§ MR. LABOUCHERE (Northampton)asked the First Commissioner of Works, Whether his attention had been called to the publication called Kew Gardens 354 Bulletin, which it was promised should contain particulars of the objects, specimens, and Reports received at the Government Gardens, Kew, and sent therefrom, and to the fact that this information has not been furnished, although numbers of The Bulletin have been issued since the promise; and, whether there is any likelihood of the promise made being carried out, and that the Reports from officers and expeditions, and the receipt of objects, specimens, plants at, and sent out from this Government establishment since 1882 (the date of the last Report) will shortly be forthcoming?
§ THE FIRST COMMISSIONER (Mr. PLUNKET) (Dublin University)The, Kew Gardens Bulletin is published monthly, in accordance with a promise to that effect which I gave in this House on the 17th of March last. It does contain the particulars of the objects, specimens, and Reports received at Kew Gardens and sent therefrom. The Annual Report for 1886 is now just going to press, and I hope that the arrears from 1882 of these Annual Reports will be worked off in a few months. There have been no expeditions or officers despatched from Kew for some years; but Reports from expeditions sent out by Societies (such as the Geographical) and by private individuals are sometimes forwarded by them to be reported on, and the results are published in the journals of these Societies, or by private individuals in works of travel.