MR. DICK-PEDDIEasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Whether any portion of the Annuity paid to the Board of Trustees of Manufacturers in Scotland, in discharge of equivalents under the Treaty of Union, has at any time been expended in the purchase of works of Art for the National Gallery of Scotland; and, if it has, whether he will state to what amount it has been so expended?
§ MR. COURTNEYThe annuity in question, being a grant in aid, forms one part of the income of the Board of Manufacturers; and the fact that it is so implies a policy of interfering as little as possible with the disposal of the income of the Board. I have, however, reason to believe that the Board has not in the last 35 years devoted any of their surplus income to the purchase of pictures.