§ Sir WILLIAM COLLINSasked the President of the Board of Trade, what tests for the detection of colour-blindness are employed in the Marine Department of the Board; whether a considerable number of persons rejected as colour-blind by the wool test have on appeal been passed as normal sighted; and whether any oculist or medical man is included among the officers conducting these tests?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLCandidates who enter for the Board of Trade Sight Tests now undergo an improved form of Holmgren Wool Test. Candidates who fail and appeal, or whose cases are referred for final decision, undergo a special spectroscopic examination. During the three years ending 31st December, 1908, 19,262 candidates were examined, and 184 rejected. Of the latter number only 48 appealed, and of these 21 were allowed to pass, either on the ground that their colour vision was normal, or that the defect, which the wool test had discovered, was not liable to cause danger at sea. No oculist or medical man is included among the officers conducting these tests, but the Board are advised throughout by the first authority on colour vision in this country.