On the question of going into Committee of Supply on
the Navy Estimates on Thursday night, Mr. Brassey made a clear and sensible speech on the state of the Naval Reserve, one of the late Mr. Graves's questions. He expressed a general ap- proval of Mr. Goschen's recent regulations, but urged that greater encouragement should be given to the training of boys in the merchant service, greater facilities for the instruction of officers in gunnery, and that the Naval Volunteer Force should be placed under one general command. Mr. Shaw-Lefevre's excellent reply showed that the Admiralty are proceeding steadily in the organisation of the Reserve. At present there are men enough to man every ship we could send to sea, and 6,000 to spare. It is curious to consider how the changes in Naval warfare diminish the demand for blue-jackets. The old three-decker Victoria carried 1,100 men, 600 of them blue-jackets. The Devastation will be fully manned with 300, only 100 of them being blue-jackets. The modern man-of-war is, in fact, a floating fort, garrisoned by gunners, and only navigated by sailors.
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