§ SIR FREDERICK MILNER (Notts, Bassetlaw)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether it is a fact that Her Majesty's Stationery Office has refused to supply to Government offices, when requisitioned for by them, the "Ceres Automatic" letter and card files, an English patented invention, and of English manufacture, for filing letters and papers, and for indexing, although the office supplies inferior systems of filing papers, of American invention And manufacture; and whether Her Majesty's 524 Stationery Office has a list of approved stationery articles; and, if so, how often such list is revised, and when it was last revised?
§ SIR J. T. HIBBERTSuch articles are not commonly supplied for the Public Service, nor could their supply be sanctioned except for very special cases. It appears that the "Ceres Automatic" letter and card file has been twice and a less expensive make once supplied, but I cannot say whether the latter article was of American manufacture. The Stationery Office keep a list of some of the ordinary articles of stationery kept in stock; but it does not include anything in the nature of letter and card files.