§ COLONEL DENNY (Kilmarnock Burghs)To ask the Secretary of State for India whether he will state how many engines 1071 have been delivered to Indian railways by other than British contractors, and in how many cases has the guaranteed delivery date been exceeded.
(Answer.) I am unable to say how many locomotives have been obtained from foreign contractors for those Indian railways which are managed by companies. For Indian State railways thirty-four locomotives have been thus procured; they were delivered under four separate contracts, and in each case the delivery in India was slightly later than the contract date; but the lateness did not in any case amount to more than six weeks, and I have reason to believe that it was in each case caused mainly, if not entirely, by a difficulty in procuring freight.—(India Office.)