§ Mr. McInnesasked the Minister of Works if he will make an inquiry into the cause of the failure of the main contractor at the Kelvin Hall section of the Festival of Britain Exhibition; and what effect such failure has had on the subcontractors.
§ Lieut.-Colonel Elliotasked the Minister of Works whether he is aware of the plight in which the sub-contractors to the Kelvin Hall section of the Festival of Britain Exhibition have been placed owing to the failure of the main contractor; and whether he will cause an inquiry to be made into all the circumstances.
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§ Mr. EcclesThe Festival Office entered into a contract with the main display contractor for the Kelvin Hall Exhibition and is carrying out its contractual obligations. The Festival Office was not a party to the sub-contracts and has, therefore, no contractual obligation to the subcontractors. I have considered whether any extra-contractual payments would be justified in order to relieve the sub-contractors of any part of the loss which they may unfortunately suffer in consequence of the failure of the main contractor. After full consideration, however, I regret that I cannot direct the Festival Office to go beyond its contractual obligations. The taxpayer has paid for the work done and there is no justification for asking him to pay again.