§ Mr. GOULDasked the Postmaster-General whether for the carriage of His Majesty's mails to the Far East via Moscow across Soviet Russia the mailbags used are of British manufacture; whether trade union rates of wages and other conditions are observed in their manufacture, or whether these mailbags are manufactured by convict labour; and whether the arrangements now in force differ materially from those in operation under previous postmaster-generals?
§ Mr. VIANTThe mail-bags used for the conveyance of British mails on this and other routes are made in this country by prison labour, as they have been ever since 1875. There has been no change in the conditions under my administration.