§ 62. Mr. Dribergasked the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs if, in the course of correspondence with the Governments of India and Pakistan on the setting up of a tribunal to consider the question of the legal ownership of the India Office building and its contents, he will suggest that it is desirable that the entire India Office library should be kept together in one place and also, in whichever capital it is eventually decided to keep it, that it should be housed in conditions which will ensure its permanent preservation.
§ Mr. BowdenNo. The purpose of the Tribunal is solely to determine the legal ownership of the India Office Library and the other properties in dispute. The question of the future location and housing of the Library and other properties is not a matter for the Tribunal, and has not been the subject of correspondence with the Governments of India and Pakistan. As stated however by the Commonwealth Secretary in reply to the hon. Member for Yarmouth (Dr. Gray), on 14th June, 1966, in the Government's view it would be tragic if the Library were split up, and they agree that it should be housed in conditions which will ensure its permanent preservation.—[Vol. 729, c. 1217.]