§ MR. J. CHAMBERLAIN (Birmingham, W.)asked the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education, Whether the facilities hitherto afforded to the public to visit the models and specifications of the Patent Museum have been materially curtailed since the transfer of the Museum to the Science and Art Department; whether especially the specifications have been removed to a distance from the models, and must now be consulted separately; whether the models and specifications are now only open free to the public on three days a-week, although for nearly 30 years they were open on every weekday without charge; and, whether the collection, which used to be open till 10 p.m. on three nights a-week is now closed to the public after 6 p.m. at latest?
§ THE VICE PRESIDENT (Sir WILLIAM HART DYKE) (Kent, Dartford)The facilities which were formerly afforded to the public to visit the models and specifications of the Patent Museum have been, to some extent, curtailed since the transfer of the Museum to the Science and Art Department. The models and specifications were formerly in adjacent rooms. The former have now been removed to the galleries on the west side of Exhibition Road, and amalgamated with the other Science Collections of the Department. There are at present no means of lighting these galleries at night, and they are closed at from 4 to 6 p.m., according to the time of year. The specifications have been kept on the east side of Exhibition Road, and are placed in the Science Library, which is open till 10 p.m. on three nights a-week—namely, Mondays, Tuesdays and Saturdays, when the Museum and this portion of the Library are open free. The models and specifications are only open free to the public on three days a-week.