§ 60. Mr. C. BATHURSTasked the President of the Board of Trade whether, in view of the difficulty experienced in the United Kingdom by persons engaged in local arts and crafts, as well as in home, cottage, and peasant industries, to sell their handiwork either at all or at anything like its real value, the Government will consider the advisability of establishing in London a handicraft centre corresponding to the Knust-Gewerbe Museums existing in many German towns, where samples of such produce could be sent, seen by a larger public, and orders given therefor, and where, moreover, improved patterns or models could be obtained at a nominal cost on application by those interested or engaged in home industries?
Mr. BUXTONI am in sympathy with the general object which the hon. Member has in view, but the question he raises is full of practical difficulties, and I am not clear that the adoption of his suggestion would be generally acceptable or expedient. I may add that, according to 834 such information as is at present in my possession, the German Municipal Industrial Art Museums do not, as a rule, take orders. Perhaps the hon. Member will take an opportunity of speaking to me on the matter.