§ BARON HENRY DE WORMSasked the President of the Board of Trade, Whether there was not a letter from the Board of Trade to Mr. Vernon Harcourt, to which his letter on page 29 of the Correspondence on Lighthouse Illuminants was a reply; and, if so, why this letter was omitted from the Correspondence; and, whether he will cause this letter to be laid upon the Table of the House, together with the passages omitted from Mr. Vernon Harcourt's letter in reply to it? Also, in reference to the statement of the President of the Board of Trade respecting the Lighthouse Illuminants Committee, whether he is aware that the greatest number of superposed gas lights which has been applied at any lighthouse is four, as in the case of the quadriform at Galley Head, that the greatest number of superposed oil lights is two as in the case of the biforrn at the new Eddy-stone, and that the illuminating power of the biform oil light is only equal to one-eighth that of the quadriform gas; whether Sir James Douglas was one of the majority of the Illuminants Committee who resolved to restrict the exhibition of multiform lights to the biform; and, whether the statement of the President of the Board of Trade that the Committee would increase the number of lights if necessary to four, means that the gas light shall be tried with four lights in the event only of the other illuminants being capable of trial with four lights, and that if the other two illuminants are unable to be burned with four superposed lights either through mechanical difficulty or excessive cost of installation the gas light must be kept down to the level to which the others can attain?
§ COLONEL KING-HARMANI have a Question on the Paper for to-morrow on this subject, and, as I understand the right hon. Gentleman cannot be present then, perhaps I may put it now. It is as follows:—
To ask the President of the Board of Trade, "with respect to the Lighthouse Illuminants Committee, Whether it is true that the Commissioners of Irish Lights, in their letter to the Board of Trade of the 25th of May, in which they withdraw from all participation in the contemplated experiments of the Lighthouse Illuminants Committee, stated as one of their reasons that the Committee rejected their proposition that Mr. Wigham's quadriform gas apparatus, which has proved so successful at Galley Head, should, with his recent improvements, by which the light is doubled be employed in the experiments, 'adding' that this step will deprive the whole inquiry of the practical value which might otherwise have been anticipated'; and, if he would explain why the inquiry was not made thorough and exhaustive?
§ MR. CHAMBERLAINThere is no doubt that the words which the hon. and gallant Member quotes are used in the letter of the Irish Lighthouse Board. The letter from the Board of Trade alluded to by the hon. Member for Greenwich (Baron Henry De Worms) referred to certain official Papers in original for Mr. Vernon Harcourt's information. It was purely formal, and it was not thought necessary to print it. The reply of Mr. Vernon Harcourt was confidential, and as to the omitted passages, I refer the hon. Member to my answer to him on the 18th of last month. I believe that the greatest number of superposed gas lights which has been applied at any lighthouse is four, as in the case of the quadriform at Galley Head; and that the greatest number of superposed oil lights is two, as in the case of the biform at the new Eddystone; but I am not aware that any experiments hitherto made have proved that the illuminating power of the biform oil light is only equal to one-eighth that of the quadriform gas. The Resolution which the Illuminants Committee have adopted is that, in the first instance, they would commence the comparative tests with biform lights. Sir James Douglass was one of the majority who carried that Resolution. It is impossible to say at this stage what the course of the experiments will be; but my intention has been that the triform and quadriform gas shall have a fair trial. At present, in consequence of the possibility 46 of using lenses already ordered for gas in the Mew Island Lighthouse, the trial of triform and quadriform gas is comparatively cheap, while the new lenses which it would be necessary to order for the purpose of a similar trial of oil and electricity would make the experiments very expensive, and the Committee are unwilling to incur this expense until it is proved to be necessary. Since this Question was placed on the Paper, I have received a letter from the Irish Lights Commissioners declining formally to join in the experiments; and, under these circumstances, it is a question for grave consideration whether the object I had in view of bringing the three lighthouse authorities into agreement on the subject of illuminants can be obtained, and, consequently, whether it will be worth while that the experiments should be continued.
§ COLONEL KING-HARMANasked whether the right hon. Gentleman would lay the letter of the Irish Lights Commissioners upon the Table of the House?
§ MR. CHAMBERLAINThere is no objection to lay the Paper upon the Table, except upon the ground of expense. We have already published a very lengthy Correspondence in this matter; and I should think that if the experiments are not continued, it would hardly be thought a question of sufficient importance to justify any further expense.