§ 2.49 p.m.
§ LORD ARCHIBALDMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask the Chairman of Committees whether it is intended to introduce air-conditioning into the Library, the Dining Room, the Guest Room and the Committee Rooms of the House; and if so, when.]
§ THE CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEES (THE EARL OF LISTOWEL)My Lords, this is a matter for the House itself to decide, in the first instance, by referring it to the appropriate Committees of the House. I am informed that the Subcommittee of the Refreshment Department has already made an approach to the Ministry of Public Building and Works with a view to improving conditions in the Dining Room and the Bishops' Bar by installing some form of air conditioning. If the noble Lord wishes, I will place the question of providing air-conditioning in the Library, the Guest Room and the Committee Rooms of the House on the Agenda of the appropriate Committees.
§ LORD ARCHIBALDMy Lords, may I thank the noble Lord the Lord Chairman of Committees for his reply, and say that at this stage all I can ask him to do is to pursue his inquiries and recommendations as fiercely as possible.
§ THE EARL OF LISTOWELMy Lords, I can assure the noble Lord that I will do that.
THE LORD BISHOP OF EXETERMy Lords, may I ask the Lord Chairman whether he is aware that the now growing custom of referring to the Peers' Bar as "the Bishops' Bar" is open to some misunderstanding, and that the Bishops have not been consulted about this nomenclature?
§ THE EARL OF LISTOWELMy Lords, I apologise to the right reverend Prelate. I was using a colloquialism when perhaps I should not have done so.
§ LORD LEATHERLANDMy Lords, may I ask my noble friend whether, when the experts are considering the ventilation in other parts of the House, they will have another look at certain parts of this Chamber? Is he aware, for example, that beneath the seat where I sit there is a constant cold draught, with the result that I am perpetually in a state of having cold feet and a hot head?
§ THE EARL OF LISTOWELMy Lords, I can assure the noble Lord that I will ask the appropriate Committee to take note of what he has said.
§ LORD TREFGARNEMy Lords, would it not have been appropriate for the alterations that are now about to take place in the Dining Room to include the installation of air-conditioning?
§ THE EARL OF LISTOWELMy Lords, I think that these are separate matters; but I can assure the noble Lord that the Refreshment Department Committee which deals with these matters must have had a good reason for proceeding rather gradually with the proposals, which involve considerable public expenditure.