§ MR. MCKENNA (Monmouthshire, N.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether his attention has been drawn to the fact that ashes from the brass foundry and rolling mills of the Royal Laboratory and other factories at Woolwich were for some time disposed of free of charge for making roads and making up ground in the Arsenal generally; that later an offer was made by a firm of contractors, and accepted, to take and remove all the ashes at the rate of 3s. 4d. per ton, and that the same contractor, at a later date, contracted to pay £5 17s. 6d. and £6 2s. 6d. for similar ashes; and whether he can state the name of the officer or officers responsible for the disposal of these ashes at the time of these transactions.
LORD STANLEYThis question will come before the Public Accounts Committee, and I am, therefore, not prepared to discuss it at the present time.
§ MR. CAINE (Cornwall, Camborne)Is nothing to be done to stop this extraordinary waste?
§ [No answer was returned.]