Speech by Lord Charles Beresford.

Manawatu Herald, 24 June 1902, Page 2

Speech by Lord Charles Beresford.

The naval debate has commenced in the House of Commons on the Admiralty Estimates. Lord Charles Beresford said that while the Government was doing its utmost to make the Mediterranean fleet one-fourth stronger than ‘in 1901—the torpedo catchers having been doubled* while the stores were 80 per cent, better—the Admiralty system of administration was rotten. . . As an instance .of this he pointed out that the reserve amounted to 30,000 men instead of 80,000, the number possessed by one of Britain’s possible enemies. The engine-room departments were short of a thousand men, Without trained stokers the boilers were worse than useless.

Lord Charles went to point out that nobody on the Admiralty Board was directly responsible for the efficiency of the service. One Government had been ejected from office because there were no supplies of cordite in the country; later it was discovered that there were no guns: and ip 1901 the navy was short of coal. What was wanted, he said, was some individual or department responsible for requirements in detail and tp submit demands to those responsible to Parliament. - A vigorous debate followed Lord Charles Beresford’s speech. ‘