If such proposals are persisted in I apprehend that t Board of Admiralty will be forced to put the whole of the staff question into uniform - which would entail the navilisation of male civil staff also - as this will be the only way left to th to retain and obtain the staff which in my view is essential fo the efficient running of the Navy. I should be most reluctant to see any such step taken many grounds, not the least being the serious loss of efficien### inseparable from such an upheaval. It would, moreover, involv break with centuries of Naval tradition whereby the essential supporting services of the Navy are staffed on a civilian basis but if these measures are persisted in the Board of Admiralty ### be left with little alternative.