§ MR. MACFIEasked Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, If he has taken into consideration whether the Government might not, with public advantage, supply Mr. George Smith, now engaged in excavating at the King's Library in Nineveh, with further personal and pecuniary help, in order to secure for the British Museum the literary treasure in the Great Mound, which the telegram from Mosul, dated 19th, says "large sum of money are required to lay open?"
THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERSir, the hon. Gentleman seems to think that as soon as a telegram arrives in this country stating that large sums of money are required to proceed with a particular enterprise, I have nothing to do but to rush in and fill up the vacuum. In that opinion I do not agree with him. In the case to which he refers it has been found impossible to continue the work in the hot weather, and those engaged in it are about to return to England. If we wished, therefore, nothing could be done just yet.