MR. PICTON (Leicester)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether he is aware that, while the Local Government Act of 1888 divided the former County of Middlesex into two, the whole of the records belonging to the old undivided county have been appropriated by the new County of Middlesex, and removed from Clerken-well Sessions House to Westminster; whether he is aware that this removal was effected without the assent of the London Court of Quarter Sessions, and that the authority by which it was done is disputed; and whether, looking to the public interest attaching to the documents in question, he will exercise any powers possessed by the Local Government Board under the Act of 1888 to bring about an equitable division of the documents by appropriating to each county those referring to transactions on its own ground?
THE PRESIDENT OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. SHAWLEFEVRE,) Bradford, CentralI learn that the County of Middlesex claim to have the right to the custody of the records referred to, and that they were kept at the Clcrkenwell Sessions House pending the completion of alterations at the Sessional House at Westminster. I am informed, however, that the Court of London Quarter Sessions recently appointed three Justices to confer with three members of the London County Council, with a view to an apportionment, if possible, of these records between the Counties of London and Middlesex, and that the London County Council are considering what course it is expedient for them to take in the matter.