BRITISH MUSEUM BILL. [H.L.] (Hansard, 5 July 1938)

§ LORD TEMPLEMORE
My Lords, this is a very simple Bill the object of which is to enable the Trustees of the British Museum to accept a certain bequest made to them by the late Lord Rothschild. The late Lord Rothschild was for many years a collector of zoological specimens. Fifty years ago his insect collections were housed in a cottage at Tring, Hertfordshire. By the time of his death his collection had grown and become one of the greatest interest and value, including many rarities and unrivalled collections in some branches of zoology. By a codicil to his will, which your Lordships will see is printed as a Schedule to the Bill, Lord Rothschild left his Zoological Museum to the Trustees of the British Museum, 572 together with all the collections and objects which it contained. The Trustees are naturally anxious to accept this munificent bequest, but before they can do so they require the authority of Parliament.
The Trustees, of course, receive bequests from time to time and accept them under their general powers, but in the present case statutory authority is necessary because the bequest is subject to the condition that the legacy will be accepted as an annexe of the British Museum and the Tring Museum used in a modified form for zoological research. Under the original Act of Incorporation of the British Museum it was provided that the collections were to be kept in one general repository, and an amending Act had to be passed when part of the collection was transferred to South Kensington in 1878, and another Act had to be passed when part was transferred to Hendon in 1902. Further statutory authority is required to enable the Trustees to keep the new bequest at Tring. It is the purpose of the present Bill to confer that authority.
The expense of running the Museum at Tring is expected to amount to about £5,000 a year. In addition to this, the sum of £2,500 will be required in the first year or two for expenditure on the buildings, and at the outset there will be a non-recurrent charge of £6,000 or thereabouts to recoup Lord Rothschild's executors for the expenditure which they have incurred since the testator's death in respect of this Museum. It is perhaps too early at the present time to say exactly what policy the Trustees will follow in relation to the new Museum. That is a matter to which they will have to give their closest attention as soon as the property comes under their control. I rather think that the most reverend Primate will have a few words to say about that in a moment. It is certain, however, that the close association which will be possible between the Tring Museum and South Kensington will be of great value to the study of systematic zoology. The collections at Tring not only add new material but are complementary to the South Kensington collection, because they have been collected to demonstrate by their greater range of specimens certain scientific truths which are at present only epitomised in the national collection. I cannot but think that this measure will be received with 573 great approval by all quarters of your Lordships' House, and I beg to move that the Bill be now read a second time.

THE LORD ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY
My Lords, as principal Trustee and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the British Museum, I must needs earnestly hope that your Lordships will give this Bill a Second Reading. It is entirely right that it should be produced on behalf of His Majesty's Government, because it deals with a matter of national importance. I venture to say that no scientific collection comparable to this, certainly no collection greater than this, has probably ever been given to a nation. It represents the life-work of Lord Rothschild, to which he devoted his immense knowledge, which was as wide as it was accurate, his energy, by which he pursued science in every part of the world, and his amazing memory. The value of the collection in money can perhaps hardly be assessed. I have seen it put down at £500,000, but I doubt whether any sum could represent it. Its real value is its immense scientific importance. It is not too much to say that the scientific resources of the nation will be infinitely increased by the acceptance of this bequest.
It is now housed, as the noble Lord pointed out, in a house at Tring near Lord Rothschild's own home, and it is largely used there for the purposes both of exhibition and of research. It was Lord Rothschild's desire that the British Museum of Natural History in South Kensington should acquire this invaluable collection and use it for these two purposes. Lord Rothschild, as I could testify, was a most assiduous trustee. He devoted to it all his knowledge, care and resources, and he has seen fit to leave this collection to the nation through the Museum. But, as your Lordships have just heard, if it is to be used for the purposes of exhibition, some of the collection had much better be exhibited in South Kensington, and some of the objects in South Kensington could equally well be exhibited at Tring. For the purposes of research at Tring it is even more necessary that there should be a complete and unfettered exchange of objects between South Kensington and Tring. For these reasons, as the noble Lord has pointed 574 out, it is necessary to get Parliamentary sanction, because technically that interchange goes outside the powers of the Trustees.
I think I can say that all the difficulties involved in this very important matter have been overcome, and I should like here—I am only sorry that necessarily your Lordships' House is so thinly attended—to express the gratitude not only of the Trustees but I think also of the nation, whom they represent in this matter, to Lord Rothschild's sister and to the present Lord Rothschild, his nephew, who carries on his uncle's interest in zoological matters. I should also like to say to the very eminent zoologist, Dr. Jordan, who was in charge of the Museum under Lord Rothschild and who must needs look with some regret upon his own child passing into other hands, that I only hope that the Trustees will prove worthy of the trust that has been given them by Lord Rothschild. I commend this Bill to your Lordships as representing an event in the scientific history of this country which is of real importance.

§ LORD SNELL
My Lords, I should not like this Bill to pass without a word of very sincere appreciation on behalf of my noble friends of the munificent and scientifically important bequest to which it refers. We are accustomed to associate public benefaction with the name of the Rothschild family, and I feel sure that the nation will very gratefully accept this extraordinarily useful gift and wish in every way to honour the conditions attached to it.

THE EARL OF CRAWFORD
My Lords, with this bequest the national collections of entomology belonging to this country become the most important in the world, not only in their extent but also in the degree of their systematisation and in the fact that they are now subdivided between London and the country residence of the late Lord Rothschild. It is not, of course, only in entomology that the Tring Museum was so exceptionally rich. There are great classes of mammals and of birds, and there is also a magnificent library. But economic entomology is now one of the most important aspects of scientific research, and every year that passes gives it a greater economic and social importance. I happened to see the late Lord Rothschild a very few days before he 575 died, when he told me that his great object in making this bequest was that scientific research and experiment should be developed to the maximum degree. That was impossible owing to climatic and other reasons in London, and the fact that this residence in a fine climate is added to the London collection probably gives us one of the greatest opportunities chat we have ever had, that any country has ever had, of pursuing this most fruitful form of inquiry and research. I should like most gratefully to re-echo the words that fell from the most reverend Primate as to the sense of gratitude that the nation ought to feel to the late Lord Rothschild and his family.

§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (THE MARQUESS OF ZETLAND)
My Lords, these Orders raise no question of principle, but merely correct certain errors which have crept into the existing 576 Orders. They have been examined by the India and Burma Orders Committee, who commend them to your Lordships House. I beg to move.