asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether the Admiralty have recently placed abroad order for considerable quantities of copper-wire gauze and whether any condition was included in the contract with the supplier in regard to the wages to be paid by the firms manufacturing this material?

Mr. DAVIDSON:

An order for copper-wire gauze of a value of about £300 was recently given to a British firm, who imported the material from the Continent. A substantial preference is given to British manufacturers, but this particular gauze could only have been made in this country at an extra cost of about 50 per cent. After every opportunity had been given to the British firms to supply at lower prices the order was reluctantly placed for foreign-made gauze owing to the great difference in price. The remaining items of the contract were placed for British-made gauzes. The contract contained the usual fair-wages clause embodied in Government contracts, but this clause can only be enforced as regards labour employed in this country by the contractors.

Is it not a fact that the navy steams on oil imported from Persia?

Mr. DAVIDSON:

To a certain extent, that is so.