§ Sir C. COBBasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Shipping Controller whether his attention has been called to the first annual report of the organisation committee of the Gravesend Sea School and to the statement that swimming was one of the subjects of instruction during the period under review; whether he will state what provision was made for the teaching of swimming; what tests were passed by the pupils; and how many pupils, if any, were drafted into the Mercantile Marine without passing the tests?
Colonel WILSONThe answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. The only means of teaching swimming so far available is the open-air swimming baths at Gravesend, which necessitates the limiting of the instruction to the summer months. As the Gravesend School, during its short life, has been open mostly during the winter months, a com- 453W paratively small number of boys have been able to take swimming instruction. Out of 1,000 boys shipped, 360 have qualified as swimmers to the satisfaction of the swimming instructor.