§ MR. CRAVEN BERKELEYsaid, he wished to ask the hon. Gentleman the Clerk of the Ordnance whether a statement which had appeared in the public papers was true or not. It was stated that a suit of Greek armour was to be sold, and the price originally asked for it was 50l.; but subsequently it was put up to auction, and at the sale two persons, both of whom were employed by the Government, attended, and bid against each other, so that the suit finally cost the Government 250l. The two persons so bidding were utterly ignorant of each other, and when the sale was over, and one of them asked the other whom he was biddding for, he was then told that it was for the public. He wished to know first, whether the circumstances he had stated were true or not; and if they were true, whether the Government could sanction 546 such an absurd expenditure of the public money?
§ MR. MONSELLbegged to say, in reply to the hon. Member, that in many particulars the statement to which he had referred was incorrect. The suit of Greek armour was of great value and of great antiquity. It was the wish of the authorities at the Tower that it should be purchased for the public. It was originally valued at 300l., but at the sale it was purchased for 200l., not 250l., as the hon. Gentleman had stated. At the auction there were not two brokers engaged in bidding, but three; and the third broker, who was not employed by the Government, was ascertained to be the person who had been increasing the bidding. The Tower was unquestionably the proper place for such articles to be deposited in, and care ought to be taken by the authorities of the British Museum, when such cases arose, to give timely notice of their intention to endeavour to obtain possession of such articles. With respect to the fund out of which the money came for the purchase of such articles, he could inform the hon. Gentleman that it was not out of the public purse, but out of a fund arising from the sixpences paid by persons who went to visit the Tower. There was generally a surplus of 300l. over and above the expenses of the establishment, and it was out of that surplus that the armour in question, according to the usual practice, was bought.