LONDON INSTITUTION (TRANSFER) BILL. (Hansard, 8 October 1912)

§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR (VISCOUNT HALDANE)

My Lords, this Bill is one which I think I may say has very cordial support from both sides of the House. With the Eastern Hemisphere of the world this country has very extensive relations, far more extensive than those of any other Power. We trade with some 600,000,000 of people who speak Eastern languages, and our trade with them amounts to well over £200,000,000. Besides that we have relations with them of different kinds—not trade relations—which involve on the part of our diplo- 818 matists, our soldiers, and our sailors a knowledge of various Oriental languages. While this is so the country has done very little indeed to meet the necessity of giving opportunities to those who will be engaged in these relations of acquiring these Oriental languages. In Berlin, where the relations to the Eastern Hemisphere are less than with us, the State spends £10,000 a year; in Paris about £7,000 is spent; while we spend almost nothing, and of what we do spend very little comes from the State.

In these circumstances the attention of the Government was called to what really amounted to nothing less than an evil, and it was resolved some time ago to see how it could best be dealt with. To that end a Committee was appointed by the India Office, under the presidency of Lord Reay, and, in 1909, that Committee reported on the desirability of founding a school in London which should devote itself exclusively to instruction in Oriental languages. Following upon that a very important Committee was appointed to consider the best way in which the scheme brought forward by Lord Reay's Committee could be put into practice. Lord Cromer, I think, was chairman of that Committee, and the noble Earl, Lord Curzon, was also a member. The second Committee reported in favour of what seems to the Government to be a very practical scheme, and upon that scheme steps have been taken.

The design is to found a School of Oriental Languages, which may be available not only for commercial men but for those who require the other kinds of training to which I have referred. It seemed desirable, if possible, that the school should be placed in the City of London, where those who required that training might find it more easily available. In the City of London there exists an old institution called the London Institution. It is one of those organisations which belong more to the Victorian period than to the period of to-day. It was founded for the purpose of giving lectures and providing a library, reading rooms and a place of study. The shareholders of that institution, taking a very public-spirited view of the desirability of utilising it for national purposes, were willing to take a step forward, and, subject to certain arrangements for their existing members which would give them access to the building, they expressed their willingness that the Government should 819 take their building over and remodel it for the purpose of the new School of Oriental Studies.

With this view an arrangement has been come to between the Treasury and the London Institution under which a large sum is to be spent on remodelling the building, and under which a very substantial grant of money is to be given for the purpose of maintaining the school. We have reason to believe that there will be other revenues, but there will be a grant of £4,000 a year and £25,000 capital money will be expended on adapting the building. The arrangement is that the buildings are to be taken over and vested in the Office of Works as trustees, and that there should be a governing body, on which, of course, the Government will be represented but it will be a body best adapted for promoting the functions of the new institution. The present Bill is to enable the transfer to take place. All the terms have been agreed. I have had the satisfaction of an interview with Lord Aldenham on behalf of the London Institution this afternoon, and there is now no outstanding point of any kind with regard to the difficult questions of finance between us. In these circumstances I ask your Lordships to read the Bill a second time.

§ EARL CURZON OF KEDLESTON

My Lords, the noble and learned Viscount on the Woolsack has referred to me, and it is true that I have played a modest part in connection with this matter as a member of the Committee to which he alluded. Lord Cromer was chairman of the Committee, and I can assure your Lordships that all the parties concerned are very much indebted to him for the active energy and ability he devoted to the settlement of this question. It is only through indisposition that my noble friend is prevented from being present to-day. As the Lord Chancellor truly stated, this country has a greater stake than any other European nation in the East. We own larger Eastern possessions. We have greater commercial, political, and military interests. We send out to the East more of our nationals than any other European country. Yet hitherto we have been, in point of instructional advantages, behind the other great nations 820 of Europe. It is to remedy that deficiency—I might almost call it a scandal—that this effort is being made. The Committee over which Lord Cromer presided exerted itself to suggest a constitution for the new school when it should be started, but we should not have been able to carry it through had it not been for the very liberal view the Government were prepared to take of their responsibilities in the matter. Those who served on the Committee owe a debt of gratitude to His Majesty's Government and notably to the Lord Chancellor, who, being himself immensely interested in the University of London, with which it is proposed, in some form or another, to connect this school, has helped us by every means in his power. A word is also due to the shareholders of the Institution, headed by Lord Aldenham, who have met the proposals of the Committee and the views of the Government in every possible way. Among the smaller Bills that come before your Lordships none is more worthy of support than this, and I hope it may pass through your Lordships' House without opposition.