§ Mr. de Freitasasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will make a further statement on the English Electric Company's tender to equip the Chief Joseph Dam in the United States of America.
§ Mr. P. ThorneycroftI would refer the hon. Member to the replies given on 28th April to the hon. Members for Cleveland (Mr. Palmer) and Edmonton (Mr. Albu). On that day the new call for tenders for the transformers was issued. According to my information, the original technical specifications remain unchanged but there are some changes in the general and special conditions: the price adjustment provisions have been changed and a performance bond of 50 per cent. will be required.
The new invitation to bid for the generators was issued on Friday last, but I have not yet any information about the details of the specifications beyond that given in the reports in the Press, namely, that certain technical changes have been introduced to ensure higher efficiency and that the successful bidder will be required to give a performance bond of 50 per cent. of his tender.