§ SIR A. ACLAND-H0OD (Somerset, Wellington)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether the meat and flour supplied to the troops in London are almost exclusively either Foreign or Colonial; if the hay supplied for the horses of the troops in London is either Foreign or Colonial; what is the contract price of the hay per ton; and whether he will take steps to ensure that in future the rations of the troops and the forage for the horses will be supplied from the United Kingdom?
§ * THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR (Mr. CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN,&c.) Stirling,Contracts for the supply of food and forage to the troops in London are made with contractors resident in the United Kingdom; but provided the supply is up to the required standard no stipulation is made, except in the case of meat, as to the source whence the article is drawn; and there is little doubt that some of the food (as for instance of the flour used in the bread supplied by contractors) must be of foreign origin; and this year much of the forage has necessarily come from abroad. Hay is included with other articles of forage, the contract for supply in London being for the complete ration. The price of hay for use in London cannot, therefore, be separately stated. On the question generally of the supply of food and forage to the Army, I cannot undertake to obtain it exclusively from home-grown produce. It is notorious that the food produced in the United Kingdom would not nearly suffice for all the inhabitants; and if the Army were wholly supplied from it there would be involved an increase upon Army Estimates which I should not care to contemplate and certainly could not justify.
§ SIR A. ACLAND-HOODThen are we to understand that the British and Irish farmers are to be passed over in favour of the foreigner, whose business it is to shoot down our soldiers?
§ [No answer was given.]