§ MR. BUCHANANasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Whether it is a fact that the Government has given the National Gallery of Ireland an extra grant of £1,000, over and above the sum inserted in the Estimates for the present year, to enable the Director to make purchases at the sale of the Hamilton pictures; and, if so, whether, considering the historical associations which connect the Hamilton Collection with Scotland, the Government will make a substantial grant to the National Gallery of Scotland, in order to retain within that Country some of these important Scottish national treasures?
§ MR. COURTNEYYes, Sir; it is the fact that an additional grant has been made to the Irish National Gallery in view of the Hamilton sale. The patriotic zeal of my hon. Friend has made him a little precipitate in suggesting that a similar grant should be made to the National Gallery of Scotland. The Trustees of that Gallery have made no application for such a grant. The truth is that they are an endowed Body, and receive an annual grant in aid, the unspent portions of which, unlike the Trustees of the National Galleries here and in Dublin, they are enabled to accumulate; and with the most laudable thrift they have, according to the last accounts I have seen, saved a not inconsiderable sum.