§ SIR HOWARD VINCENTI beg to ask the secretary to the Treasury, why no mention is made in the Return just presented of Government Contracts with foreigners of Bavarian pencils supplied by the Stationery Office for all Government Departments, and marked in Germany with the broad arrow and royal cypher; and in the event of the contracts for the supply of these foreign pencils being concluded with persons inside the United Kingdom, if he will put a stop to the expenditure of the taxpayers' money on foreign labour.
§ MR. HANBURYThe Bavarian pencils are not mentioned in the return because that return is merely one of the contracts with contractors outside the United Kingdom, and is one practically useless for the purpose of the information my hon. Friend desires, I think, to obtain. It is held that foreign firms having London houses are not contractors outside the United Kingdom, and the two German firms who supply these pencils are in that position. The pencils are not bought from them under contract in the strict sense of the word, as there is no obligation to continue to give orders to these firms. But they are ordered in quantities as required at agreed prices, an arrangement which appears to me to be very nearly the same thing as a contract. I shall be very glad to consult with my hon. Friend as to granting a return containing more useful information than the present annual return. It appears that hitherto the Stationery Office have not known whether the goods purchased, such as paper or pencils, have been produced at home or in foreign countries. This information they ought, I think, to require. If British or Irish firms can supply equally good home-produced articles at the same cost preference might, I think, fairly be given to them. It is, however, not always easy to be sure that what is called a British or Irish product is really such, and I am informed that this applies amongst other things to pencils. The danger of a combination to run up the price by home firms has also to be guarded against.