§ 32. Mr. Denmanasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Works whether he is aware of the ill-effects of the exclusion of daylight from this Chamber; and whether he will provide it, until the Summer Recess, with some glass or glass-substitute windows?
§ The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Works (Mr. Hicks)I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply which I gave on 17th February to the hon. Member for South East St. Pancras (Sir A. Beit). As I have explained in this 1676 and previous replies on this subject, absorbent tiles have been fixed in the windows, on the recommendation of the National Physical Laboratory, for the specific purpose of improving the acoustics on the Floor of the Chamber and their replacement by glass or glass substitute would most seriously affect acoustical conditions in the Chamber.
§ Sir Alfred BeitCould not absorbent tiles be fixed somewhere else than in the windows?
§ Mr. HicksThat matter was very extensively considered by the National Physical Laboratory. It was not considered possible to fix them in any other place in the Chamber, and that is the reason they were put in the windows.
§ Mr. DenmanIf hon. Members would speak up, could we not have some windows facing West fitted with glass, rather than dwell in this constant gloom?
§ Mr. HicksIt is very difficult, in an answer to a Question, to deal with the examination of the acoustics of the Chamber and the problem of making every hon. Member audible. The putting in of another ceiling was considered to be the only effective way of giving the Chamber the acoustic properties we would have liked, but that was a physical impossibility, and the fitting of absorbent tiles into the windows was the next best thing. This has contributed towards improving the acoustics. Unfortunately, not everybody speaks as clearly and as plainly as the hon. Member.