In the House of Commons on Tuesday the Navy and
Army Estimates ware discussed in Committee of Supply. Much amusement was caused by Mr. Robertson's statement about the rum ration, in the Navy. At present the men who do not draw the ration are labelled with a "T" (for "Temperance") in the ship's register. It is proposed in future to label with a "G" (for " Grog ") those who do draw it. Further, it is sug- gested that the allowance of nine-sixteenths of a penny to those who do not draw the ration shall be increased to a penny. Surely the simplest and beat plan would be to make a money allowance all round and let men buy the ration when they wish to do so. Mr. Bellairs asked for a reassuring statement from Mr. Haldane as to the condition of cordite stores. He referred to the explosion on beard the French ship Mlle,' to the explosions on board the 'Fox' and 'Revenge,' and to those in land magazines in India. Cordite always deteriorated in high temperatures, but a good deal of cordite, both ashore and afloat, had been treated with mercuric-chloride, which masked the heat-test. All this ought to be destroyed. Mr. Haldane, who displayed an intimate knowledge of his subject, said that it was unnecessary to destroy all the doctored cordite, as other tests than the heat-test could be applied. Only the cordite proved to be actually dangerous would be destroyed. And in future no doctored chloride would be accepted. Mr. Haldane's statement was generally received as satisfactory, but Mr. Bellairs pressed his amendment to a division, in which he had twenty-two supporters.
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