THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (VISCOUNT CRANBORNE) (Lord Cecil)My Lords, I think that I ought to open our proceedings to-day by informing your Lordships that when we come to the debate on the Motion which stands in the name of the noble and gallant Admiral of the Fleet, Lord Chat-field, I shall propose to the House that we go into Secret Session. The view taken by His Majesty's Government—a view in which I understand I have the concurrence of the noble and gallant Lord himself, and in which I feel sure I shall have the agreement of all your Lordships—is that a discussion on a programme of battleship construction and replacement and its progress is in its nature one that cannot properly be held in war-time in open sitting. The national interest demands the utmost secrecy in matters of this kind, and however discreet may be the references—and I am sure that your Lordships will always exhibit your usual wisdom in these matters—there will certainly be opportunities afforded to the enemy for gathering much-needed information, whether from actual statements made in the course of the debate or from the omissions, which in matters of this kind may be almost equally valuable to him. Therefore I think there is no doubt that in a case of this kind it would be wiser and better for the House to sit in Secret Session.