§ MR. PIKE PEASE (Darlington)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War if he can state the total amount involved in the contracts for general stores and other manufactured articles secured by foreign firms during the last 863 two years; and if he will classify the goods in question and state what sum has been saved to the Exchequer by making those purchases abroad instead of in this country.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR (Mr. HALDANE,) HaddingtonThe figures are too long to read out to the House, but I will have them printed with the Votes and Proceedings. I may point out that those for 1906–7 will be found in House of Commons Paper 327 of 1907. As regards the last part of the Question, it is not possible to state what the expenditure on the various items would have been if they had been obtained in some other way, most of them being foreign products or specialities.