asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, in the case of the building in course of erection at Cricklewood for the production of Admiralty maps and charts, he will say what is the estimated cost of the factory and plant; and whether the work to be done in this building is capable of being undertaken by the Ordnance Survey Department at Southampton?

The total estimated cost is £101,950, of which part falls on the Vote for Public Buildings and part on the Stationery Office Vote. Some £60,000 will have been expended by the end of the current financial year. As regards the second part of the question I am informed that the work could not have been done at the Ordnance Survey Department at Southampton without extensions which would have been at least as expensive as the present arrangement: that it has hitherto been done by a contractor in London; and that close vicinity to the Admiralty is essential.