§ MR. AUGUSTUS SMITHsaid, he would beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer or the First Commissioner of Works, Whether any Bill is to be introduced this Session, and when, for the removal of certain Collections now forming part of the British Museum, and whether such Bill ought not to be introduced, and the sanction of the House obtained to its main principle, before any expense is incurred in the preparation of plans and Estimates for the erection of buildings elsewhere, to which the said Collections were to be transferred?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERsaid, in reply, that he would endeavour to give the hon. Gentleman the clearest answer in his power. The question of the introduction of a Bill during the present Session for the removal of any portion of the collections of the British Museum must necessarily depend upon the prior question when the Estimate could be produced in reference to the expenditure, and when the opinion of the House could be taken upon it. That was the very point of the hon. Member's objections, and the purpose of his present question. It might be said, why should not the Bill be introduced before the Estimate? That course was adopted in 1862, but it was complained of on all sides. It had been found to be inconvenient by all the speak- 489 ers upon that occasion, because it mixed up inextricably two questions which were wholly distinct—first, the question of finance connected with the proposed plans, and next the important questions of the government of the Museum by trustees. It had been stated by the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Oxfordshire (Mr. Henley), with a force which could not be denied, that the effect of the Government proposing the Bill was to obtain indirectly, and by implication, the sanction of the House to a very large expenditure, which bad not been regularly brought before it, and upon which it had no direct means of expressing an opinion. That argument appeared to the Government to be sound, and therefore they believed they should best perform their duty by submitting the question to the House, in the first instance, in a financial shape and under circumstances which would afford the House the fullest opportunity of pronouncing a decided opinion.
§ MR. HENRY SEYMOURsaid, he wished to know when the Estimate would be produced?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERreplied, that it would be produced as soon as questions now under discussion between the Board of Works and the trustees had been settled. Those questions related to the internal arrangements of the building, and it would be necessary to produce perfect plans when they asked for the money.