§ MR. MATTINSON (Liverpool, Walton)asked the Secretary of State for War, Whether, in accordance with the suggestion in the Report of the Judge Advocate General, the Government propose to modify the existing system of inspecting contract articles in the direction of casting further responsibility upon contractors, and reducing the present costly staff maintained for the purpose of detailed inspection, or what they propose doing on the Judge Advocate General's Report; whether the War Office purposes taking any, and what, steps to secure that the specification, sealed pattern, and sample supplied by the Department shall in the case of all contracts always correspond; whether, in regard to the method of storing hides, which has prevailed in the Ordnance Department for the last 20 years and more, and which the Judge Advocate General finds is "universally condemned by everyone acquainted with leather," he proposes to take any, and what, steps to compel the adoption of another and better method; and, whether he is in a position to give the name of the official who is responsible for ignoring the complaints which Mr. Crutchley states he frequently made on this subject?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. E. STANHOPE) (Lincolnshire, Horncastle)I have already stated that I propose to strike off, either temporarily or permanently, from the list any contractors who persistently fail to supply articles up to sample, and an entire consignment may be rejected if a certain proportion of inferior articles is detected; but I do not think it possible to rely solely upon enforcing the responsibility of contractors in the case of warlike armaments, and for this reason. If troops are sent on active service and their accoutrements fail, it is no doubt 1825 possible to punish, the contractor; but, in the meantime, the safety of the troops may be imperilled. Some system of inspection will, therefore, continue to be necessary. I propose to re-organize the Inspection Department most thoroughly; and, indeed, provision is made for it in the scheme of re-organization lately adopted. The name of the official referred to in the last part of the Question is Captain Fenn; but the system has prevailed for many years, and was not initiated by him.
§ MR. T. P. O'CONNOR (Liverpool, Scotland)asked, whether the Rule would be applied to the firms which supplied defective material and stores—namely, that their names should be struck off the list of contractors allowed to compete?
§ MR. E. STANHOPEsaid, he desired that the questions raised in the Report of the Judge Advocate General should be dealt with, as a whole.
§ MR. T. P. O'CONNORCan the right hon. Gentleman inform the House when he will be able to deal with the subject?
§ MR. E. STANHOPENo; I am not able to say.