§ *MR. J. W. LOGAN (Leicester, Harborough)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury if his attention has been called to the absence of method in indexing "The Debates" during the present Session, whereby the same Bill is referred to as the "Transfer of Land in England Bill," with no reference under "Land" in volume xxx., and as the "Land Transfer Bill," with no reference under "Transfer" in volume xxxi.; half the references to the extradition of Jabez Balfour appearing under the head of "Balfour," the other half, with one exception, under "Extradition," and that one under "Foreign Office;" references to Hong Kong partly under "Colonies" and partly under "Hong Kong;" references to the Post Office and the Telephone Service partly under "Post Office" and partly under "Telephone Service," whilst the Motion for the appointment of a Select Committee on the subject, and the Debate thereon, is indexed under "Post Office," and the nomination of the Committee under "Telephone Service;" and if such indexing as these examples indicate complies with the terms of the contract made with Messrs. Waterlow?
§ THE SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Sir JOHN HIBBERT,) OldhamI doubt whether such a thing as a perfect index to satisfy everybody can be made, and certainly the index to "The Parliamentary Debates" has usually been a subject for criticism. I have called Messrs. Waterlow's attention to the imperfections mentioned in my hon. Friend's question, and they have replied as follows:—
We are anxious to make the Index to 'The Debates' as useful as possible, and if Members would assist us with suggestions from time to 624 time as to how it could be improved we should be very happy to consider the possibility of carrying them out. The particular points which are now being called attention to can be rectified in the final index at the end of the Session.