§ Mr. COMYNS-CARRasked the First Commissioner of Works whether his attention has been called to complaints as to the difficulty of seeing the pictures in the National Gallery in certain states of the light; whether he will have expert investigation made as to whether this is due to faulty design of the roofs of the galleries; and whether he will take steps to remedy this state of affairs?
§ Mr. JOWETTI understand that when certain galleries which had been fire-proofed were re-opened to the public, some criticism was made as to the inadequacy of the lighting in room No. 9. Certain remedial measures were undertaken, the object being to obtain a relatively high wall illumination, the floors being in shadow. Those measures have effected improvement, but the light is still not quite satisfactory, due to the external height of the adjoining galleries. The matter has been the subject of expert consideration throughout, and I hope to be able to effect further improvement in the near future.