§ Sir H. NIELDasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that in 1916 an order was made for the winding up of the Armourduct Manufacturing Company and that such winding up is still going on; whether he will explain why the company is not offered for sale as a going concern; whether particular care will be taken that it is not purchased by Wilhelm Schmahl or his co-directors in Magic Appliances or the Anglo-Scandinavian Box Company; whether it has been ascertained that the man Small has now become a director of the Anglo-Scandinavian Box Company; whether he has changed the name of Magic Appliances to the Westminster Trading Company; whether either of these two companies to-day have War Office contracts; and, if so, why they are not given to firms of undoubted British ownership?
Sir A. STANLEYThe business of the Armourduct Manufacturing Company, Limited, was sold as a going concern twelve months ago to British-born subjects unconnected with William Small or Schmahl, and they registered another company under the title of the Armourduct (British) Company, Limited, to carry on the business. Small is a director of the Anglo-Scandinavian Box Company, Limited. In August, 1917, a resolution was passed by the shareholders of Magic Appliances, Limited, for the change of the name of that company to the Westminster Trading Company, Limited, but sanction to the change was refused, and the name of the company remains the same as before. I must refer my hon. Friend to the War Office for information with regard to contracts with that Department.