§ SIR. THOMAS ESMONDE (Wexford, N.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury if his attention has been called to the fact that every issue of Irish newspapers has been sent for years pa-t to the British Museum, whose great difficulty has been found in housing them; whether, in view of the circumstances that these newspapers are of no practical value for purposes of reference or record in England, and of no interest to the English public, ho will consider the question of introducing legislation to transfer the old issues of the Irish newspapers to the National Library in Dublin, and also to alter the arrangement with regard to future issues of Irish newspapers, so that they may be sent to the National Library in Dublin instead of to the British Museum in London; if he will state whether any index to the contents of Irish newspapers
† See (4) Debates, cliv., 1288.727 sent to the British Museum is made, and, if not, in what way are they made available for purposes of reference; and if he can state the yearly average number of the occasions on which reference is made to them under present conditions, and if any record is kept by the Museum in this particular.
§ MR. MCKENNAIrish newspapers are regularly supplied to the British Museum under the Copyright Act, 1842, and are the property of the trustees. They are housed in the repository at Hendon, with the English Provincial and Scottish and Welsh newspapers. I am informed that there is ample room there for future additions. The collection of Irish newspapers now in the library consists of 760 separate newspapers, bound in 7,680 volumes. They are catalogued in the same manner as the newspapers of England, Scotland, and Wales. The average number of applications made by readers for Irish newspapers during the last five years amounts to 300 each year, or about six newspapers each week.
§ In reply to a further question,
§ MR. MCKENNAsaid it would require a change in the law before the present practice could be altered. He would consider the desirability of altering it.