recommendations on which the members of the Peel Commission had been unanimous as to the conditions in which persons should and should not be disqualified from acting on, or under, licensing authorities. Lord Belper was instructed by the Home Secretary to give his general assent to the second reading of the bill. At the same time he intimated that the disqualifying clauses would have to be seriously considered in committee, though it might be advisable to let the bill pass through the Upper House without amendment, and reserve discussion on contentious points for the House of Commons, where Mr. Ritchie hoped to introduce a measure dealing with most of the points raised in this and the succeeding bill as well as with some others. The bill was read a second time, and the Bishop of Winchester then moved the second reading of the Habitual Drunkards Bill, which also was framed upon recommendations common to the majority and minority reports of the Peel Commission. It proposed that any man who had been convicted three times in one year, or nine times in all, of certain offences specified in the Inebriates Act of 1898 might-not must-be placed by the court upon a black list, when penalties would fall alike upon anybody serving him with intoxicating liquor and upon the man himself if he endeavoured to obtain it. Lord Salisbury was quite cordial in the expression of his approval of this measure and even of his hope that it might become law in the present session. He wished to draw as strong a distinction as he could between the legislation which punished only the intemperate and that which sought to reach them by restricting the natural liberty of temperate consumers. The bill was read second time. Neither this measure, however, nor the Licensing Bill, though, with various amendments, they passed the Lords, got any chance of progress in the Commons.

No even temporary good fortune attended a third measure introduced by the Bishop of Winchester restricting, in ways recommended by the majority of the Peel Commission, the privileges of the boná-fide traveller. This failed to win the sympathy of Lord Salisbury, and the second reading was refused (March 21) by 51 to 45. On the previous day in the House of Commons there was obtained the first augury of the much better fate to be secured by another attempt at bit-by-bit temperance reform-what came to be known as the Children's Bill. This measure, of which Mr. Crombie (Kincardineshire) moved the second reading, enacted penalties for any licensed holder serving intoxicating liquors to a child apparently under the age of sixteen, for consumption either on or off the premises. The Government observed a neutral attitude, but the Home Secretary, who was absent through indisposition, informed the House through Mr. Collings that he personally favoured the principle though not all the details of the bill. It was read a second time by the overwhelming majority of 372 to 54. This measure ultimately became law in a reduced form, the

age limit being fixed at 14, and permission given for children to fetch sealed bottles of liquor from public-houses.

The following is an abstract of the Navy estimates for 1901-2 and a comparison, showing increases and decreases, with the corresponding votes for the preceding year:

In the course of his printed explanation of the Navy Estimates, the First Lord of the Admiralty observed that the plans. for strengthening and developing the system of Reserves, referred to in last year's statement as under consideration, had been given effect to by the passing of an Act of Parliament to establish a new Reserve force, to be called the Royal Fleet Reserve. It would consist partly of men who had served in the Navy or Royal Marines and left without taking pension (Class B), and partly of men who had been pensioned (Class A). The Seaman Pensioner Reserve would be superseded eventually by the new Royal Fleet Reserve, but the present Royal Naval Reserve was not affected. The first entries in the new force would be made from March 1, 1902, and it was hoped to eventually raise the numbers of Class B to 15,000. The men in the new Royal Fleet Reserve would undergo periodical drill.

The recent figures with regard to the numerical strength of the Naval Reserve were not satisfactory. They showed that on December 31, 1900, the total number of seamen borne, as compared with the numbers voted, was :

"The falling off in numbers borne and in those embarking for naval training is attributed," Lord Selborne said, "to the unpopularity of this compulsory training owing to insufficient pay as compared with what the men earn at their proper Vocations (fishing, yachting, merchant ships, etc.), and the length of time required to serve, which interferes with their employment. Arrangements are being made to readjust the pay and to reduce the period of training from six to three months, which it is hoped will induce more men to embark. We regret this unavoidable diminution of the training period; but it is believed that a readjustment of the system of instruction will go far to neutralise the loss of time. The negotiations for the establishment of a branch of the Royal Naval Reserve in the North American Colonies, to which reference was made in last year's statement, have been proceeded with, and fifty

seamen from Newfoundland have been embarked in his Majesty's ships on the station for six months' training."

The First Lord mentioned several additions which had been made to the fleets in Chinese waters and in the Mediterranean, those to the former station comprising the Glory, the Argonaut, and two destroyers, and to the latter eight destroyers and four first-class torpedo boats, and stated that these and other additions to the sea-going fleet in commission involved complements to the extent of 7,200 officers and men.

He added: "It is worthy of note that these ships have been commissioned without reducing the personnel at home below the strength required for mobilisation of the ships in reserve, without any interruption or diminution in the work of the various schools and training establishments, and without drawing upon any of the Naval Reserve forces. The ordinary reliefs on foreign stations, which were due during the latter portion of the year 1900, had unavoidably to be delayed, but are all now either being or about to be carried out.'

Under the heading "Coaling of the Fleet," Lord Selborne stated: "The system of supplying coal to fleets and naval stations by colliers under Admiralty control or under the orders of the Commanders-in-Chief is working well, and will be extended as far as circumstances permit.

"The experiments with patent fuel have been satisfactorily concluded, and suitable quantities will be stored to form adequate reserves at foreign stations. Schemes for further trials with liquid fuel have been considered, and some manufacturers have undertaken to submit designs and particulars of trials. Two of these plans are about to be tried, one with a marine water-tube boiler on shore, and one, if the arrangements are suitable, on board H.M.S. Surly.

Having mentioned various points in which the training of officers and men had been, or was about to be, developed and improved, the First Lord went on to deal with ship construction. "There has been," he said, "no relaxation of activity in shipbuilding and engineering operations generally during the past year, better progress having been made than in recent years with the ships under construction for the Royal Navy, and it is anticipated that the aggregate expenditure on new construction will closely approach the provision made in the Estimates, and will largely exceed that of any previous year.

"The steps taken by the various contractors to increase the output of armour and machinery have begun to show their effect, and the rate of progress has greatly increased during the latter half of the year. This is especially the case with armour, the total output of which for Admiralty use in the present year will be from 45 to 50 per cent. greater than last year. The rate of delivery during the latter half of this year indicates that the new plant is now in effective working order. Moreover, a fifth firm has undertaken armour manufacture,

and has advanced considerably with the necessary plant. The outlook in regard to the future supply of armour is therefore favourable. The total output of new construction in the financial year now drawing to a close will probably exceed that of 1899-1900, which was previously the greatest on record by about a million."

Of battleships, the Glory had been completed and commissioned; the Albion had been delivered, and had commenced her trials, but defects in her machinery had been discovered which postponed her completion. The Vengeance, the last ship of the Canopus class, had been detained at Barrow by an accident to the entrance of the dock, but it was hoped that she would be able to pass out in April, after which her trials and completion would be accelerated as much as possible. The six battleships of the Formidable class had been considerably advanced, one being on the point of completion, and two others likely to be completed early in the coming financial year, a fourth about December, 1901, and the remaining two about May, 1902. Two similar ships had been commenced. The six vessels of the Duncan class had also been well advanced, and should all be completed in 1902-3.

The First Lord then proceeded to record in detail the progress made in construction of lesser types of war vessels. Of armoured cruisers he said that twenty were in course of construction-six of the Cressy, four of the Drake, and ten of the Monmouth class-and four were on the point of being launched. In regard to the destroyers, now numbering in all 113, he mentioned, among other things, that "of the five destroyers. with trial speeds of over thirty knots two had been delivered and had completed their trials, viz., the Albatross, which attained thirty-one and a half knots speed on trial, and the Viper, fitted with Parsons' steam turbine, which attained on trial a speed of over thirty-three and three-quarter knots, combined with an almost entire absence of vibration. The Cobra, which had similar machinery to that in the Viper, was tried with a load on board largely in excess of that usually carried on speed trials by destroyers, and maintained for three hours a speed slightly above thirty knots. A fourth vessel, of thirty-two knots speed, was expected to commence her preliminary steam trials about June, 1901. The alterations on the Royal yacht, mentioned as necessary in the previous year's statement, had been carried out, and she had satisfactorily completed her steam trials and shown ample stability.

The provision of fleet auxiliaries was under the careful consideration of the Board. Three colliers were now working with the fleet; a repairing and distilling ship had been purchased and was being fitted up; provision was made in the estimates for another distilling ship and for a depôt ship.

During the year a new arrangement had been made with nearly all the great steamship companies, by which their finest