§ 84. Mr. LESLIE SCOTTasked the First Commissioner of Works what steps have been taken to restore to their proper use the premises of the great engineering institutes which have been occupied by Government staffs during the War, and to facilitate the resumption of the activities of those bodies which are so closely identified with British engineering enterprise?
§ Mr. PRATTThe First Commissioner of Works is endeavouring by the rearrangement of staffs in other buildings to make room for the officials now in occupation of the institutes, hut the hon. and learned Member will realise that owing to the shortage of office accommodation in London, and to other causes, the task is at present a most difficult one. The First Commissioner assures the hon. Member that he fully appreciates the importance of releasing the institutes in question at the earliest possible moment, and is making every effort to do so.
§ 85. Mr. LESLIE SCOTTasked the First Commissioner of Works what steps have been taken to enable the professional and technical libraries of the great engineering institutes to be made available for use by students who are being demobilised and with whose adequate training the Ministry of Labour is concerned?
§ Mr. PRATTIt is presumed that the hon. and learned Member refers to the libraries of the Institutions of Mechanical and Electrical Engineers respectively. In the former instance, the First Commissioner of Works is already arranging for access to the library to be given to students, and hopes that it will be made available within the next few weeks. As regards the Institution of Electrical Engineers, it is feared that it will not be practicable to release the library in advance of the remainder of the building.