§ MR. STANLEY LEIGHTON (Shropshire, Oswestry)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether, in view of the inconveniences arising out of the existing system under which the publications of the Historical Manuscripts Commission are issued, he will consider what, if any, improvements may be made, and, if necessary, appoint a Departmental Committee to report on the subject?
§ THE SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. R. W. HANBURY,) PrestonI agree with my hon. Friend as to the inconvenience caused by the irregular periods at which these reports are issued and the difficulty of placing the sets in any intelligible order in a library, the appendix to a report being sometimes issued a year or two before the report itself. The cost is at present largely increased by the gratis delivery to the two Houses of these valuable reports, and that expense again is due to the fact that they have to be treated as being technically the reports of a Royal Commission. As, however, that Commission seldom, if ever, meets, and the work is likely to be permanent and is practically in the hands of the Record Office, it is quite possible that it might be to the public advantage to formally recognise these facts and deal with these historical records, whether private or public, upon one system. The suggestion of my hon. Friend as to the appointment of a small departmental committee seems to be a good one.