§ 14. Mr. DAYasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty whether the contracts for supplying potatoes and other vegetables, which are supplied to the Admiralty for the victualling of the Royal Navy, stipulate that the supplies are to be home-grown produce; and has there been any recent difficulty in the delivery of these supplies?
The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the ADMIRALTY (Lord Stanley)Admiralty contracts for potatoes and other vegetables do not stipulate that supplies are to be home-grown produce, and it would not be practicable to ensure that such a condition, if inserted, would be in fact fulfilled. In all such contracts placed by the Admiralty a paragraph is included informing contractors that they are relied upon to supply home-grown produce so far as it is reasonably obtainable without sacrifice of quality. No recent difficulty in obtaining supplies of homegrown vegetables has been reported to the Admiralty.