‘These contrcts—someof which, we must asume, were not fly sajusted until ater the eutbro of war—covered a warts 2 Datileship, an areraftearir,criser detroyersabmaines salle rte, rebrning abst gtr ofthe ht ered rng he eid, The tral cost contact pics, including prot, was bout £oe0 milion, ‘The Feu cscloned were that in four cas the profit ou cot eases than 10% [75 generally considered Yo be air pot ‘on arship contrueton] Ine cero ere been 10 ond 2094; im nn brtoxen20% and 30% mtn tars 50% ae 407 fn ccm 40% ad 5: tho Bett 5095 od 00% oe into been 70%, od 8% dione cer jor aded that “in rece ear the Pie Accounts Gormitte have on several occasions hd this tention da fora tumiber of cae in which prices corded by (ine Govern. tents) technical departments 1 be fir nd rascal have town by cor invesigaton tobe xe ‘The Gril Appropriation Accoutsforsa¢2-4 give an analysis of the profits made by 3,900 fms working om war contacts fo: the sss Goscnent Deparinants, OF the 3300 rms 4ngoo are lange companies with capital of soo and ov he aaj show totes fa me roe om cos Sipte 13% a9% made profs of berncen 15%, and gov an, Mee of of oe The sneer tae roents have been made with 149 Stns to tclund 4,700,000 ot the exenive pois segura fam Ue eontecte Wiens tiner demands afew shillings « yeck moce for toting nthe owes ofthe earth hed aces by the Goverment, the Pea ‘and the employers of “holding the community up to ransom”. ‘exiay he eam be imprisoned or sing, o three tot ts only espon he har-the sree, There is no threat ot smpriune ment to deter the chairborne diions of Big Busines rom ‘rindling the commurity tthe extent of millons of pounde athe wom hey ve ke (eid the tan na he bs, nal saipltons rain eer Teshould be noted thatthe oficial of Fis Majey’s technica! departments are recruited often from the staf of private firms, fvho usually show most covoperative apitit in nelensing tem fom their employ "This letter, written, before the war, by the chief of Vickers (Afestrong (Sir Charis Craven) (0 our 618 find the presen ‘of Blectrie Bost Co, isnot without interes “With regard to paragraph 4 of your letter, X wish you the Dit of luck and hope you may be able to lock out some oF your Government dockyards, They seem to be even more of Bmisence with you than they ate here. T wonder whether yon hhave heard Wat our old fend Perey Addison is now the Director of Dockyards. 1 helped him all could to get the job, And think he wil be an idea fellow fori. [means his retire= tent, but it alio means hie having a permanent job for about Besijears hs beaccs ies? ask ee ie eee worth talking. about, you till afpaite what the mann, T Ihave suggested to him that you and J, and be and Joba (oho ig anxious to meet you) should ‘have party” and yet the appointment nest time you are over Tn another letter to his American colleague, Sir Charles Craven ro 5 We have just received an inquiry for one, wo or three boats fmm the Admiralty. Armstrong. Whitworth's [hen i ‘the process of being absorbed by Vickers] have also secelved a Smilar inquiry. My present feng is that we should quote for fone, two or three fom Armstrongs, who have agreed to put in whatever price I ell hem, and that we should als quote far fone, ovo or three fiom Barre [Vickes" shipyard]. L would keep the Armstrong price very lightly above ours the idea Deing that whatever boats were ordered ffom either party ‘would be built at Barrow... . Talo think that perhaps it ‘would be worth while puting forward & tender for six boat, Ue fotal number to be built, I have had a word with the Airector of contracts at the Admiralty, who isa frend of min,