§ Sir HAROLD ELVERSTONasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he is aware that a Report of the National Physical Laboratory dealing with pyrene fire extincteurs, prepared at the request of the Board of Trade and dated 22nd April, 1915, says that at temperatures up to a dull red heat the most important decomposition product of pyrene vapour is hydrochloric acid; and that, in regard to the fumes generated when pyrene is used for extinguishing fire, the irritant acid character imparted by the presence of hydrochloric acid renders it difficult for anyone to sustain more than very brief exposure to the fumes; will he say whether this report was in possession of the Admiralty when thousands of these extincteurs were bought by the Department; and whether any of them form part of the equipment of submarines?
§ Dr. MACNAMARAThe reply to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. The nature of the liquid used in this extincteur was already known to the Admiralty, and is, I am informed, similar in its properties to that used in some other types. I may say that the extincteur in question was only adopted for the services in which it is employed after trials of many types extending over several years.