§ SIR BENJAMIN STONE (Birmingham, S.)To ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether he is aware that commercial, mechanical, and physical tests, such as the determination of the tensile and compressive strength of structural materials, the determination of the electrical conductivity of materials, the determination of melting points of solids and liquids, the determination of the calorific value of fuels, and the photomicrographical examination of metals and alloys, are being undertaken at the National Physical Laboratory, or are included in the circular of charges of the laboratory; that, under the heading of testing of materials of construction, they offer to test shafts, joints, ropes, and chains; and, if so, whether such competition with private practitioners 1185 will be stopped, in view of the recommendations of the Treasury Committee in 1898, that it would neither be necessary nor desirable to compete with or interfere with the testing of materials of various kinds as now carried out in private or other laboratories.
(Answered by Mr. McKenna.) The National Physical Laboratory was established as a public institution for standardising and verifying instruments, for testing materials, and for the determination of physical constants. The mechanical and physical tests referred to in the Question form part of the work of such an institution and were contemplated when it was founded. The last sentence of the Question is not one of the recommendations of the Report of 1898, but is taken from Clause 9 and should be read in connection with the rest of the Report, which clearly contemplates such tests. The Committee have always borne in mind the desirability of not interfering with work which is or can be satisfactorily done outside the laboratory; but there is considerable difficulty in laying down a precise definition of the classes of work which may properly be undertaken by the laboratory. I am, however, in communication with the Royal Society on the subject, with the view of ascertaining whether The existing regulations require amendment.
§ SIR BENJAMIN STONETo ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether commercial tests of any kind (with the exception of the standardisation of instruments) have been or are being undertaken for private firms or individuals or public companies at the National Physical Laboratory; and whether the full and complete results of all such tests (with the exception of the standardisation of instruments), which may have been undertaken for private firms or individuals or public companies, have been published.
(Answered by Mr. McKenna.) Mechanical and physical tests are undertaken for private firms at the National Physical Laboratory. The general practice has been in cases in which the results appear likely to be of scientific interest to ask permission to publish before undertaking the work; and in no case has permission been refused. The point shall be considered in connection with the other 1186 matters referred to in the Answer to the preceding Question.