§ Colonel WOODCOCKasked the First Lord of the Admiralty the total cost of the staff of the Admiralty for the years 1914 and 1927, respectively; what is the comparative increase per cent. in the number of staff and their cost for those years; and the decrease per cent. of the personnel of the Navy?
§ Lieut.-Colonel HEADLAMI would refer my hon. and gallant Friend to my reply to the hon. Member for Elland (Mr. Robinson) on the 9th March last [OFFICIAL REPORT, Columns 1214–15, 425W Volume 203] in which particulars are given of the numbers and annual cost of the staff employed at the Admiralty Headquarters Establishment on the 1st January, 1914, and 1st January, 1927, respectively. These figures show that the percentage increases were, respectively, 54.8 and 63.5. There was a decrease of 29.9 per cent. in the personnel of the Navy between the 15th January, 1914, and the 15th January, 1927. I should like to add that the reasons for the increase of Admiralty staff have been fully explained in the First Lord's answer to the hon. Member for Central Nottingham (Mr. Bennett) on the 18th November, 1925 [OFFICIAL REPORT, Columns 358–364, Volume 188], and that the Select Committee on Estimates, of which my hon. and gallant Friend is himself a member, has declared that comparisons between the numbers of staff at the Admiralty and the numbers of naval personnel, in 1914 and at the present time, are misleading.