§ CAPTAIN NORTONI beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether his attention has been called to the striking off from the list of contractors of a certain firm supplying horse shoe nails, the reason given being that the nails were of unsuitable dimensions, whereas at a trial conducted by representatives of the Director General of Ordnance and the Director General of the Army Veterinary Department, in the presence of the makers, the nails were found to be faultless; and whether the War Office has declined to reinstate the said firm on the list of contractors until a further trial takes place at Aldershot at which no representatives' of the firm will be allowed to be present, the said firm having offered to submit their nails to any test at which they will be allowed to be present.
Lord STANLEYThe firm alluded to was removed from the list for nails because the nails supplied were reported to be too thick and wide in the shanks and too small in the heads. On appeal at the conference mentioned, the nails 37 then submitted were found to be free from the above defects. It was, however, held advisable to have a practical trial of the nails before the firm could be replaced on the list. Such a trial involved the nails being in the horses' feet for a certain period, and it was consequently not possible for the firm to be present throughout that period. An order was placed with the firm last June for this purpose but they have not yet delivered the nails.