MR. GRANT DUFFasked the Under Secretary of State for India, Whether it is true that it is intended to break up and disperse the Museum which was collected by the East India Company and was transferred from the Company to the Crown when the change of Government took place?
§ MR. E. STANHOPESir, it has been decided by the Secretary of State in Council to remove the collections now in the East India Museum at South Kensington. The distribution of these collections has not yet been determined on, and is the subject of investigation by a Committee in communication with the authorities at the British Museum, South Kensington, and Kew Gardens. The main object which is expected to be gained by this step is the increased utility of the collections to the public. The Economic Section, for instance, could be maintained and perfected with great public advantage in the experienced hands of Sir Joseph Hooker at Kew, where he already has a far better collection of similar objects; while as regards the Zoological, Ethnological, and Art collections, their transfer to departments where they will be more generally seen and appreciated seems better than to retain them in a Museum which, somehow or other, does not attract visitors. I may add that it will have the additional advantage of causing an ultimate saving to the Indian Re-venues of £ 9,000 a-year.