§ GENERAL DUNNEsaid, he rose to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, Whether the Building intended for the Records of Ireland has been finished, and when they will be placed there; and further, what measures was to be taken by the Government for editing and publishing such Records, and to move for a Copy of the Treasury Minute on the subject? He urged the propriety of removing to Ireland all Records properly belonging to that country, and pointed out that but a small sum had been expended on Irish Records compared with that expended in England and Scotland.
§ MR. CHILDERS, in reply, said, the Irish Record buildings had just been completed at a cost of £36,000, The architect of the Board of Works had had the advantage of seeing the arrangements at the Record Office in Chancery Lane, and it was believed that the Board of Works had availed themselves fully of every suggestion which the experience of the Record officers there had enabled them to offer, both as regards security and facility of reference. The space provided in the building would afford ample accommodation for all the public Records now dispersed over different offices in Dublin, with a due allowance for their increase in future years. These were first the legal Records in charge of the Master of the Rolls, and appertaining to the Courts of Chancery and Common Law, the Prerogative, Probate, and Admiralty Courts—they were now for the most part in the Four Court Buildings; secondly, the State papers and public Records, such as those of the Irish Parliament and Privy Council—these were now in the Birmingham Tower at the Castle; thirdly, the Landed Property Records—these were now in the lower part of the Custom 1774 House. Besides these were valuable documents in the Registry of Deeds and the Registrar General's Office, which, after a lapse of years, might be considered as Records. In 1864 Mr. Hardy, the Deputy Keeper of the English Records, and Mr. Brewer made a valuable Report on this subject, recommending a careful examination of all papers before their transfer, and the weeding out of those absolutely useless. They were also of opinion that the Records should be, as in England, placed in charge of the Master of the Rolls, with a Deputy Keeper under him. On this point the Treasury had communicated with the Irish Government with a view to the necessary Bill being prepared to transfer the different Records. The Records now in the office of the Rolls could be removed at once, and preparations had been already made for their removal. He hoped to bring in a Bill this year for the other Records, and, as it would take some time to weed them out and also to transfer from the Rolls, Records, no time would have been lost. As to his hon. and gallant Friend's second question, calendars had already been made, under the direction of the Master of the Rolls, of a portion of the Patent and Close Rolls. The formation of calendars of the other Records would be one of the first duties of the new Consolidated Department.