Mr. MEEHAN (for Mr. Lardner)asked if in all specifications issued by the Board of Works for furniture for schools in Ireland there is a stipulation that the desks made by a particular firm in Dublin should be supplied, and the effect of this stipulation is to give a monopoly of the supply of these desks to the firm in question; that other competent firms in the city of Dublin have submitted pattern desks to the Board of Works for their approval; and that these firms have failed to get any response to communications addressed by 1187 them to the Board in reference to these desks; and will the contracts for the supply of school furniture be thrown open to competition by eliminating from future specifications the above stipulation?
§ The FINANCIAL SECRETARY of the TREASURY (Mr. Hobhouse)I am informed that there is no stipulation in the specifications in question that the desks supplied should be made by any particular firm, but tenderers are required to supply desks which shall be at least equal to a particular desk supplied by a particular firm, which is named as a standard. No one firm has a monopoly. More than one firm has submitted patterns, and their communications have been duly answered. I see no reason for altering the form of specification.