§ Sir J. AGG-GARDNERasked the Secretary to the Admiralty if the officer placed in charge of the docks, the shipbuilding, and the garden city scheme for Beaehley and Tidenham, possesses expert knowledge of the requirements of these varied enterprises?
§ Dr. MACNAMARAA clear distinction should be drawn between the work of constructing the shipyards and their adjuncts, such as the houses for the accommodation of the workmen and the actual building of ships in the yards when the latter are completed. The work of construction of the yards and the houses referred to is being carried out by Major-General Collard, 445W acting under the direction of the Controller-General, Lord Pirrie, and it is considered that he has every qualification as a trained engineer for such work. As regards the question of ship construction in the yards, I would refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave on the 17th July last, when I stated that Mr. Charles Payne, a managing director of Messrs. Harland and Wolff, of Belfast, had been appointed to deal with all matters appertaining to actual shipbuilding at the national shipyards.