Captain BENNasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty whether the 1830W sum of £35,400 for new motor vehicles and the sum of £20,500 for reconditioning old vehicles, which sums the Geddes Committee recommended should not be spent, have been included in the Navy Estimates for 1922–23?
§ Mr. AMERYNo, Sir. The figures in the Navy Estimates for 1922–23 are £13,100 for new motor vehicles and £10,250 for reconditioning old vehicles.
§ Mr. GOULDasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty if the Navy Estimates for the current year authorise an expenditure of £854,000 for coal and patent fuel for the Fleet, which amount at current prices will approximate to about 500,000 tons; if his attention has been called to the cost of inspection and fuelling, which aggregates £6,720; if the cost of inspection allowed by foreign contractors and States is one farthing per ton, or, approximately, one-fourteenth of the amount estimated by his Department; and whether, in view of the present need of exercising economy, he will take steps to-reduce the inspection costs to a level comparable with foreign States and contractors?
§ Mr. AMERYThe hon. Member is incorrect in assuming that the whole of the £6,720 is for inspection, but as the reply is somewhat long I propose, with his permission, to circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT. The details are as follow:
The £6,720 includes the cost, of salaries of nine officers, of whom five have absolutely no concern with the inspection of coal, but are employed at the dockyard ports upon fuelling duties in connection with oil fuel as well as coal.
Only two officers—one engineer-commander and one engineer-lieutenant—are engaged on the inspection of the steam-vessel and patent fuel, provided for under Vole 8.2.K.1.
Of the remaining seven officers, two are employed in the Midlands, North of England, and in Scotland on the inspection of coal, coke, etc., required for dockyards and other Naval establishments, involving the purchase of a number of descriptions of fuel, e.g., nuts, smithery, furnace, land engine coals, and foundry coke, provision for which is made under other Navy Votes. The officers have to travel over a wide area and are fully employed.
1831WAs a matter of convenience in accounting, the salaries of these officers are also charged under Vote 8/2/K, in order that the pay of inspectors of coal and fuelling officers may all be grouped together.
The other five officers are not inspecting officers, and have nothing whatever to do with the examination of coal in South Wales. They are employed at the dockyards on fleet fuelling duties in connection with the receipt, custody and issue of oil fuel as well as coal. Their work includes the oversight, maintenance and handling of fuelling craft of all descriptions, and the arrangements for fuelling His Majesty's ships and vessels at the various home ports.
Our naval officers, in addition to inspecting coal for the navy, are also engaged in the examination of coal for other Government Departments, e.g., 150,000 tons of coal have been purchased and inspected for the India Office since the 1st January last. The Admiralty are repaid for services of this nature and the receipts credited to naval funds.
It must also be borne in mind that the inspection of coal for ships of war is a much more important matter than that needed for supplies to locomotives and other land services, and involves, inter alia, the carrying out of laboratory tests at Cardiff.
The staff employed by the Admiralty is not more than that employed by foreign States, etc., and the cost compares favourably with these.
I am sending the hon. Member further details by letter.