§ MR. WILLIAM H. CROSS (Liverpool, West Derby)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the official edition of the Statutes, passed in the year 1882, is now out of print; whether this is the case with any, and what, other volumes of the Statutes published within recent years; when may the issue of the new edition be expected; when will the official edition of the Statutory Rules and Orders, made in the year 1891, be published; and whether any provision can be made to secure the publication of these annual volumes early in the year?
§ MR. MATTHEWSNo official edition of the Statutes of 1882 was published. The first edition of Statutes published officially was of the year 1887. Since that time the only volume out of print is that of the year 1888. A reprint of this was ordered in December last, and will shortly be ready for issue. The final corrected proof of the Statutory Rules and Orders, made in the year 1891, and the type were destroyed in the recent fire on the premises of Messrs. Eyre and Spottiswoode. In consequence, the editor has been compelled to do much of the work a second time, and the book has to be entirely reset, but the work will be published as soon as possible. The Statute Law Revision Committee have made arrangements which it is hoped will result in the annual volumes appearing as early in the year as is consistent with their comprising all the Rules and Orders issued up to the last day of the preceding year.