§ 70. Mr. WATTasked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that the proportion which Scotland usually gets in any distribution of a common fund is one-ninth, or over 11 per cent.; whether he is aware that the share of the recent clothing contract given to Scotland was only 4¼ per cent. of the total; and whether, in these circumstances, he proposes to increase the contract with the Scottish makers?
Mr. BAKERI am not aware of the fact stated in the first part of the question, but I do not think that if correct it would form a sound basis for the calculation proposed. As I recently informed my hon. Friend, Scotland obtained a considerably larger share of the contract in question than it would strictly have been entitled to on the basis of manufacturing capacity as indicated by the total number of garments tendered for by Scotch firms.
§ 71. Mr. WATTasked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that during the fulfilment of the earlier contracts for clothing made by his Department for the New Army representations were made by his Department or their agents to the smaller makers in Scotland that if they put in more machines sufficient orders would be given by the War Office to keep them going for some time; and that in the placing of the recent contract these promises have been entirely ignored, with the result that some of the smaller makers there are practically ruined; and whether, under these circumstances, he can place a further order with the smaller makers?
Mr. BAKERI am unable to discover that any representations of the kind referred to by my hon. Friend were made.