§ 72. Colonel DAYasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury the number of officials and attendants employed at the Museum of Practical Geology, Piccadilly, together with the yearly amount of salaries and wages paid to such employés; and the daily average number of visitors to the above museum?
§ Lord E. PERCYI have been asked to reply to this question on behalf of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. The Museum of Practical 1109 Geology in Jermyn Street serves also as the headquarters, office and library of the Geological Survey of Great Britain. The officers assigned to museum and library duties are three, namely, the curator, assistant curator and assistant librarian. Their salaries, inclusive of bonus, amount to £2,555. These officers also perform certain services for the Geological Survey. The Director of the Geological Survey and Museum, the petrographer and the palæontologist also take part in museum work but their principal duties are connected with the Survey. In the museum and library there are four technical and general assistants and eight warders, whose total salaries and wages amount to £2,387. In addition, there is a manual staff (e.g., labourers) whose wages amount to £1,573, but the work of most of these men is largely connected with the Survey offices. The average number of visitors daily in 1926, was 51. In 1913 the average number was 142 per day. In 1927 (to date) the average daily attendance is 60.
§ Colonel DAYCan the right hon. Gentleman tell us what expenditure is incurred in carrying on this Museum because on some days there are not more than 25 people present?
§ Lord E. PERCYAs the hon. Member will see, I could not give him an answer without reading it all.