§ Motion made, and Question proposed,
§ 11. "That a sum, not exceeding £24,789, be granted to His Majesty, to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1917, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Offices in His Majesty's 1192 General Register House, Edinburgh." [NOTE.—£17,000 has been voted on account.]
§ Mr. HOGGEThis is the most serious Vote of the day. I have some pamphlets, which I hope my right hon. Friend will examine. Here is one of twelve volumes, which enshrine the Acts of Parliament for Scotland from 1124 to 1423. The plates are extremely excellent, and if my right hon. Friend will do me the pleasure to look at some of these plates he will see their value. Somebody in the Register House has suggested that these documents, which include twelve complete sets, ought to be sold at 1s. per volume for the purpose of pulp for making paper, and if it had not been for the action of my hon. Friend (Mr. MacCallum Scott) who happens to be on this Committee, and my hon. Friend, who has been detained recently on military duties, who I am glad to see has returned safely to this House from his duties, those volumes might have been lost. They recommended that the Secretary for Scotland should prepare a scheme whereby those volumes should be distributed throughout public libraries in Scotland. I want to know who the first class idiot who was responsible for suggesting that these valuable Scottish documents should be pulped, and is he at present in a responsible position which might lead him to commit any other valuable documents to the pulper?
§ Mr. MUNROI had not much time left to deal with this matter. It is not my hon. Friend's fault. What he suggests is that a certain amount of discredit attaches to the Register House in connection with this proposal. I want at once to deny that suggestion. There is nobody who knows the Deputy-Clerk Registrar and his staff and who knows the work which they have done for Scotland in preserving national documents connected with Scotland who would not at once repudiate any suggestion either of vandalism or carelessness on their part. No doubt my hon. Friend has read the letter from the Curator of Historical Documents, one of the most distinguished of men, which was published in the "Scotsman" on August 8th?
§ Mr. MUNROThat letter sets forth the facts more concisely than I can do. The matter came before the Committee which 1193 sat upon it without any evidence being asked for from the Deputy-Clerk Registrar or any member of his staff. It is unfortunate that that should have been so; because, it such evidence had been asked for, this misunderstanding would not have arisen. I am far from blaming anybody in connection with the matter, but I think that was how this misunderstanding arose. I want most emphatically to say, on behalf of the Deputy-Clerk Registrar, and of those who work with him, that nothing was further from their thoughts than to commit any act which could have been described as one of vandalism.
It being Eleven of the clock, the Chairman left the Chair, to make his report to the House.
Resolutions to be reported to-morrow; Committee also report Progress; to sit again to-morrow.