§ SIR THOMAS DEWAR (Tower Hamlets, St. George's)To ask the Postmaster-General if he will state the value of the contracts for telegraph and telephone plant respectively given to British and foreign firms respectively for each year during the last three years.
(Answered by Lord Stanley.) I am unable to divide the amounts between telegraph and telephone plant, as many articles are used in connection with both. The value of the contracts given to British and foreign firms respectively during the last three years was as follows:—
The orders given to foreign firms included respectively £83,676, £69,802, and £220,054 for telephone apparatus, mostly required for equipping exchanges worked on the central battery system, for which the principal patents are held by foreign firms.
British. Foreign. £ £ 1902–3 757,814 92,740 1903–4 669,985 76,883 1904–5 729,137 228,461