§ On Motion for the appointment of the Sessional Printing Committee,
§ MR. CHILDERSsaid, he took the opportunity to offer the suggestion, which it would hardly be proper to make to the Committee unless it had been previously made to the House, that—as in some foreign Legislatures—the cost of printing each Return should be printed on the face of it, not so much to deter hon. Members from calling for Returns as to show them at what cost they were produced, and to lead them to inquire whether the information desired was not otherwise accessible. Hon. Members were hardly aware of the great cost of printing, and that a large amount of that cost was incurred unnecessarily.
§ MR. HUNTsaid, that the question of the cost of printing Returns had already occupied the consideration of the Government. No doubt it was quite possible to ascertain the cost of printing these Returns. The difficulty was to ascertain the cost of compiling them. If the House would require that whenever a Member was anxious to have a Return, or copies of Correspondence, he should give notice of the object he had in view and the points he wished to bring out, means might possibly be found to give him the information he wanted within shorter compass and in a more convenient form than at present. It frequently happened that Members moved for most elaborate statistical Returns, and it was afterwards found that the greater part of the information already existed in the Library, in Returns already laid before the House. If the suggestion now made were adopted, his notion was that they might dispense with three-fourths of the papers which now overburdened their shelves, and which Members hardly knew how to get rid of at the end of a Session. The suggestion of his hon. Friend should not be lost sight of.
Select Committee appointed and nominated, "to assist Mr. Speaker in all matters which relate to the Printing executed by Order of this House, and for the purpose of selecting and arranging for Printing, Returns and Papers presented in pursuance of Motions made by Members of this House:"—Mr. BONHAM-CARTER, Sir JOHN PAKINGTON, Mr. Secretary WALPOLE, Mr. HENLEY, Mr. CARDWELL, Mr. GASKELL, Sir STAFFORD NORTHCOTE, The O'CONOR DON, Mr. HASTINGS RUSSELL, Mr. CHILDERS, and Mr. HUNT:—Three to be the quorum.