§ Sir G. HURSTasked the Postmaster-General how many of the typewriters bought yearly by the Post Office are British and how many are of foreign make?
§ Sir W. MITCHELL-THOMSONThe Post Office does not buy typewriters for normal office purposes, the supply of such machines to the Post Office and other Departments being within the province of the Stationery Office. In July, 1927, and on several subsequent occasions the Post Office has placed orders (aggregating 311 machines) for typewriters to be used on telegraph circuits, with keyboards modified to correspond with those of the keyboard perforators used for telegraphic-purposes. On each occasion British firms have been invited to submit samples; not all have submitted a sample, and none of them has produced, up to date, a sample which the technical staff of the Post Office could regard as satisfactory. In each case the foreign order was placed on my personal sanction. I shall continue to give British firms every opportunity of tendering; but in the meantime the needs of the Telegraph Service must be met, and there has been no alternative to the purchase of the suitable machines offered by American firms.