§ MR. MALCOLMI beg to ask the Financial Secretary to the War Office whether he will inform the House why so few contracts to supply the Army in South Africa with canned meats are now held by merchants in Canada; whether his official information shows that dissatisfaction exists with the execution of previous canned meat contracts by those Canadians who have held them; and whether American firms have obtained the majority of such contracts owing to the fact that their tenders were lower or because their provisions were of better quality.
LORD STANLEYThe whole question of the comparative merits of the various tinned meats is now under consideration, and I am not therefore prepared to give any answer at present on this subject.