§ COLONEL HUGHES - HALLETT (Rochester)asked the Secretary of State for War, What guarantee, if any, has been usually given by Messieurs Armstrong and Company, and by Messieurs Whitworth and Company, to the Ordnance Department, in the case of all 977 guns which they have had the order to manufacture?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. W. H. SMITH) (Strand, Westminster)When contracts are made for guns that are to be partly paid for before they are completed or proved a formal guarantee is usually executed under seal for the ultimate completion of the guns; but in cases where the contracts provide that the guns are to be proved and passed before payment is made no guarantee is taken.