§ MR. SCHREIBERsaid, he wished to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education, Whether his attention has been called to recent discoveries on the site (hitherto lost) of the Manufactory of English Porcelain at Bow; whether 1888 he will direct that steps be taken to acquire a selection from the specimens already found for the Science and Art Department of the South Kensington Museum; and, whether he will enter into communication with Messrs. Bell and Black, with a view to the further prosecution, on their property at Bow, of discoveries so important and interesting in the History of English Art?
§ LORD ROBERT MONTAGUsaid, in reply, that some fragments of porcelain which had been dug up at Stratford-le-Bow were sent to the Museum of Practical Geology, and Mr. Trenham Reeks wrote concerning them as follows:—
I immediately identified in these fragments patterns which exist on some perfect specimens in our collections, but of hitherto unknown manufacture. I subsequently visited the locality and found that many very interesting specimens had been collected by the engineer of Messrs. Bell and Black's new Patent Safety Match Manufactory. … On Monday I called on Mr. Bell, who most liberally offered to open out the 'diggings' again if any good is likely to result to the history of British art.Directions have been given to enter into communications with Messrs. Bell and Black.