§ 50. Mr. MALCOLMasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) whether the large collection of artistic and literary material acquired through public funds by the War Aims Committee will be transferred hereafter to the Imperial War Museum to complete the national records of the War; (2) whether the pictures and other literary and artistic material for propaganda purposes acquired with public money by the Ministry of Information will be hereafter transferred to the Imperial War Museum for the national collection?
§ Mr. BONAR LAWWith my hon. Friend's permission I will answer together this question and the next. The collections referred to are the property of the Government, and the question of their disposition has not yet been decided, but will be considered in due course.
§ Mr. MALCOLMIn view of the great artistic and literary value of many of these pictures, will the right hon. Gentleman favourably consider the claims of the Imperial War Museum as a permanent institution to have the ultimate custody of this collection?
§ Mr. BONAR LAWYes; I shall see that that is considered.
§ Colonel ANSTRUTHER-GRAYWill he see that Scotland gets its fair share?
§ Mr. BONAR LAWWe shall in a moderate degree consider the interests of Scotland.
§ Mr. KINGIs it the case that this property has been acquired by the Ministry of Information—that point was not answered?
§ Mr. BONAR LAWI believe it has been acquired by that Department.
§ Sir C. KINLOCH-COOKEWill he see that these memorials which relate to particular localities are assigned to those localities and not locked up in this war museum?
§ Mr. BONAR LAWI am afraid that I should require more knowledge of this subject than I possess to answer that question.