§ SIR JOHN COLOMB (Great Yarmouth)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty whether Captain Byrne, Royal Marine Light Infantry (since dead), was brought from Portsmouth to be treated at St. Thomas's Hospital for gunshot wounds received in action at Benin, because the Royal Naval Hospital, Haslar, is not supplied with the necessary apparatus for examination by the Röntgen rays; and if he will take the necessary steps to cause the chief naval hospitals to be furnished with the necessary appliances for the examination of wounds and for the scientific education of the surgeons of the Royal Navy?
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE ADMIRALTY (Mr. GOSCHEN,) St. George's, Hanover SquareCaptain Byrne, a most able officer, whose death is deeply to be deplored—["Hear, hear!"]—went to St. Thomas's Hospital for treatment for a gunshot wound, at his own request, expressed almost immediately after his arrival on board the hospital ship Malacca on 26th February. This wish he reiterated most strongly on his arrival at Portsmouth. It has, so I am informed, no connection with the question of the examination of his wound by Röntgen ray apparatus. ["Hear, hear!"] The development of this new science is being closely followed by the naval medical authorities, and care will be taken, as assured data are obtained, to supply the naval hospitals with all necessary appliances. The naval hospitals are now authorised to have ray radiographs taken when necessary.