* THE MARQUESS OF HUNTLY, in rising to ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Reports of the Historical Manuscript Commissioners which are out of print can be re-printed; and, if so, whether orders will be given to have this done, said: My Lords, early this Session, your Lordships, on the Motion of my noble Friend who is not present this evening (Lord Beauchamp), passed a Resolution authorising an index to be made of the Reports of the Historical Manuscript Commissioners. A very great deal of interest, whether evoked by the noble Lord's question or not I do not know, has been taken in these documents, and it turns out that some of the 1335 Reports published at an earlier date are out of print. I do not know whether this is to be attributed to the neglect of the Commissioners that they should have allowed valuable Government documents to go out of print or not, but I certainly cannot exonerate them from blame in the matter. These Reports become, of course, of great historical value, and are very much sought after in public libraries; and the extension of the Free Libraries Act has created a considerable demand for such papers for reference. The object of my question is to ascertain from Her Majesty's Government whether they will consent to have the Reports, I believe five in number, which are out of print, re-printed for the benefit of those who may apply for them. I should not think the expense would be very great, and certainly in dealing with matters of historical interest it would be of great advautage to have the whole series get-at-able, so that the public can procure them. I beg to ask the question which stands in my name.
§ * LORD DE RAMSEYMy Lords, in all there are 40 reports of the Historical MSS. Commissioners which have been issued, and of those, seven are practically out of print. Theestimated cost of re-printing those Reports would be £120 each, or £840 in all. If 500 copies of each Report were printed and sold, in accordance with the ordinary practice as to Parliamentary Papers, at the original prices, the Stationery Office could only recover £560 of that amount, even in the highly improbable event of every copy being sold. As the re-printing of the Reports in question could not be carried out without loss to the Exchequer, the Government do not propose to sanction such re-printing.