§ Mr. YERBURGHasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether certain of His Majesty's ships have had to unload all or the greater part of their ammunition and go into port with very little coal in their bunkers in order to enter certain docks in His Majesty's dockyards, and, if so, what provision the Admiralty proposes to make to meet so serious a situation; whether there is no dock at Newcastle that can take a "Dreadnought" at all states of the tide; whether the "Monarch" and other ships had in consequence to be sent to Southern dockyards; and, if so, whether the Admiralty proposes to remedy this state of affairs?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLThe answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative; as soon as the new lock at Portsmouth is complete this will not be necessary. The answer to the third part of the question is in the affirmative. As the docks at Newcastle are not the property of the Government, it is not proposed to take any action as regards them. The necessary facilities for His Majesty's ships exist elsewhere.