§ SIR J. BARRAN (York, W.R., Otley)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether it is a fact that an order for 4,000 Cardigan jackets for India has been placed by the Military Authorities of this country in the hands of a firm in Leipsic, without a single manufacturer in Leicester being allowed to send in a tender?
§ THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY TO THE WAR OFFICE (Mr. WOODALL, Hanley),in reply, assured his lion. Friend that no such order as that referred to had been given by the War Office.
§ MR. H. BROADHURST (Leicester),pursuing the same subject, asked if orders for any similar article had been sent to Germany?
§ MR. WOODALLsaid that Cardigan jackets were not now supplied to the British Army. The garment most nearly answering to the same description was the blue Jersey, and he should be happy to furnish the hon. Member with the names of the seven firms to whom orders for that article had been confided since September, 1892. They were well known houses, carrying on their business in the country of which Leicester was the centre. As a matter of fact, there was not included in the War Office List of Contractors for that class of goods, the name of any foreign manufacturer.