§ MR. GILHOOLYI beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether it has been decided to replace the fifteen-minute fog guns on the Bull Rock by an automatic fog signal, and whether it has been decided to fit a siren there; whether he is aware that a siren has been found by experience to be a less efficient and more costly form of fog signal than a reed horn such as is in use by the Belfast Harbour Commissioners; and whether he will ascertain and inform the House of the cost of the fog-signal machinery at Mew Island, and also at Belfast Loch No. 1.
§ *MR. GERALD BALFOURThe Board of Trade sanctioned in 1897, and a tender has been accepted for, the erection of a siren on Bull Rock. On the general question as to the relative efficiency and cost of sirens and reed horns I am not prepared to express an opinion, but I may mention that the Trinity House propose to make some experiments on the subject in the course of the present year. The fog siren at Mew Island has, I understand, cost about £3,400, but I have no information as to the cost of the 85 fog-signal machinery at Belfast Lough, which was not provided by the General Lighthouse Authority.