§ Mr. GRANTasked if the Annual Report of the Victoria and Albert Museum will in the future contain a complete list of all the objects acquired during the year, with their prices?
§ Mr. RUNCIMANI have already informed the hon. Member that it is in 1328 tended that the Annual Report shall contain a list of the principal objects acquired during the year with their prices. I cannot, however, for reasons which I have already indicated, undertake that it shall contain a complete list of all the objects acquired. Many objects are purchased in collections, and their individual prices cannot, therefore, be stated. Moreover, the number of objects purchased for comparatively small prices each year is very large, and a complete list would run to inordinate length. I am considering, however, the possibility of giving a summary of the objects of minor importance under the different categories to which they belong.
§ Mr. GRANTasked if the last holder of the title of senior keeper at the Victoria and Albert Museum was officially informed two years ago that his office was to be discontinued; if so, why does the office still appear upon the estimates; to whom is the salary paid; why has it increased by £67 in this year's estimates; and what are the specific duties of the officer to whom the salary is paid?
§ Mr. RUNCIMANThe statement made to the officer alluded to was virtually as described in the question. The post still appears on the Estimates because I have found it necessary to postpone for a longer time than I anticipated in November, 1908, the re-organisation of the staff of the Victoria and Albert Museum which its new conditions, when completely operative, render desirable. The salary is paid to the officer carrying out the specific duties of deputy director of the Museum—these being duties for which that post was established in 1900, and for which the salary is paid. No change has been made in the salary of the post, which was fixed in 1900 on the recommendations of the Walpole Committee. The increase in the Estimates for 1911–12 referred to in the concluding paragraph of the question is only apparent, not real; a mistake having inadvertently been made in the Estimates of the previous five years.
§ Mr. GRANTasked the President of the Board of Education if he can state who are the members of the advisory committee at the Victoria and Albert Museum; when were they appointed; how often has the council met within the financial year for which the salary of the secretary of the advisory council is voted; and who is the secretary of the council?
§ Mr. RUNCIMANThere is at present no advisory council of the Victoria and Albert Museum. The temporary advisory committee appointed to advise the Board on the rearrangement of the collections completed its work on 29th July, 1908. The work of rearrangement, which necessarily requires considerable time, is not yet complete and the administrative arrangements of the Museum have not yet passed out of the transitional stage. The constitution of an advisory council will be taken into consideration as soon as that stage has been passed. The officer holding the post of secretary of the advisory council is an administrative officer of the Board, who carries out various administrative duties in the offices of the museum, which were the chief duties attached to the post on its establishment. Pending the constitution of an advisory council he is able also to give special assistance to the director and secretary during the period of abnormal pressure occasioned by the work of rearrangement.