§ MR. WEIRI beg to ask the First Commissioner of Works whether he is aware that the air (sewer gas) from the main drain is aspirated through the whole length of the system, from the Victoria Tower to the Clock Tower; whether any re-modelling of the drainage has taken place since the Select Committee on House of Commons (Ventilation) sat in 1891; and, if so, will he state what has been done; whether it is the fact that in 1891 furnaces in the exhaust shafts were kept burning day and night throughout the year as at the present time, and that, notwithstanding, down draughts did then, and do now, occur occasionally in the vitiated air shaft; whether he is aware that during close warm weather, owing to the slight difference of temperature between the outside and inside of the main extract shaft, and also in consequence of the long distance the vitiated air has to be drawn horizontally, there is scarcely any appreciable current upwards in that shaft; and that there is a tendency for the vitiated air and sewer gas, under the conditions mentioned, to find their way from the Clock Tower shaft down through the Ladies' and Reporters' 257 Galleries into the Chamber to feed the fire in the other shaft when it is burning more brightly; and whether, having regard to the fact that the sewer gas from the drainage of the Houses of Parliament is wholly discharged into one of the shafts which receive the vitiated air from the Chamber, and is, therefore, a source of danger to the Members and officials of the House, he will consider the desirability of having the sewer gas discharged by a separate shaft or pipe entirely apart from the ventilating shaft of the Chamber, as suggested by Mr. Binnie, engineer to the London County Council for the Westminster main drain, and as recommended by Mr. James Keith, C.E., and other experts?
§ * THE FIRST COMMISSIONER OF WORKS (Mr. H. GLADSTONE,) Leeds, W.The main drain is aspirated, not from the Victoria Tower to the Clock Tower, but from the Clock Tower to the Victoria Tower. There is, however, a minor drain which is ventilated in the other direction. No remodelling of the drainage has taken place since the Select Committee on Ventilation sat in 1891. The furnaces in the exhaust shafts were kept burning day and night throughout the year in 1891, and have continued to be so kept down to the present time. No down draughts have occurred, or could occur, in these shafts since the continuous full burning of the furnaces was adopted. As I have already said, the sewer gas from the drainage of the Houses of Parliament is principally discharged into a shaft in the Victoria Tower which has no connection with the shafts which receive the vitiated air from this Chamber. The shafts proposed by the engineer to the London County Council and the other experts who gave evidence in 1891 were intended to ventilate the main sewers of the district, and had no reference to the ventilation of the drains of the Houses of Parliament.
§ MR. WEIRwas understood to ask if there was any intention to arrange for the sewer gas to be discharged by pipe instead of by the up-cast shaft. Was it not the fact that the engineer of the House in 1891 stated that down draughts might occasionally occur and vitiate the air in the shaft?
§ * MR. H. GLADSTONEMy hon. Friend is mistaken in the construction he puts on the evidence. No defect in the 258 present system has been proved to exist, and I see no reason to make any change.