HC Deb 10 August 1882 vol 273 cc1401-5
MR. HINDE PALMER,

who had the following Notice on the Paper:—To call attention to the state of the Patent Museum at South Kensington, to the necessity of providing a new Museum, and to an eligible site for the same; and to move— That the Patent Museum is greatly inadequate and ill adapted for its purpose, and inasmuch as a site, designated in several successive Reports of the Patent Commissioners, is now vacant and available to the Government, steps should be taken for the erection of a proper Museum thereon, said, he had frequently brought the subject before the House, and in 1868, when Mr. Ayrton was at the Office of Works, he received a promise that when the Natural History Museum was built some provision should be made in a wing of that building for the reception of the Collection of Models. In Paris the Museum of Inventions was of a most interesting character, and was conducted in an admirable way. Provision was made that all persons who went to see the models should be able to examine them carefully. In Washington, he was told, there was a very perfect Museum, and as, by the Patent Laws of the United States, all American inventors were obliged to present models to the Institution, the Collection had now outgrown the accommodation provided for it. The expense of creating a new Museum could easily be defrayed out of the surplus fund derived from patent fees. In 1879 the sum to which that fund amounted was £144,230, and in 1880 it was £189,987, while the aggregate surplus approached £2,000,000. One year's surplus in- come would thus almost pay for the building. He wished to impress upon the Government that the question was of a National character. The Patent Museum at Kensington was arranged in a most inconvenient manner, and was crowded with machinery in such a way as to make it impossible to examine any of the models exhibited there, except under very great difficulties. He had seen attempts made to disparage the Museum and to represent it as being one not of great practical utility, but of curious old relics and things which were more curious than useful. That was quite a mistake, because he had seen working men examining the older models with great interest, and had heard them comparing those models with other and similar ones of a more modern kind. There was another reason why the present was an opportune time for the erection of a new Museum. The site which the Patent Commissioners had pointed out as a very suitable site for the building was now vacant, and at the disposal of the Government. The spot in question was in Whitehall Gardens, close to the Offices of the Board of Trade, and more accessible for working men than South Kensington. That the Museum would be well patronized was certain. Since the opening, in 1858, of the present Museum, which was in a less convenient neighbourhood, 4,000,000 persons had visited it. The Museum was either useful or it was not. If useful, then it ought to be made creditable to the country; but if it were not made so, then it ought to be broken up and the models distributed among the various local Institutions in the Kingdom.

MR. CHAMBERLAIN,

having regard to the lateness of the Session, would confine himself to a very few words in expressing the opinion which he had formed of the present position of this matter. He was quite prepared to admit that a Collection of the kind referred to would undoubtedly be of considerable interest and value. He might differ a little from his hon. and learned Friend as to its comparative value; but he was ready to admit it had a distinct value of its own, and he should be sorry to see this Collection broken up. The building in which the Collection was now exhibited was altogether inadequate for the purpose; but the question remained whether the very large amount required to establish such a Museum as his hon. and learned Friend contemplated could be applied to any better purpose at the present moment. He was not prepared to admit that the fees received on patents should go back to inventors in the shape of a reduction of those fees. On the contrary, he thought that persons who obtained a valuable monopoly for a certain period should pay something to the general taxation of the country. His hon. and learned Friend proposed the site of Fife House for the new Museum; but that site was worth £500,000, while the cost of building would be another £500,000. The question was whether £500,000 could be appropriated to this purpose at the present time with advantage. Before coming to the determination to enter upon that expenditure he thought they were bound to exhaust every other alternative. A proposal had been made by the Patent Commissioners and laid before the Board of Trade, and it was a proposal which he himself favoured. It appeared that the buildings now occupied were to be required for some other purpose, and therefore in some way or other the question had to be decided. It had been suggested by the Commissioners that the exhibition should be transferred to the Science and Art Department at South Kensington and arranged on the principle of the Arts et Métiers of Paris. The Vice President of the Council had had the matter under his consideration, and would be able to tell the House what preparation his Department was likely to be able to make for the accommodation of the Collection. He himself thought the proposal was one which deserved the favourable consideration of the House.

MR. BROADHURST

said, he thought the value of models could not be overestimated for the promotion of invention, and he could not consider the proposal merely to enlarge the present Museum at South Kensington as at all satisfactory. The natural home of all our Museums should be in the neighbourhood of Charing Cross. It was a great pity that the present Government had allowed the magnificent sites there to be used for what he might term a fashionable public-house and for hotels, &c., rather than appropriating that land to building our Picture Galleries and Museums. There was still left the site which had been referred to, and the Government ought to be ashamed of itself, if it allowed it to be bartered away for the purpose he had stated. The Museum at South Kensington seemed to be built to suit the convenience of large masses of people, who had plenty of time at their disposal. Charing Cross was convenient to the whole of the Metropolis, and, above all, to the great number of people who visited Loudon from the country. The expenditure that was asked for would be for the benefit of the nation as a whole. Those who asked for a reduction of patent fees did so on the ground that an increase of income might be expected from such reduction. The Prime Minister was well aware that a reduction of taxes on articles of consumption led to an increase of the Revenue.

MR. MUNDELLA

said, this subject had been brought to his notice by the Treasury so late as the 25th of last month. He was far from underrating the value of the Patent Museum. On the contrary, he considered their Patent Museum a most admirable and almost unique Collection, for it showed the very commencement of all the great industrial inventions of the past and present generations, and contained objects of which no other Museum could boast. That it was at the present moment most miserably and inadequately housed he fully agreed. He believed that for the benefit of inventors they wanted a Museum of Practical Science—a Museum of Invention, so to speak—and not merely a Museum of Patents pure and simple. The Patent Museum of New York contained a most valuable Collection; but the objects of real value were choked and encumbered by rubbish and worthless inventions. To his mind the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris was the model which they should have in view, for in that Museum the gems of invention were to be found. What he proposed to do was to take one of the Galleries at South Kensington and to appropriate it to the use of the Collection of Patents, together with other objects of scientific invention. The Collection would be arranged in proper order, so as to show the beginning and the development of each great invention, and would be placed under the charge of the Science and Art Department. With respect to the situation of the Museum, he did not think that a better site could be found than South Kensington. Not only was it as accessible as any in London, but it was found that many more people visited Museums when they were kept together than when placed in detached and isolated buildings. If the hon. and learned Member who had brought forward this subject would allow the matter to stand over until next Session, he hoped that satisfactory arrangements would be made.

GENERAL SIR GEORGE BALFOUR

complained that the fees formerly payable to the Law Officers of the Crown were still charged to inventors, although the Law Officers were no longer paid by fees.