§ MR. O'REILLYasked the Secretary to the Treasury, If he can state on what calculation the Item of £5,000 in the Civil Service Estimates (Class 4, Vote 4, National Gallery), for the Purchase of Pictures, is based; and whether the same sum is generally estimated each year?
§ COLONEL STANLEYThe amount of the annual Vote for the purchase of pictures for the National Gallery was fixed by a Treasury Minute of March 1855—which was presented to Parliament—at £10,000. In 1870 the Peel Collection was purchased for £75,000, and it was arranged that the annual purchase grant should be suspended until the Exchequer had been recouped this outlay. The Trustees consider that the time has now arrived; and the Treasury, though not quite accepting the figures of the Trustees, so far agreed, that we determined to insert the sum of £5,000 in the Estimates for 1878–9, without prejudice to the point at issue, as the adjustment of the question at issue would have required some consideration and we were desirous to avoid delay.