§ SIR CHARLES W. DILKE (for Mr. CHAMBERLAIN)asked the Right Honourable Member for Cambridge University, If the Trustees of the British Museum will consent to give to local authorities, having charge of museums, the opportunity of purchasing the duplicates which the Trustees propose to dispose of. at prices less than might be obtained by public auction, but sufficient to provide the balance of the sum required by the Trustees for the purchase of the collection offered to them?
§ MR. SPENCER WALPOLE,in reply, said, that it had been deemed advisable to issue advertisements announcing that the sale of these prints would take place on the 21st April by public auction. Those advertisements were issued, not merely in this country, but in France, Germany, and the United States, and he thought that if they were to withdraw any portion of the prints they would injure the sale of the others. He might say that the authorities of the Museum were now, and had been, considering how far they could aid local authorities by granting duplicate prints to local Museums. They had already given some, and were intending to set apart others for this purpose.