The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-04-16


 a bargain with the office Sf works. The terms of the agreement, accord ing to some of the most eXper2enced business men in the house, are such as no one in the commercial worf2 would have considered for mo- ment.
 The general suspicion that the Off, flee of works blundered badly oyer the matter is confirmed by it's bung- ling answers to questions put in par liament It stated at first that MT. Meyer was not appointed until every effort had been made to get terms from other timber dealers. Five hundred such inquiries had been sent out. Presently it had to be admitted that the number of inquiries was only 2o5 Then it came 6ut that these in ouiries were only sent to various smaller firms through the Labor Ex- changes, and that Of the sixty read only four had been approached in any way. Further. the arran cement with MT. Meyer was made before there had been time to get answers even to such inquiries as had actually been made. Meyers Contract Revised l One result of the parliamentary
 discussion has been revision of the terms Of the contract. MT. Meyers ? 1-2 per cent. is to apply only to 1 purchases up to $3,0O0,0O0. For puc-
 chases beyond that amount ittis to be
 reduced 1-2 per cent It is stated that the normal percentage for tim 1 Der buying is i per cent At least, l two prominent timber experts--who
 have retired from the trade and act
 nowadays only as arbitrators-had l offered to place their services at the disposal of the government without any remuneration whatever.
 Probably no army has ever been ! haf fad In he TlT-if-
 ish expeditionary force in France and iBeIgiun1.s At home, too, the supplies have on the whole been satisfactory. Tn January a firm of contractors was flee with butter containing per
 cent of milk powder. During the ] present month a Hammersn1ith mag I istrate Inflicted the maximum fine
 allowed by the law upon a firm. of flood -contractors-one of the largest land best known in England-for sup plying the troops quartered at the l white city with meat unfit for hu- man consumption. In this case the prosecution was undertaken not by I the war office but by the Borough l Council of Hamnersnith at the in l stance of it's medical officer of health Charges of Waste.
 As regards food, however. the l chief complaint has been not tof bad l quality but of waste. At a time
 when thousands of families are sllf- fering from the rise in prices one may read communications in the pa pers, from the neighborhood of the camps, telling how fresh Ioayes Of bread are being used to feed pigs or I to manure fields. and how good meat 1.-the surplus of what is used by the Eregfmental cooks--is being thrown in to the garbage can. Similar waste is reported from some of the camps in
 saich aliens are interned. In orlesof 3them. according to 3, statenenf Tiassde in parliament, five tons of good l wholesome bread were thrown away In three weeks
 It is reasonably believed that a I good many of these b1unders might have been avoided if the war office
 had not been trying to do too much
 off it's own bat.
 No municipality '' says the Daily
 Chronicle. would have given. out I contracts to some of the men Of l straw who have received government
 contracts during the war Or, ii
 would have been possible to brine I together a committee of advice con taining many Of the leading btlsf-
 ness men in the kingdom, who
 would gladly have placed their ex- posa1 of the government in this
 crisisl Lloyd George, in summonine
 to his help in every serious difficulty
 the most trustworthy representatives
 of the financial and commercial life T Of the nation, has set an example I which has unfortunately not beer
 followed by the department where
 outside counsel of this kind would I have been of the greatest value.