§ MR. W. F. LAWRENCE (Liverpool, Abercrombie)To ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies if the public are being asked to tender for the construction of, and for the material and carriage of. the material required for the Highland Railway of Sierra Leone, or for the material and carriage of material required for the Freetown and Eastern District Rail way of Sierra Leone, and the Sccondee and Lagos Railways; and, if not, will he explain why this course has not been adopted.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Chamberlain.) The public are not being, and will not be, asked to tender for the construction of any of the railways named, all of which are being, or have been, built by the Governments concerned on the Departmental System. The system has, after full consideration in each case, been considered perferable to the contract system. The principal reason is that, owing to the risks due to climate and other causes, against which a contractor would have to protect himself, the system adopted is preferable. The materials are obtained by competition among selected firms, a system which has been found to be better adapted than that of open competition to secure that high standard of quality which is essential in supplies sent to distant Colonies, where defects can only be remedied at great cost and inconvenience. The "carriage," by which I understand freight to be meant, is not put up to tender because there is only one British line running regularly to the West Coast of Africa.