§ Mr. CLAUDE HAYasked the Home Secretary whether, having regard to the satisfactory results of the practice of the Admiralty in stipulating that tenders for canvas will only be received from British firms, and that the successful contractor must undertake that the canvas he supplies will be manufactured in this country from British-spun yarns, he will observe the same practice in respect of the canvas supplied to his Department for the manufacture of mail bags; and whether he will arrange for the inspection on delivery to be in bulk in lieu of the inspection he now permits by persons who are not as well qualified to undertake inspection as the officials employed for this purpose by the Admiralty?
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§ Mr. HERBERT SAMUELWith regard to the first part of the question, the Secretary of State regrets that he does not see his way to go further than was indicated in my reply to the hon. Member on 23rd March last. With regard to the second part of the question, no complaints of the articles manufactured have been received, and there has been nothing to show that the canvas supplied to the Prison Department has not been equal in quality to the sealed patterns which are kept at all prisons, and adequate for the purpose for which it is required.