lord of the Admiralty (Mr. C. Ian Orr-Ewing)The moorings maintained by the Admiralty include many 195 used for navigational buoys, targets, etc. Those that can provide berths for ships number about 450 and, with permission, I will circulate in the OFFICIAL REPORT a statement showing their distribution. I am sorry to say that no record of their hourly usage is available.
§ Mr. Langford-HoltIn order to save the enormous maintenance costs that fall on the Admiralty, can my hon. Friend say whether, except when required for use, these buoys could not be left on the bottom?
§ Mr. Orr-EwingThe Question was about the moorings. This swamping method is very good and sensible, and is one that we are looking at to see whether we can save costs in this way.
§ Following is the statement:
| Ship berths | |||
| Portsmouth Harbour | … | … | 65 |
| Portsmouth vicinity | … | … | 31 |
| Portland | … | … | 26 |
| Devonport | … | … | 61 |
| Dartmouth | … | … | 2 |
| Falmouth | … | … | 6 |
| Pembroke Dock | … | … | 21 |
| Londonderry | … | … | 3 |
| Sheerness | … | … | 14 |
| Harwich | … | … | 2 |
| Chatham | … | … | 18 |
| Clyde area | … | … | 54 |
| Campbelltown | … | … | 2 |
| Loch Ewe | … | … | 7 |
| Rosyth | … | … | 28 |
| Invergordon | … | … | 14 |
| Gibraltar | … | … | 8 |
| Malta | … | … | 58 |
| Singapore | … | … | 18 |
| Elsewhere abroad | … | … | 10 |
§ 20. Mr. Langford-Holtasked the Civil Lord of the Admiralty what steps he proposes to take to reduce the expenditure of £1 million paid out each year by his Department for the maintenance of 1,400 moorings.
§ Mr. C. Ian Orr-EwingWe have been steadily reducing the number of moorings at such places as Sheerness, Harwich, Portland and Hong Kong. In addition, we are at present reviewing measures for further reducing the numbers, and undertaking the work more economically.
§ Mr. Langford-HoltCan my hon. Friend give the House some idea of what measures he has in view to save money on these moorings?
§ Mr. Orr-EwingWe are considering a modified standard of maintaining moorings, and are particularly taking into account the American and civil practice in this direction to see whether economies can be made.