§ Captain BOURNEasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he is in a position to make public the evidence on which the Admiralty issued a statement that His Majesty's submarine M1, lost on the 12th November, 1925, was rammed by the Swedish steamship "Vidar"; if so, the nature of such evidence; can he explain the delay that occurred between the accident and the report of the officers of the steamship "Vidar" that this ship had been in collision with the M1; and is he satisfied that the Ml was in a thoroughly seaworthy condition at the time the disaster occurred?
Mr. DAVIDSONI would refer my hon. Friend to my reply of 25th November, 1925, to the hon. Member for Devonport (Mr. Hore-Belisha), to which I might add that a subsequent examination in dry dock fully confirmed the conclusions based on the report of the divers who examined "Vidar's" bottom. The delay that arose between the accident and the report by "Vidar" was due to the fact that "Vidar" did not realise that the shock she felt was due to collision, and it was only on arrival at Kiel that she learnt that M.1 had been lost and connected the shock with her loss. There was then no delay in her report. The reply to the last part of the question is in the affirmative.