§ MR. HEYWOODbegged to ask the hon. Member for the University of Oxford (Sir R. H. Inglis), if the trustees of the 356 British Museum had considered the overcrowded, ill-ventilated, half-lighted state of the reading-room in that institution; and if the formation of a glass roof over the central court of the Museum would not afford increased accommodation?
§ SIR ROBERT H. INGLISbegged to state, with respect to the first question, that the trustees of the British Museum had had under their consideration repeatedly the condition of the reading-room, which was such as to require and justify their earnest attention; and that not less than three times, he believed, they had called the attention of. Her Majesty's Government to the necessity of providing further accommodation. They had submitted a plan and estimate to the Government, and it must depend on the right hon. Gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether or not adequate accommodation should be given, not merely to the persons who required it, but to the books themselves, which were annually accumulating. Three years would not pass over their heads without their finding the absolute impossibility of placing in the rooms appropriated to them the volumes of their annually increasing collection. With respect to the second question, the hon. Member had not stated whether the increased accommodation was to be for men, women, and children, or for plants, birds, beasts, or any other description of articles.