§ SIR JOHN LENG (Dundee)To ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether, seeing that British mercantile firms of standing in South Africa did not receive orders for supplies to the military after the middle of 1900, but that they were given to foreign middlemen, the Royal Commission now to be appointed will be empowered to inquire why goods were regularly purchased by our military buyers at higher prices than they were offered at or could have been obtained from British colonial merchants.
(Answered by Mr. A J. Balfour.) It appears to me that the terms of reference to the Royal Commission were wide enough to cover substantially the hon. Member's Question; but, of course, this is a matter to be determined by the Commissioners.