§ MR. BRADLAUGH (Northampton)asked Mr. Attorney General, Whether it is true that literary men engaged in the Public Record Office have been prevented from using ink in transcribing, on the ground that the public have damaged the records; whether he is aware of any actual case of such damage; whether the Master of the Rolls last year received an influentially signed Petition on the subject; and, whether any decision has been arrived at on such Petition?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL (Sir RICHARD WEBSTER) (Isle of Wight)It is true that all persons using the public search rooms in the Public Record Office, either as taking extracts from or making notes of, or transcribing, the public records, are by Rules forbidden to use ink. Indelible pencils are now directed to be supplied to every person using those rooms, to be used by them instead of pens and ink. The Master of the Rolls has, after careful consideration, resolved to adhere to those Rules; because he has himself seen many valuable ancient rolls which have been injured by ink, and has, after inquiry, come to the conclusion that serious injury has been caused by accident, or want of care, while the rolls were being used in the public search rooms—the Master of the Rolls has no means of ascertaining by 1355 whom. Anxious as he is to afford every safe facility to the frequenters of the public search rooms, the Master of the Rolls, after carefully considering the safety of the records on the one side, and inconvenience to the public on the other, and after having personally visited the rooms and conversed with various frequenters of them, has thought himself bound to adhere to the Rules; he has received a Petition, signed by 64 persons, advocating a return to the use of ink; and a Petition, signed by 84 persons, in favour of continuing the existing Rule.