§ MR. J. RAMSAY MACDONALD (Leicester)I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies at what price, delivered at Kowloon, including insurance and freight, sleepers have been supplied for the British Government section of the Kowloon to Canton Railway; whether the sleepers, according to the contract, had to be hand-hewn or sawed; whether a Government certificate of inspection from the place of export accompanied the shipment: whether he is aware that the Hong-Kong agents of the firm supplying these sleepers are also the agents of the British Chinese Corporation, Limited; whether tenders for the supply of these sleepers were called for, and, if so, when and where they were advertised; and, more particularly, whether the Crown Agents gave any information to the Agents General of the Australian States that the tenders were being asked for these sleepers.
§ MR. HARCOURTI understand that a contract has been given locally by the resident engineer for certain sleepers, but the matter was not referred to the Crown Agents or the Colonial Office, and the Secretary of State has at present no official information on the subject.