§ VISCOUNT SIDMOUTHasked the First Lord of the Admiralty, Whether the Board of Admiralty have sent a naval officer to the United States for the purpose of inspecting a newly invented torpedo boat recently purchased by the American Government for purposes of harbour defence; and whether the report of that officer can be laid on the Table for the information of Parliament? Also, Whether the copy of an Order in Council procured by the Right Honourable Hugh Childers, the purport of which was to render the Controller of the Navy responsible to the First Lord 377 as distinguished from the other members of the Board of Admiralty, can be laid on the Table?
§ THE EARL OF NORTHBROOK,in reply, said, that a naval officer had been instructed to inquire into the matter on the spot and to inspect the vessel; but it would not be desirable to give the Report to the public. In answer to the second Question, he had to say that the Order in Council had been already laid upon the Table of that House. Moreover, a Select Committee of their Lordships' House was appointed to inquire into all the circumstances of the case, and the Order in question would be found in the Appendix to the Report of that Select Committee in the year 1871.