HC Deb 01 June 1863 vol 171 cc177-8
MR. DARBY GRIFFITH

said, he would beg to ask the First Commissioner of Works, Whether, in this warm weather, it would not be better to ventilate the House by the ordinary expedient of opening the windows, rather than continue the present mode of shutting the windows carefully, and pumping up the air from the cellars below the House?

MR. COWPER

said, in reply, that his opinion was, that if the windows were open, as the hon. Gentleman proposed, the air that would be admitted would be neither so cool nor so pure as that which they were then enjoying. The hon. Gentleman, however, was mistaken in supposing that the air they were breathing was pumped out of the cellars. If the hon. Gentleman would take the trouble to go below, he would see that the air was admitted in the most natural and easy way into a chamber below the House; there it was purified; it was washed in a shower of pure water; and the air was afterwards passed through a canvas filter where all the floating impurities were intercepted. It then came through the floor, and travelled at the rate of one foot a minute towards the ceiling. The air was warmed in winter by hot water, and was iced in summer. The object Mr. Goldsworthy Gurney had in view was, that the air in all seasons should be of an equal temperature, that of 64 degrees of the thermometer. Sometimes it varied a degree above or below, rarely more. On Friday evening last, when the hon. Member wished to have the windows open, the thermometer outside the House was 78 degrees, while the thermometer in the House was only 65 degrees; so that if the hon. Gentleman's suggestion had been adopted, the windows would have admitted into the House air that was 13 degrees hotter than they were then breathing. He (Mr Cowper) had no prejudice against opening windows, and the rule adopted was, when the air outside was near 64 degrees, the windows were opened; when it was considerably more, they were kept closed.

LORD ROBERT CECIL

inquired what the cost of the ventilation was.

MR. COWPER

said, he could not state it separately, as it was included in the warming and lighting of the House.

MR. DARBY GRIFFITH

said, that one of the floors through which the air came was the floor on which they trod.

MR. COWPER

said, that the floor and its covering were frequently washed and cleaned.