§ MAJOR RASCH (Essex, S.E.)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for War, whether Messrs. Ross and Co., of Bermondsey, are to be placed on the list of Government contractors, although, owing to the Report of Sir W. Marriott's Committee on the adulterated and inferior goods supplied by them, they were in 1887 struck off the list by the Secretary of State for War and First Lord of the Admiralty ("Hansard," 854, vol. 327); and, whether this is the firm 260 referred to by A. Wight in evidence before the Sweating Committee as the worst sweaters he was acquainted with?
THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY TO THE WAR OFFICE (Mr. POWELL-WILLIAMS,) Birmingham, S.The firm of Ross and Co., which was struck off the list in 1887, and to which Mr. Wight's evidence may have referred, has ceased to exist. A limited company using the old title was placed on the list of contractors at the time of its formation in April of last year, but no member of the former firm has any interest in that company.