§ MR. JOHN CAMPBELLI beg to ask the Postmaster-General whether he will explain why mechanics and learners have been discharged from the Holloway Instrument Factory during the past two years owing to alleged slackness of work, seeing that the factory and also the old Parkhurst Theatre are at present full of instruments made by a Swedish firm.
LORD STANLEYThe factory at Holloway is primarily a factory for repairs, although some of the more delicate instruments, such as the Wheatstone, 985 are made there. The instruments to which the hon. Member refers would not in any case be made at this factory. The discharge of workmen depends on fluctuations in the work. As a matter of fact, the total number is now about fifty more than it was two years ago.
§ MR. JOHN CAMPBELLCannot the instruments be made in London?
LORD STANLEYAll that we require cannot be made in England. We get all we can at home, but have to go abroad for the rest. There are certain instruments we require which are the property of patentees in foreign countries, and which can only be obtained in those countries.