§ SIR GEOEGE BADEN-POWELL (Liverpool, Kirkdale)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether his attention has been called to the fact that the net amount annually received from the sale of Government publications in the United Kingdom averaged for the six years 1878–9 to 1883–4 about £20,650, but rose in the year 1884–5 to the abnormal amount of £34,810, falling in the two next years to £31,143 and £24,526 respectively; whether when tenders were invited in 1885 for the sole agency for the sale of Government publications in England and Wales only, £36,000 was stated to be the likely amount of the gross annual sale; whether this sum was based upon actual experience of sales effected or partly on estimate; and, if the latter, what was the proportion estimated for, and why, if the year selected was an exceptional year or the amount largely speculative, it was not so stated in regard to tenders invited by a Government Department; whether Her Majesty's Stationery Office have made considerable reductions in the sale prices since the present contract was entered into, without any corresponding readjustment of the trade discount or the annual premium paid by the contractor; whether the contractors have explained that no compensating increase in sale can result fromt he reduction in price; and whether it is in accordance with usual practice that such changes should be made during the currency of the contract?
§ THE SECEETAEY TO THE TERASURY (Mr. JACKSON, Leeds, N.)I have not been able to verify all the figures given in the hon. Member's question, but I believe they may be 1124 taken as fairly representing the facts J there has no doubt been a falling off since the year 1884–85. The figure of £36,000 was given in the advertisement for tenders, not as an average, but as a rough statement of the sale in the particular year 1884–85, that being the latest year for which the Stationery Office could give a sufficiently complete statement. There was no reason to suppose that the sales in that year would prove to have been exceptionally large. As regards the reduction in the prices which has been made since the date of the contract, I am advised that it does not constitute a breach of the contract. My hon. Friend is probably aware that the contractor has power to terminate the contract by giving notice.