§ MR. BELLAIRS (Lynn Regis)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether a large amount of cordite contracted for with Kynoch, Limited, has 292 been rejected; whether the evidence of reports of the Explosives Committee, which sat continuously since its first appointment in 1900, justifies the addition of mercuric chloride to service explosives, or affords any reason for the failure of Kynoch, Limited, to disclose this practice to the War Office and Admiralty; and whether the addition of mercuric chloride enables the explosive to defeat the only official test known as the Abel heat test.
§ MR. HALDANEThe reply to the first part of the Question is in the affirmative. The reply to the second part of the Question is in the negative. As regards the last part of the Question the addition of mercuric chloride vitiates the Abel heat test which is used for testing supplies.