§ MR. COOPEasked the First Commissioner of Works, Whether, regarding the present inadequate accommodation for the pictures (the property of the Nation) in the National Gallery, as well as for such works of art as may be presented or bequeathed, he is now prepared to sanction a considerable enlargement of the building at the rear of the present Gallery, on property already in the hands of the Government; and, pending this extension, whether he is willing to sanction the lighting of the Gallery by electricity, so as to give increased facilities to those desiring to visit the Gallery, and especially to those who, owing to their avocations, can only do so in the evenings, after their day's work?
§ MR. SHAW LEFEVRESir, the hon. Member will be glad to hear that the Government recognizes the necessity of adding to the buildings of the National Gallery; and I shall submit a Vote in the Estimates of this year for commencing these buildings, and I am now in communication with the Trustees of the National Gallery. With respect to the lighting of the Gallery by the electric light, I can only repeat what I said last 578 year, that the responsibility for lighting the Gallery at night rests with the Trustees; but that, apart from other objections, I could not, with reference to the little experience we have of the electric light, especially as regards its safety, advise them to adopt it.