HC Deb 18 June 1889 vol 337 cc116-8
MR. KELLY (Camberwell, N.)

I beg to ask the First Commissioner of Works whether the whole of the building materials on the premises used until lately as the Money Order Office at St. Martin's-le.Grand have been sold quite recently for only £150, or thereabouts, to Messrs. Brass and Sons, builders and contractors, of Old Street, E.C.; whether these building materials were sold to that firm by private tender, and will he state the names of the other firms to whom an opportunity of tendering was given, if Messrs. Brass and Sons were not the only persons invited to offer a price for them; whether Messrs. Brass and Sons will, under the terms of their contract for the erection of the new Post Office buildings, have the right to use the bricks, &c., of the buildings to be pulled down, though, when the building materials on the adjoining premises were sold an express stipulation was made that they should be removed within a very short period of the date of the sales whether in similar cases the ordinary rule has been to hold a sale by public auction, as the only means of obtaining a proper price for the building materials to be sold, and he will state the reasons for that course having been departed from in the case in question; whether he will inform the House of the name of the person responsible for the rule having been ignored in the case of the sale of the building materials on the site of the old Money Order Office; whether he will cause inquiries to be made at once, with the view of ascertaining whether as much as £1,000 might not easily have been obtained for that which was sold to Messrs. Brass and Sons for only £150, or thereabouts; and, whether, on his ascertaining that, in consequence of the very unusual course adopted in selling the building materials in question, the loss of a considerable sum of money has been entailed upon the public, he will take any steps to rescind the contract made with Messrs. Brass and Sons for the sale to them of the building materials in question, or at any rate call upon that firm so to vary its terms that such loss may, at any rate, as far as possible be minimised.

THE FIRST COMMISSIONER OF WORKS (Mr. PLUNKET,) University of Dublin

As to the first paragraph of the question the answer is in the affirmative, but the materials were sold for £200, not £150 as stated in the question. As to the second paragraph the arrangement was made by private bargain, the amount being fixed by the Board's surveyor, Mr. Tanner, with my approval. No other firms were invited to tender. As to the third paragraph, the bricks can only be used for breaking up and mixing for concrete. Messrs. Brass are entitled by their contract to use broken bricks for concrete. As to the fourth paragraph, the most common practice is to include the sale and purchase of old materials on a building site in the contract for the new building, but they are sometimes sold separately, as in the case of the other buildings on this site (St. Martin's-le-Grand). This course was not followed in the case of the buildings of the Money Order Office because there was a pressure in regard to time, and also because it was considered that as good a price could be obtained from Messrs. Brass as from any one else. The price was fixed by the Board's surveyor as the result of a calculation based upon the prices which had been obtained after open competition for the materials of the other buildings on the site. These covered an area of 4,800 square yards, and fetched a net sum of £1,750. The Money Order building covered an area of 340 square yards, and an exact proportion would have given £124 for the materials. But as the buildings were loftier than the others the surveyor raised the amount he demanded to £200 net. As to the remaining paragraphs of my hon. Friend's question I think he will see from the facts I have stated that there is no ground for supposing that any considerable sum, or any sum at all, has been lost to the public, or that there has been any impropriety whatever in the course adopted.

MR. KELLY

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that an offer of £800 was made for these building materials?

MR. PLUNKET

No, Sir; I can only say that if the hon. Member will bring any other facts under my notice I will inquire into them.