H.M.S. TORCH

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8341, 30 January 1913, Page 8

H.M.S. TORCH

MR CHURCHILL’S REPLY TO MAJOR ARCHER-SHEE.

LONDON, January 28.

Mr Winston Churchill, replying to Major Archer-Shee, said that though the places used for close confinement aboard H.M.S. Torch were well ventilated, their use was contrary to the Navy regulations.

In the House of Commons, Major Archer-Shee (Unionist —Finsbury) moved the adjournment in order to draw attention to the case of the Torch and Prometheus. He complained of Commander Carver’s supersession, and said that the Admiralty did not know of the Torch’s terrible state of disrepair at the time of its decision. Ho added that the service would suffer if officers were dismissed because of their independence to state facts. Major Archer-Shee asked for a rcinvestigation in order to show the captain’s splendid record, and that he might not be superseded merely upon a report in the newspapers. Mr Churchill replied that the dockyard captain and officials had been censured. The Admiralty was not blameworthy ,and there was no reason for a searching inquiry. Major Archer-Shee’s information was partisan. (Opposition cries of “No.”) Sir J. Fortesene Flannery, Unionist member for Essex. Maldon division, who is also a consulting engineer, produced portions of material taken from the Torch’s bottom while she was undergoing overhaul at Sydney. Mr Churchill said that Ministers were not going to be bullied or intimidated. Commander Carver was superseded because he had inflicted 123 punishments in three months. He was unfit to be left in sole charge for the happiness of the crow. Mr Churchill added that one of the Torch’s crew was illegally sentenced to a week in the cells in a refrigerating room. On January 2Gth Major Archer-Shee denied that Commander Carver confined a man in the refrigerator. He said that the man was placed only in the deckhouse, where the machinery was situated, and that the lighting and ventilation were superior to those in any officer’s cabin.