§ MR. BIGGARasked the President of the Board of Trade, Whether he has any objection to supply to the National Library, Kildare Street, Dublin, for convenience of those classes of the public interested in patents and inventions, an index covering the whole period represented by the copies of specifications deposited in the library (to which index 643 the needful additions might hereafter be continually made), and thereby save a great deal of the time and money spent in searches; whether he is aware that only the indices for the years 1880–83 have been supplied to the Public Record Office, Dublin, in fulfilment of his recent undertaking; and, if the indices of previous years are out of print, whether ho will cause them to be reprinted and supplied to the Dublin Office, in order to enable any person resident in Ireland to ascertain whether any previous patent affects a contemplated patent of his own without being compelled to come and make a search in London, or pay a large fee to a London patent agent or solicitor?
§ MR. CHAMBERLAINThe Patent Office is now engaged in preparing revised consolidated indexes of specifications; but there is a very considerable amount of labour involved in this task, and some time must consequently elapse before these indexes can be published. When published, copies shall be sent to the National Library, Kildare Street, Dublin. The hon. Member states that, in spite of my promise to the hon. Member for County Sligo (Mr. Sexton), the indexes for the years 1880–3 only have been forwarded to the Public Record Office, Dublin. My information shows that indexes for the years 1875–83 have been forwarded, with the exception of one alphabetical and two subject-matter indexes which are out of print. As there is a complete set of indexes at the National Library in Kildare Street, there can be no necessity for an Irish inventor to visit London for the purpose of searching for a patent.