§ 2.53 p.m.
§ LORD AMULREEMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will use their good offices to persuade B.O.A.C. to repair the clock on the central tower of their offices in Buckingham Palace Road or remove it altogether.]
§ LORD SHACKLETONMy Lords, I am told that the clock is not in need of repair. It has been stopped temporarily 566 while the stonework on the tower is being cleaned, because the movement of the very large hands might mean a danger to the men working in cradles on the tower.
§ LORD AMULREEMy Lords, I thank the noble Lord for his satisfactory reply, but I would ask him whether he will use his further good offices to get the work completed as quickly as possible, because it does not look a very good advertisement for B.O.A.C. when one sees that the clock on that big tower has stopped.
§ LORD SHACKLETONMy Lords, the noble Lord may well feel tempus irreparabile fugit, but I understand that the clock will be working again on November 29. I share his detestation of public clocks that are not working.
§ LORD AMULREEMy Lords, I would thank the noble Lord for his very satisfactory reply.
§ LORD PEDDIEMy Lords, can my noble friend give an assurance, in regard to B.E.A. as well as B.O.A.C., that there is no connection between the condition of their clocks and the standard of their flight time-keeping?
§ LORD SHACKLETONMy Lords, I think that that is another question.
TIME LORD BISHOP OF SOUTHWARKMy Lords, I wonder whether the noble Lord's Answer also applies to the clock at Westminster Abbey, which I understand has not worked for many years?
VISCOUNT BARRINGTONMy Lords, returning, finally, to the clock in question, may I ask whether it is operated by electric power and, if so, whether steps will be taken in time to make sure that it will operate without interruption?