BRITISH MUSEUM (AMENDMENT) (Hansard, 9 July 1952)

§ Mr. W. R. D. Perkins (Stroud and Thornbury)

I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to amend the system of appointment of Trustees of the British Museum, and to confer on the new Trustees fresh powers allowing them to lend, or to dispose of objects vested in them, subject to parliamentary approval. This is an attempt to bring in a whole new system to the British Museum or, in the descriptive language of the Royal Air Force, to attempt to get the "bugs" out of the British Museum. With that object in view, I wish to put four proposals to the House.

The first is that we should make a start at the top and reform the whole system by which the trustees are appointed. I know that you, Mr. Speaker, are a trustee and that you are principal Trustee, a kind of overlord over all the other trustees. I realise also that if I, like the daughter of Herodias, asked for your head on a charger, I should end up in the Clock Tower. Consequently, I think I should follow the excellent example of Agag and walk delicately.

There are 51 trustees of the British Museum, the vast majority of whom are far too busy to take an active part in the running of the Museum. Some of them are backwoodsmen who long ago might have been transferred into the museum itself. [HON. MEMBERS: "Name."] Every Secretary of State is automatically, by virtue of his office, a trustee of the British Museum. I cannot see how a busy Secretary of State, like the Foreign Secretary, the Chancellor of the Exchequer or the Prime Minister, can possibly give time to looking after the British Museum. Moreover, for 199 years certain old families have had the power to appoint nine trustees to the British Museum.

This is a hole-and-corner business reminiscent of the old pocket boroughs of long ago. I cannot help feeling that the time has come to abolish this system of patronage and privilege once and for all. Therefore, I propose to spring-clean the lot. [An HON. MEMBER: "And the Government."] I suggest to the House that we should use the same system as is used in the case of the B.B.C. I suggest that we should appoint seven trustees only, that they should be 1318 appointed for five years by the Government of the day, and that they should not be eligible for re-appointment.

My second proposal is that these new trustees should have power to lend any objects vested in them for public exhibition anywhere in the world. Today the British Museum cannot lend any of its objects to any other museum in this country, in the Commonwealth or in the world. We propose to make a change and, subject to the approval of this House, to allow the British Museum to loan any of these objects, not only to museums in this country, but to museums in the Commonwealth and in the world.

There are in the British Museum today many objects which are in fact rubbish and which are unsuited for the purpose of the British Museum. The trustees have no power to sell them off. The Government, in their British Museum Bill, suggested that the trustees should have a free hand to sell off these objects but, as they were given to the trustees, who accepted them on behalf of the nation, it is only right that permission should be obtained from this House before any sale takes place. My third proposal, therefore, is to allow the new trustees to sell off anything they like, provided they first obtain consent from this House.

My fourth and last proposal is this. I understand that many objects in the British Museum are infested with destructive organisms. Apparently the trustees are guilty of neglect and they have never heard of modern insecticides. Obviously it is desirable that these objects should be destroyed at the earliest possible moment. Therefore, I am suggesting in my Bill that the new trustees should have power to destroy these objects after they have obtained permission from this House.

This is a constructive attempt to reform the British Museum. I know it is just possible that we may not be able to get it through this Session. However, I ask the House to let me get it printed because it will be an ideal Private Member's Bill for the future.