§ Captain Pluggeasked the First Lord of the Admiralty, whether any estimate can be made of the additional cost to the Admiralty up to date of supervising the non-intervention in connection with the Spanish civil war?
§ Mr. ShakespeareI regret that it is not possible to make any useful or even reasonably accurate estimate of the additional cost to the Admiralty of naval observation carried out under the Nonintervention Agreement. A large number of ships were employed on this duty, some of which were specially sent out from the United Kingdom; but the hon. and gallant Member will realise that if there had been no naval observation these ships would have been employed elsewhere on training or other duties. Although a considerable amount of additional steaming and consequent expenditure of fuel and wear and tear were 751W involved, it is not possible to calculate with any precision the extent of the additional commitment involved.