§ 28. Mr. R. Gibson (for Mr. David Adams)asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he is aware that last week there was exhibited in a window of the Royal United Services Museum, Whitehall, a cat-o'-nine-tails; and whether, in view of the undesirability of exhibiting to the public this instrument of torture, he will make it a condition of continuing the grant to the funds of this institution that no objects should in future be exhibited which offend the public conscience?
§ Mr. ShakespeareI am informed that the exhibit in question did appear in one of the windows of the museum. As regards the second part of the question, a small grant is made annually from Navy Votes to the Royal United Services Institution in recognition of the value of the facilities offered by it in the education and training of officers in the study and art of war. I should not, however, feel justified in making it a condition of the grant that any particular object is or is not exhibited in the institution's museum.
§ Mr. MathersDoes not the Minister think it is time that the public conscience was offended by such an instrument?