SIR W. HART-DYKE (Kent, Dartford)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether the Stationery Office have been giving orders for the supply of paper from abroad; if so, whether he can state the amounts of such orders and for what special purpose they have been supplied; and whether he will state the names and addresses of the foreign firms which have supplied paper to the office?
§ SIR J. T. HIBBERTNo, Sir; the Stationery Office has not been giving orders for the supply of paper or of any other article from abroad. Orders are, in fact, not given to firms outside the United Kingdom. Such articles as paper are not obtained by contract, but are bought as required in the open market; and it is not possible to follow the manufacture of articles supplied by the firms tendering.