§ MR. DAVID THOMAS (Merthyr Tydvil)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether a contract has 1528 been made with Messrs. Webley, of Birmingham, for the manufacture of a new form of self-extracting revolver for the Army and Navy; and, if so, what is the date of the contract; whether the patterns of the revolver and the cartridge have been finally settled in detail; and whether any of the sample revolvers supplied by the contractors have broken down through failure of the breech fastening or any other cause?
§ *MR. E. STANHOPEContracts for the revolvers referred to were entered into with Messrs. Webley on the 24th of November, 1887, and the 28th of August, 1889. The details of the pistol have been settled, but not of the ammunition, and the only failure of a sample revolver was in testing experimental ammunition. There has been no failure of the breech fastening.