§ Mr. KILEYasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether, in view of the congestion at the British Museum, Bloomsbury, he will consider the advisability of amending the law to enable some of the objects to be loaned to various museums in the country which would be glad to have them, and thus relieve the pressure?
Mr. YOUNGSteps have been taken to ascertain the views of the trustees on 851W this proposal. The trustees consider that the utility of the Museum would be greatly impaired by introducing the practice of making loans to local museums. If exhibition were the only object of the Museum, it would be possible to dispense with a part of the collections, but the Museum exists at least as much for the sake of study and research; and for the purpose of students the concentration of a large number of specimens in one place is of the first importance.