PUBLIC RECORDS (SCOTLAND) BILL. [H.L.] (Hansard, 2 February 1937)

§ THE UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR (LORD STRATHCONA AND MOUNT ROYAL)

My Lords, I beg to move that this Bill be read a second time. The Bill is designed to make better provision for the preservation, care and custody of the public records of Scotland, a subject which has aroused great interest, both historical and sentimental, of late in Scotland. Some time ago, the Convention of Royal Burghs submitted to the Secretary of State for Scotland a comprehensive memorandum representing that steps should be taken to improve the existing arrangements for the care and 30 preservation of Scottish public records, and a few weeks ago the Secretary of State received a deputation from the Convention on the matter. Some of the representations by the Convention call for legislation, and it is to meet these representations that the present Bill has been introduced. Two of the most important points relate to the existing arrangements for the care of Sheriff Court records in Scotland and to certain Scottish records which are at present in London. There is a feeling that the older records of the local Sheriff Courts in Scotland should be centralised at the Record Office in Edinburgh in order to ensure better preservation and better facilities for public inspection; and it has been urged that certain records at present in London—more particularly some records which were removed from Scotland by Edward I in 1296—ought to be restored to Scotland because they are Scottish, and not English, records. Both these points require legislation, and both are dealt with in the Bill now before your Lordships.

Clause 1 of the Bill provides machinery for the transmission of Court of Justiciary and Court of Session records to the Keeper of the Registers and Records of Scotland. In practice these Court records are at present transmitted to the Keeper, but under a variety of confused authorities, statutory and otherwise. This clause simplifies and regularises an existing practice. Clause 2 provides for the transmission to the Keeper of Sheriff Court records of records not less than twenty-five years old (except in special cases), as may be directed by order of the Lord President of the Court of Session on the application of the Keeper and after consultation with the Sheriff concerned. The subject of Sheriff Court records was considered by the Sheriff Court Records Committee which was appointed in 1925 and reported in 1926. The Committee found that the existing provision for the custody locally of Sheriff Court records was in some respects unsatisfactory, and that the available accommodation in some Sheriff Court houses was inadequate. They accordingly recommended that the older Sheriff Court records should be transferred to the Keeper of the Registers and Records, in order that they might be kept in central custody, and under arrangements which would ensure their proper preservation and their availability 31 for inspection by the public. The present Bill makes provision on these lines.

It is, of course, clear that the whole of the Sheriff Court records of Scotland of twenty-five years old cannot immediately be transferred to the Keeper; nor is this necessary, because at some Sheriff Courts there are excellent arrangements for the care of records locally. The intention is to deal first with those Sheriff Court records which most need better provision for care, preservation and availability to the public; and to deal thereafter with the records of other Sheriff Courts in order of need, by successive steps and on systematic lines. This will avoid the risk of accumulating masses of records in the Record Office before they can be properly dealt with.

Clause 3 of the Bill provides for the transfer to the Keeper of the Registers and Records of Scotland of certain records which were removed from Scotland by Edward I in 1296, and which are at present in the Public Record Office, London. These records are described in the First Schedule, and those of your Lordships who are interested may care to glance at the list of remarkable documents which appears in that Schedule. They are properly Scottish records, and therefore should be kept in Edinburgh rather than London. The terms of the Bill on this point have been adjusted after consultation with the Master of the Rolls. It is true that the desire for the return of these records to Scotland is based on sentimental considerations, but the desire is none the less strong. It is proposed to return these records to Scotland because they are Scottish records, which Scottish people want back. The Treaty of Northampton, 1328, has however often been cited as an additional reason for their return. That Treaty, under which the King of England (Edward III) renounced all pretensions to dominion in Scotland, is preserved in the General Register House at Edinburgh. Amongst other things it provided for the restoration of all documents touching the freedom of Scotland, and some of the documents described in the First Schedule of the Bill appear to come within this category. In passing this Bill, therefore, your Lordships will have the satisfaction of knowing, not only that it returns Scottish records to Scotland in accordance 32 with the wishes of Scottish people, but that it implements the provisions of a Treaty which was concluded more than 600 years ago.

Clause 4 enables records relating exclusively or mainly to Scotland and held by any Government Department, Board of Trustees, or other body or person, to be transmitted to the Keeper if the Department or other body concerned thinks fit and if the Master of the Rolls consents (in the case of any records which may be in his legal charge and superintendence). This provides statutory authority for the transmission to the Keeper of the records of the Scottish Office, in London as well as Edinburgh, and of other Scottish Departments. These records, when no longer required for administrative purposes, should clearly go to the Record Office in Edinburgh. The clause also provides statutory authority under which there may be transferred to the Keeper, so far as may be found expedient, records relating exclusively or mainly to Scotland and held by other Government Departments—for example, United Kingdom Departments. It is not contemplated that this will lead to any considerable transfer of existing records to Scotland.

The real value of subsection (1) is that it enables arrangements to be made, by agreement, in special cases where a particular record can conveniently be sent to Edinburgh, and where that record may be of greater public interest (and of no less value to the historian) in Edinburgh than in London. It is in fact a permissive clause. Subsection (2) enables town councils and other local authorities in Scotland to send their records to the Keeper, if they so desire and the Keeper consents. Many town councils in Scotland take a great pride in their records and do not want to part with them. It is understood, however, that at least one or two town councils would be glad to transfer their records to the Keeper, and this subsection provides the necessary enabling power. Provision is made for consent by the Keeper in order to guard against the risk of the Record Office in Edinburgh being at any time swamped by an undigested mass of local authority records. Clause 5 is desired by the Master of the Rolls in order to make it clear that his 33 responsibility for any record ends when that record has been transmitted by him, or with his consent, to the Keeper.

Part III of the Bill contains miscellaneous provisions designed to facilitate the work of the Record Office. Most of these are based on provisions which already apply in the case of England under the Public Record Office Acts, 1838 and 1877. I think I need trouble your Lordships with only two clauses in this Part of the Bill. Clause 8 provides for fees for inspection and search of records to be prescribed by the Court of Session by Act of Sederunt, with the approval of the Treasury. The existing fee-making powers do not cover the whole field and the comprehensive power in Clause 8, which is drawn in modern form, will serve to regularise and simplify the position. Clause II provides for the distribution of the duties of the Principal Extractor of the Court of Session, in part to the Keeper and in the main to the clerical staff of the Court of Session. It also provides that the vacant offices of Principal Extractor and Assistant Extractor shall cease to exist. The main duties of the Principal Extractor are closely associated with those of the general clerical staff of the Court of Session, and it is now found convenient to merge these duties with those of the general clerical staff. The change will effect a small economy and is opportune, as the office of Principal Extractor is about to become vacant while that of the Assistant Extractor is already vacant.

I think that these are the main provisions in this Bill which call for explanation on my part. There can be no doubt that the present arrangements in Scotland for the care and custody of public records are susceptible of improvement, and this Bill goes a long way towards making better provision for the preservation, care and custody of the public records of Scotland. I commend it to your Lordships for Second Reading.