SIR HOWARD VINCENTTo ask the Secretary of State for War if his attention has been called to a resolution of the Sheffield Federated Trades Council on 8th July, 1904, drawing attention to scarcity of employment now existing among all classes of workmen employed in the heavy industries of the city and its consequent distress, and to the expenditure in Sheffield upon special plant and machinery in order to meet the requirements of the Admiralty and War Office, to the neglect largely of private trade, and to the fact that workmen have been trained to execute this work, and requesting His Majesty's Government to place a fair share of orders with Sheffield manufacturers; and, if so, will he say what action he proposes to take in the matter.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Arnold-Forster.) My attention has been drawn to the resolution in question. There is no intention of departing from the policy of allocating a share of the orders to the trade, but in the allocation of such orders the principle of going to open tender cannot be interfered with, and questions of locality cannot be taken into consideration.