There was a great debate about the Dockyards on Tuesday,
the result•of which was this. Mr. Seely affirmed that the dockyards were mismanaged ; Sir John Pakington admitted the fact, and said the fault lay in the constitution of the Board of Admiralty. Consequently, he had appointed Mr. Walker Superintendent of Dockyard Accounts. We really are not joking; that was the sub- stance of the debate, and a more disgraceful proof of the incom- petence of the present House of Commons to do anything except chatter and tax, tax and chatter, never was given. It knows the real need is a-Minister of Marine, its leaders admit its knowledge, but it has not the energy either to create the Minister or make the Government do it. Eleven millions a year are spent on the Navy, the Admiralty says we have no Navy, and the House of Commons is perfectly happy and contented, and thinks Mr. Seely rather troublesome than otherwise. And it also thinks itself the ablest governing body in the world.
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