In the following week, in an interval of the new phase of the Ulster crisis, the House began to deal with the Navy Estimates, issued March 12. They were the largest on record, amounting, according to the First Lord's introductory memorandum, to 51,550,000_l._, an increase on the total (including Supplementary) Estimates of 1913-14 of 2,740,700_l._ Of this increase 450,000_l._ represented increased pay and victualling for the larger _personnel_; 30,000_l._ automatic increase of the non-effective votes, 40,000_l._ was for fuel and fuel service, owing to the increased horse-power of the Fleet, and the continued building up of the oil fuel reserves; 300,000_l._ for development of air service; 750,000_l._ for increased earnings by contractors on Vote 8; 800,000_l._ for guns, torpedoes, and ammunition, of which 300,000_l._ was due to the acceleration of the three 1913-14 battleships. The new programme was composed of four battleships, four light cruisers, twelve destroyers, and a number of submarines and subsidiary craft. On April 1, 1914, there would be under construction thirteen battleships, one battle cruiser, sixteen light cruisers, thirty torpedo-boat destroyers, twenty-four submarines, and various oil-fuel and Fleet service vessels. Particulars were given _inter alia_ of the New Zealand Division--where two light cruisers would be kept, and manned from the New Zealand Naval Force--and of the progress of the naval air service. A chain of seaplane bases was being established round the coast; five were already complete. Good progress had been made with the design of the seaplane, and certain standard types for war service were rapidly being developed. The practical utility of aircraft for war was increasingly evident, and experiments in connexion with bomb dropping, wireless telegraphy, and gunnery had been continuous. Action had been taken as to aircraft armament, and guns for action against aircraft were being mounted aboard ship. The following is the abstract of the net Estimates for the different Votes, with the increases and decreases indicated in each case:--