§ MR. T. M. HEALY (Longford, N.)asked the Postmaster General, Where the baskets for the Irish Parcel Post are made; have any lots been got from convict prisons; could it be arranged that articles of this kind should not be imported if they can be made as cheaply in Ireland; and, are they supplied by separate tender to the Irish Postal Department?
§ THE POSTMASTER GENERAL (Mr. RAIKES) (Cambridge University)The baskets used in Ireland for the Parcel Post are, as a rule, made in Ireland. The Irish Prisons Board, which has hitherto supplied the great majority of the baskets, tenders such supply to the Irish Postal Department.
§ MR. T. M. HEALYasked, if he was correctly informed in surmising that the Government in England had declined to get those baskets from the Prisons Board of England, on the ground that the convict prisons would thereby be unfairly competing with private manufacturers?
§ MR. RAIKESsaid, he was not aware.
§ MR. T. M. HEALYasked, would the right hon. Gentleman inquire from the Secretary of State for the Home Department as to the custom, and carry out, and make general in its application, any Rule that would ensure that any article made in prisons should not be unfairly brought into competition with the labour of the industrial classes?
§ MR. RAIKESsaid, he would be glad to consider the matter.