§ MR. HANBURY (Preston)asked the Surveyor General of the Ordnance, Whether the contract entered into by Messrs. Latimer Clark, Muirhead, and Co., for the manufacture of 500,000 cartridges, the date of delivery for the last of the four instalments being 18th March, has been duly carried out; whether the first 1344 instalment, due 25th February, has yet been delivered; and, if so, what portions of it were manufactured at the Millwall works of the contractors, or were supplied from some other source; and, if so, by whom; whether a portion of the delay in this instance is excused, on the ground of the omission by the Ordnance Department of an important portion of the specification, that relating to guage; and, whether, and to what extent, the Penalty Clause, or other such safeguard, in this and similar contracts, is rendered nugatory by the fact that the Ordnance Department accepts a tender without supplying an adequate specification of the article required?
THE SURVEYOR GENERAL (Mr. NOUTHCOTE) (Exeter)The contract has not been carried out. The sample de-livery has been rejected, principally because of the failure of the caps, which it is understood were of English make, and wore purchased by Messrs. Latimer Clark, Muirhead, and Co. The cartridge cases and bullets are good, though the cases are rather light, and both were made at Millwall. The cartridges were filled by Messrs. Dyer and Robson, of Greenwich, gunpowder being supplied by this Department. The target was satisfactory. A complete specification and drawing accompanied the acceptance of this firm's tender. The non-issue of guages to govern manufacture) caused a delay of 16 days. Allowing for this delay, two instalments are overdue; and as it is evident that some further time must elapse before perfect cartridges can be produced, the contract has been reduced by 300,000 rounds, and the execution of the balance will enable Messrs. Latimer Clark, Muirhead, and Co. to show that the defects in the sample delivery can be overcome by them.