§ CAPTAIN DONELAN (Cork, E.)On behalf of the honourable Member for East Tipperary, I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, with reference to the contracts for 1898 for meal and flour to Clonmel Gaol, whether the quotations sent in by a local firm were for flour 12s. 5d. per cwt. and for Indian meal 4s 10d. per cwt., and those from a Dublin firm were 12s. 10d. per cwt. far flour and 5s. 6d. per cwt. for Indian meal; whether the Dublin merchant got the contract at the higher prices; and if he will explain why the contract was given to the Dublin firm, notwithstanding that the same articles could have been supplied by the local firm at considerably lower prices?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURThe facts are as stated in the first and second paragraphs. In accepting the tender of the Dublin firm the General Prisons Board took into consideration the quality of the samples as well as the prices quoted. Moreover the successful firm tendered for oatmeal at a rate of 5½d. per cwt. less than that quoted by the local firm. Oatmeal is relatively of more importance than Indian meal and flour, regard being 350 had to the quantity of each article used at this prison, and it was considered undesirable, under the circumstances, to separate the three articles mentioned.