I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether the Government are aware of the benefit to health arising from the use of electric light in crowded rooms, such as barracks, &c., and the consequent saving of public money; whether any offer has been made by a public company to supply electric light in barracks at the same annual cost as hitherto paid for gas; if so, has such offer been accepted; if not, are the Government willing to reconsider the question; and whether any experiments with electric lighting are now being made in military works under the auspices of the Government?

I would assure my hon. Friend that barrack rooms are not always crowded. No direct comparisons as to improved health from electric light instead of gas have, so far as I am aware, been made, although the advantages of electric light are undoubted. Offers to supply the electric light to barracks have been made and declined, for the present, at Great Yarmouth and Dover. A succession of experiments in electric lighting has been approved, and plans for providing the light in Colchester Hospital and Cambridge Lines, Woking, are in progress.

May I ask whether medical officers have not often reported that gas in barracks is less wholesome than the electric light?

We all know the difference between gas and the electric light. I have no doubt the electric light may be ultimately introduced into barracks, but at present we are only feeling our way towards its introduction.