§ 35. Mr. RAMSDENasked the Secretary of State for Air the value of any foreign products or manufactures purchased for or on behalf of his Department during the last financial year; and what percentage this bears to the total purchases?
§ Sir P. SASSOONExclusive of petrol and oil, which are almost entirely of foreign origin, the total value of Air Ministry headquarter contracts for foreign products or manufactures in the financial year 1926–27 was £109,043, or 1.7 per cent. of the total; or, if Continental coal and coke unavoidably purchased during the coal stoppage are excluded, £50,560, reducing the percentage to. 0.8. Similar information is not available in regard to purchases made by other Government Departments on behalf of the Air Ministry and could not be obtained in regard to local purchases at Air Force stations, at home and abroad, without considerable correspondence and labour.
§ Colonel DAYCan the hon. Baronet say whether it would have been possible to have made these purchases in England, and why they were made on the Continent?
§ Sir P. SASSOONI think the fact that they were purchased abroad shows that they could not be purchased in England.