§ 43. Mr. Dayasked the First Commissioner of Works the quantity and value of timber of Empire and/or foreign origin, respectively, that has been purchased by his Department during the 12 months ended to the last convenient date?
§ The First Commissioner of Works (Sir Philip Sassoon)As nearly all the timber 1625 used by my Department is provided by contractors for incorporation in buildings or in supplies of furniture which are the subject of lump sum contracts, I regret that it is not possible, without the expenditure of an unreasonable amount of labour, to give even approximate statistics on this point. I can, however, assure the hon. Member that it is the practice to specify Empire timber almost exclusively for building contracts and that, for furniture, Empire timber is used whenever it is suitable and is not unduly expensive.