Midshipmaid Gob (1932)

Frederick Kerr: Sir Percy Newbiggin

Quotes 

• Sir Percy Newbiggin : [addressing the Board]  The wanton waste that is going on in the Navy today is positively scandalous. Thousands of pounds are thrown into the sea everyday on target practice, saluting guns and so on. For instance, when the King of Katerbahoo visited England last year, the Navy gave him a Royal Salute. A Royal Salute! Twenty-one rounds at 5 shillings a round to impress a black potentate. They wasted thousands of pounds taking him down in submarines, up in aeroplanes - aeroplanes - huh! For a man who's never been higher than a coconut tree in all his life. Why? Why? Why? Gentlemen, it is this ruthless and unnecessary extravagance that is ruining the country. And I am pledged to my constituents to, to force you, to force you all, to a programme of rigid economy.