§ MR. MILDMAY: (Devonshire, Totnes)To ask the Postmaster-General whether, 47 seeing that under the Copyright Act of 1842 newspaper proprietors are required to supply, free of cost, a copy of each edition published to the British Museum, and to bear the cost of postage of the same, he will consider the possibility of remitting the charge for postage in the case of newspapers sent to the British Museum under this Act, such newspapers being supplied gratis for the benefit of the State.
(Answered by Lord Stanley.) The question of relieving proprietors of publications of the cost of postage on copies sent to the British Museum is one which has on several previous occasions been brought to the attention of the Lords of the Treasury and of my predecessors; but it has not been considered that there were good grounds for altering the present practice. The Copyright Act of 1842 laid upon publishers the duty of delivering their publications at the British Museum and at certain other libraries. It was no doubt the intention of Parliament, when that Act was passed, that the cost of transmission to the British Museum of copies of books and newspapers should be borne by the proprietors.