§ Mr. TOOTILLasked the Postmaster-General whether it is a fact that the contract for advertising in the Post Office official telephone directories, previously controlled by an old firm of advertising agents for some 25 years since its inception, has now been handed to a new contractor; whether the new contractors are Messrs. Weiner, Limited, a firm of foreign origin; and is the governing director a naturalised Austrian?
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§ Mr. BALDWINThis contract was awarded, after competition among approved firms on the Stationery Office list, to the lowest tendering firm, at a figure substantially below that tendered by the late contractor. The firm in question has been on the approved list for many years, and was confirmed thereon during the War after investigation into the question of their origin and management, which showed that no foreign capital was invested therein, and that all the employés, with the exception of one American and one Spaniard, were British-born. Mr. Weiner was born in Vienna, but left Austria finally at the age of sixteen. He came to London, after four years in Paris, in 1887, being naturalised in 1906.