§ Lord CHARLES BERESFORDasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he is now in a position to say why it is contrary to public interest to state the price of guns, gun-mountings, and ammunition in detail in precisely the same way as the price of ships, hull, machinery, equipment, etc., is stated in the Navy Estimates; what is the average price of armour per ton paid by the Admiralty during the last ten years, stating the price in each particular year; and what reason is there why prices received by the Admiralty from contractors for their several requirements should not be published regularly in the same way as contract tenders are published by the municipal authorities of the United Kingdom?
§ Mr. McKENNAApart from the general reasons why it is undesirable to publish contract prices, which are given in a paper presented to Parliament in March, 1888 (Cd. 5348), and in the main still hold good, such information in the case of armour would tend to disclose actual weights, and in the case of guns and ammunition the standard of reserves.