§ MAJOR JAMESONTo ask the Secretary to the Board of Trade whether he will state if a contract, binding the Trinity House and Irish Lighthouse Commissioners to purchase all their lenses from Messrs. Chance of Birmingham, still exists; whether he is aware that the Commissioners of Northern Lights have with advantage purchased by obtaining competitive tenders from other firms; and whether, with reference to the statement of the engineer of the Trinity House to the Mercantile Marine Committee that a certain French lighthouse seemed to be of a better class than that adopted by the Trinity House, he will obtain the cost of building the French lighthouses of La Heve, Griznez, and Ushant.
(Answered by Mr. Bonar Law.) A contract has been entered into between the firm mentioned and each of the three general lighthouse authorities, under which the latter, for a period of three years from January 1st, 1904, undertake to purchase their optical apparatus from Messrs. Chance in accordance with a schedule of prices which has been arranged. It is, however, one of the conditions of this contract that the lighthouse authorities reserve the power of putting up to open competition any apparatus for which Messrs. Chance may have submitted a price which is considered too high, and I understand that both the Trinity House and the Commissioners of Northern Lighthouses have in certain cases exercised that power. The Board of Trade will endeavour to obtain information from the French Government regarding the cost of construction of the three lighthouses named in the latter part of the Question.