§ SIR A. HICKMAN (Wolverhampton)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether his attention has been called to the circumstances under which, the contract for the Atbara Bridge has been given to an American firm; if he will lay upon the Table copies of the specification upon which the English firms quoted and the final specification accepted by the American firm; if he will state whether English contractors were asked to quote for a bridge of their own design, and what is the difference in weight between the bridge quoted for by the English firms and that agreed to be supplied by the American contractor; whether the Government have a sufficient guarantee from the American contractor that the bridge when erected will be of sufficient strength; whether the Government will have to pay the freight of the American bridge from New York to Liverpool and the expense of transhipment there, and what these will amount to; and whether he is aware that the invariable custom of English engineers, whether for British, Indian, or Egyptian bridges, is to give detailed specifications; and that therefore it is impossible for British bridge makers to keep to fixed standards and have drawings and patterns at hand, as suggested in Lord Cromer's Report?
§ MR. BRODRICKWe have no information on the subject beyond that contained in Lord Cromer's Report (Egypt, No. 399, pages 2 and 3). I will inquire from Lord Cromer whether the information which my honourable Friend desires can be given.