§ MR. COURTHOPEI beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether the copper pressure gauges used by the War Department to ascertain the breech pressure of high-velocity ammunition are previously tested to approximately the same pressure as is expected from such ammunition; whether they are the 15-ton coppers ordinarily used for testing service ammunition; and whether he is aware that accurate results can only be obtained by the use of coppers which have been previously tested to within a ton of the pressure exerted by the ammunition under test.
§ MR. HALDANEAs regards the first part of the Question, assuming that the hon. Member refers to the coppers used in the gauges and not the pressure gauges themselves, the reply is in the affirmative. To the second part of the Question the reply is in the negative. The point raised in the last part of the Question is a matter of opinion, but as a fact coppers are so treated before use.