§ COLONEL KING-HARMANasked the President of the Board of Trade, Whether it is the case that the Committee appointed to report upon Lighthouse Illuminants has been broken up; whether it is the case that experiments upon this important subject are to be made at Dover; if so, when these experiments are to be made; under whose supervision they are to be conducted; and, what facilities will be given to those who are interested in the matter to view or ascertain the conduct of the experiments?
§ MR. CHAMBERLAINSir, on the 19th July last the hon. and gallant Member, in asking me a Question, assumed, as the fact was and now is, that the Committee on Lighthouse Illuminants had been dissolved. Further experiments are to be made at the South Foreland under the supervision of the Trinity House, in which the Commissioners of Northern Lighthouses have promised to take part. The Trinity House have also communicated with the Commissioners of Irish Lights; and it is hoped that they will join in the observation of these experiments. It further is in contemplation to issue invitations to competent observers from the United States and France, as well as to masters of vessels and pilots passing through the Straits of Dover. A notice to mariners, issued about a month ago, states that the experimental lights will probably be exhibited about the end of this month.
§ MR. DAWSONAs a member of the Irish Lights Board, I beg to ask the right hon. Gentleman, whether, if the proceedings of this Board were open to the Press, as they ought to be, the necessity for putting such a Question as this would not have been obviated?
§ [No reply was given.]