§ MR. WALDEGRAVE - LESLIEsaid, he wished to ask the Judge Advocate General, What steps have been taken by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for the safe care and custody of the Books, &c. in Lambeth Library; and also what arrangements have been made for giving the 603 reading public proper access to that Library? The public were indebted to the Archbishop of Canterbury for the liberal arrangements which he had made; but, at the same time, it was desirable it should be known what the Ecclesiastical Commissioners were going to do.
§ MR. MOWBRAYsaid, in reply, that as the Question had reference to an Act of Parliament passed in 1866, he had better quote the words of the section, which were—
Whereas there is in the Palace at Lambeth a Library to which the public have for a long period had access at certain times and under certain restrictions, the cost of the custody and maintenance of which has been heretofore defrayed out of the gross revenues arising from the Estates of the See of Canterbury; And whereas such Estates have now become transferred to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England—Be it enacted, that the cost of the maintenance of such Library, and of the custody of the Books therein, may, if the said Commissioners think fit, by the like authority of a scheme passed by the Commissioners and an Order of Her Majesty in Council ratifying the same, be defrayed out of the rents and profits of such estates.The House would see that the Library at Lambeth remained, as heretofore, the Library of the Archbishop, and the care and custody of the works remained with his Grace. It was not the duty of the Commissioners to take any steps for the care and custody of the books, or to make any arrangements for giving the reading public proper access to that Library. On the 28th of February last the attention of the Commissioners was drawn by his Grace to the provisions of the section he (Mr. Mowbray) had read; and it was then referred to the Estates Committee to consider and report to the Board as to the carrying of these provisions into effect. The Estates Committee consisted of the Earl of Chichester, Viscount Eversley, the Bishop of Peterborough, the hon. Member for East Norfolk (Mr. Howes), and himself. The Committee, having regard to the words of the Act, which throw upon the Common Fund—The cost of the custody and maintenance of the library, heretofore defrayed out of the gross revenues of the archiepiscopal estates,felt it to be their duty to fix the amount of future outlay by the Commissioners with reference to the actual expenditure on that account of the present and previous occupants of the See, and they accordingly recommended the Board to pass a scheme for authorizing the payment by 604 the Commissioners of an annual sum not exceeding £150, in order to cover the salary of a librarian, the cost of warming the library, of binding and repairing the books, and of all other expenses incidental to the maintenance of the library and the custody of its contents, but irrespective of the cost of any repairs of the structure itself, proof satisfactory to the Commissioners being afforded of the actual outlay of such amount upon the objects in question. On the 4th of July the recommendations of the Committee were adopted at a meeting of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. On the 4th of August a communication was received by the Commissioners from the Solicitors of the Archbishop, requesting that the further consideration of the subject might be postponed until November, as his Grace was about to obtain the opinion of Counsel. Since that time the Ecclesiastical Commissioners have received no further communication from his Grace.