On Friday, June 26th, the House of Commons discussed the
Naval Estimates, and heard from Mr. Allan an im- passioned attack on the Belleville boilers which are being largely adopted in the Navy. Mr. Goschen made an excellent defence of the action of the Admiralty, and pointed out that the merits of the boilers were to be fully tested at the trials of the 'Terrible' and the • Powerful,' which have been fitted with them. Another important point touched on was the subsidies to merchant cruisers. Sir J. Colomb considered we did not get value for our money, and Mr. S. Smith pointed out that out of the twenty merchant ships capable of steaming twenty knots an hour only six belonged to England. This showed a fearful danger, as we had no cruisers which could catch these fast vessels. Our subsidies ought to encourage the building of fast merchant steamers. Mr. Goschen ad- mitted that the present arrangements were not altogether satisfactory, but doubted the need for stimulating our ship- owners in building first-class vessels. Later, Mr. Allan deprecated the small salaries paid by the Admiralty. The head engineer only got £1,300 a year. If he were in a factory he would get double that sum. He paid his own head clerk more than the Civil Lord got. Mr. Allan, of course, forgot to consider the pension and the status, but for all that we are glad to see so strenuous a Radical insisting on the folly of paying low salaries. There is no greater madness which a nation can commit than that.
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