§ SIR HOWARD VINCENTTo ask the Secretary of State for War if an order for 100,000 pairs of horse shoes has recently been placed by the War Department in America; if 417 kegs of horse shoes which arrived this month for C. & Co., per ss. "Minnetonka," 808 kegs per ss. "Minneapolis," and 435 kegs per ss. "Minnehaha," from New York, were in reality for the shoeing of British Army horses; and, having regard to the depression in the horseshoe trade in the United Kingdom and among farriers generally, owing to the increase in the use of motors, if he can explain why His Majesty's Government did not give this order in a way to support British industries and British workers.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Haldane.) The Answer to the first part of this Question is in the affirmative; to the second, that these are probably the shoes ordered on the contract referred to. As regards the final paragraph, I can only say that in the interests of the economical administration of the Army I cannot disregard sources of supply which are satisfactory both as regards price and efficiency.