§ DR. FARQUHARSON (Aberdeenshire, W.)I beg to ask the First Commissioner of Works, whether he will authorise an addition to the staff of the National Gallery, so that the attendants shall not be obliged to work seven days a week, in consequence of the opening of the National Collection of Pictures on Sunday?
§ MR. HANBURYThe Trustees of the National Gallery, with the approval of the Treasury, have made temporary arrangements for utilising the present staff of attendants on Sundays during the present season, ending by the middle of next September, and it is for them to settle whether the men who attend on Sundays can be allowed any compensating holiday during the week. The Sunday opening of the Gallery is in a tentative stage at present, but the experience of the next few months is expected to provide sufficient data for making permanent arrangements for the future.
§ DR. FARQUHARSONasked whether it was not a fact that these men were practically obliged to work seven days a week, and whether it was not a condition of the Resolution passed by this House that the attendants should not be required to work more than six days a week?
§ MR. HANBURYI do not understand that they are required; I think they do it of their own free will. The terms of the Resolution were that they were not to be required to do it, but I am not quite sure on that point.