§ SIR ROPER LETHBRIDGE (Kensington, N.)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty what is the present system under which paints are tested and selected for use on the bottoms of Her Majesty's ships; and who is responsible for the selection of the compositions which are ordered from time to time to be used for this purpose; by whom was he appointed, and for how long; and on what principle does he make his selection?
§ LORD G. HAMILTONThe system under which paints for coating ships' bottoms are selected for use in the Navy was very carefully revised by the present Board of Admiralty after a Committee of experts had reported on the 570 whole subject. An officer who was a member of that Committee has been charged with the special duty of watching not only the results of the paints applied to Her Majesty's ships, but he also reports upon the various coatings used in the Mercantile Marine. With the information thus obtained, the Admiralty select those paints which, so far as present experience goes, have given the best results, and they find it advantageous, once a certain description of paint is applied to a, vessel, to continue the use of the same material when the vessel requires subsequent coatings. I may add that compositions for coating the bottoms of Her Majesty's ships are first of all chemically tested to ascertain whether they contain anything that might act injuriously upon the plating. They are then practically tested on a ship's bottom alongside other compositions used in the Navy.
§ *SIR J. SWINBURNE (Staffordshire, Lichfield)Will the noble Lord take precautions to guard against storing paints and dryers containing chemicals liable to cause explosion?
§ LORD G. HAMILTONThese things are used externally and not internally.