§ COLONEL WILSON-PATTENasked the First Commissioner of Works, Whether his attention has been called to the rapid decay which has taken place during the winter of the stone of which the Houses of Parliament are constructed; and whether it is proposed to take any measures with respect to it?
§ MR. W. M. TORRENSasked the First Commissioner of Works, Whether the external portions of the Palace reported on by Professors Faraday and Murchison in 1860, as having been up to that time preserved from decay by the indurating composition invented by M. Szerelmy, continue to resist the tendency to exfoliation of the surface of the stone observable in other parts of the building?
§ MR. AYRTONsaid, in reply, that it could not be doubted that, unfortunately, a certain quantity of defective stone was used in the construction of the Houses of Parliament. Moreover, in large works of this kind, where some of the stones were highly carved, some pieces probably got broken, and here and there the broken pieces were put in in a very defective and improper manner, and as time were on these defects became apparent, the bits of stone fell off, and created considerable alarm in respect to the stability of the building. That alarm 1031 was, however, entirely unfounded, and there was nothing at all which really affected the general character of the stability of the stone work of which the Houses were constructed. Some years ago the subject was carefully considered, and experiments were made with various processes to endeavour to preserve those stones which had exhibited signs of decay; but he was sorry to say that a sufficiently accurate record was not kept of these steps to enable them to judge satisfactorily of the effects produced. Not one, however, of those efforts had proved altogether successful. Of the many attempts, that of M. Szerelmy was, undoubtedly, proved to be the best; but still it was not one which could be relied upon for the permanent preservation of the defective stones. What had been done last year was to make an application of all the processes, under the superintendence of a competent chemist, and in the course of the spring it was intended to treat all the defective stones with that process which the chemist might, on the whole, think would be most efficacious. If it were found that some of the stones were greatly eaten into, it would be necessary that they should be cut out and new stones introduced; and in that manner, by constant attention to their repair, and at a comparatively small expense in each year, there was no doubt the outside of the building could be preserved for many centuries to come.
§ COLONEL WILSON-PATTENasked, Whether the attention of the right hon. Gentleman had been called to the fact that it was portions of the solid masonry which was giving way?
§ MR. AYRTONsaid, he was quite aware that some of the stones had been considerably eaten into by decay, and the face of these stones would have to be cut out and new faces introduced.