QUESTION. OBSERVATIONS. (Hansard, 4 March 1889)

§ VISCOUNT SIDMOUTH
, in rising to ask Her Majesty's Government whether it had been decided to proceed with the construction of a dock at Gibraltar, and, if it had been, how soon the work would be commenced, said: My Lords, this question was put by me some two or three months ago, during last Session, and on that occasion received the satisfactory answer from the Admiralty that the matter was under consideration. I hope that the answer of my noble Friend to-day will be to the same effect.

§ LORD ELPHINSTONE
My Lords, having regard to the interest that my noble Friend takes in this question, I am not at all surprised that he returns again to the Question he put to me in August last, and repeated in December. In my reply on August 3rd, I stated there were five schemes before the 821 Admiralty. Two of them only were accompanied by any details, and pending the receipt of details of the other three schemes, the matter remained in abeyance. In December I was unable to be present; but my noble Friend the Secretary of State for the Colonies (Lord Knutsford) answered for me in effect that the matter was still under the consideration of the Admiralty. Since that, we have had a scheme submitted, by which it was proposed that about 40 acres of water should be enclosed, that coal wharves should be built, and that two docks should be constructed—one for the Imperial Navy, and the other for the mercantile marine. There are objections, and serious objections, to that scheme, which I do not think it is necessary for me to enter into at present. The Director of Works has lately been at Gibraltar, and has gone over the whole of the schemes that have been submitted. The Admiralty have had under consideration the whole of the various schemes, and have given a general approval to one, which is for the construction of a dock on the site of the new mole, and the reservation of this site has been asked for on behalf of the Navy. The Admiralty are fully aware of the desirability of having a dock at Gibraltar, and are sensible of the inconveniences which have been felt for the want of dock accommodation there; but in face of what are considered more pressing Imperial necessities it is not proposed that any immediate steps be taken for the construction of docks.

THE EARL OF CARNARVON
My Lords, I hope the Admiralty will consider a little longer before they come to a decision on this important subject I always regret very much when I find myself at variance with the noble Lord (Lord Elphinstone), especially on questions where professional knowledge enters so very largely; but I must say from all that I have ever heard, and from all the study that I have been able to give to the subject, it does seem to me that the construction of a Naval dock at Gibraltar would be a matter the desirability of which is certainly more than questionable. It would mean an expense which is to be deprecated at a moment when so much money is needed for similar purposes, and from the military 822 point of view, in time of war, at all events, the construction of a dock at Gibraltar is absolutely useless. I say useless for two reasons. In the first place, a complete change has come over the whole system of artillery. The cannon now used are of enormous range, twice, at least, as powerful as those of former years; and from the heights of the Spanish hills heavy guns could render a dock at Gibraltar absolutely untenable. The question has been gone into over and over again; and it is incontrovertible that if Spain were Great Britain's enemy it would be impossible to hold the docks at Gibraltar. In the second place, it is to be remembered that there exist a very good dock with arsenal and workshops at Plymouth, and another very good dock with arsenal, workshop, and accessories at Malta, both of which places are practically only three days' sail from Gibraltar. My Lords, what is really needed at Gibraltar and, indeed, at all our coaling stations (and about this there is no controversy) is a greater number of modern guns. At present there are at Gibraltar some 400 or 500 absolutely obsolete guns. I believe the Admiralty are taking steps to send out to Gibraltar some new guns, and in a few months there will be a considerable accession of strength to the place. The whole question, as my noble Friend knows, is a very large one; involving many others. There is the question of armaments, and the scarcely less difficult question of garrison, and all sorts of questions which have been created or largely altered by steam communication, which renders a place like Gibraltar quite different to what it used to be. There is the question of communication with India through the Mediterranean and by the Suez Canal, or by the alternative route of the Cape of Good Hope. For all these reasons, and a variety of others which I need not go into, I trust that the Admirality will think twice and thrice before they commit themselves upon a question so large as that which is involved in the construction of a dock at Gibraltar, which it is probable would after all be of very little practical utility.