§ MR. SEELYsaid, he wished to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty, Whether the statement is correct which appeared a short time since in the Glasgow Morning Journal that the Admiralty had contracted with eight different firms to build a gunboat each, at prices varying from £20 to £29 per ton; and, if so, what were the reasons which induced them to pay 45 per cent higher in one case than another?
MR. CORRYsaid, that there was a great peculiarity in the case of the tenders for these gunboats. The hon. Gentleman had often referred to the market price at which various articles could be obtained by contract; but in this case the tenders had varied from £20 to £30 18s. 4d. per ton. It was perfectly well known in the Department of the Comptroller of the 1513 Navy, that it would be impossible to build these gunboats at anything like £20 per ton, and, therefore, the parties making the tenders at that and at other low prices were asked if they perfectly understood the specifications. The answer the Admiralty received was in the affirmative, Under these circumstances the contracts were given to the eight builders making the lowest offers, varying from £20 to £29. Only one firm tendered at £20 per ton, and it would have been very injudicious to contract for the whole of the gunboats at so low price with one firm. It was well known that some contractors were willing to build at a loss; because it was notorious that foreign Governments objected to have vessels built by firms who had not built for the Admiralty. The highest tender accepted was £29, which was not considered more than a fair and reasonable price.