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Question

Volume 217: debated on Monday 4 August 1873

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asked the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether he is yet prepared to inform the House if the Trustees of the British Museum have been consulted as to taking charge of the South Kensington Museum and its affiliated institutions at Bethnal Green, at Dublin, and at Edinburgh; whether it is arranged that such transfer of the direction and control shall take place; if so, whether the Sheepshanks, the Dyce, and other valuable bequests will thereby cease to form part of the National Collections; and, whether he will give Parliament an opportunity of expressing au opinion of the policy of this change before it is carried Out?

The subject, Sir, is not so susceptible of an easy and speedy determination as my hon. Friend seems to imagine. The Trustees of the British Museum have been consulted on subject of a proposal for the transfer to their control of the South Kensington and Bethnal Green Museums; but the Museums at Dublin and Edinburgh are not included in the proposal. Such consultation was a necessary preliminary to any such proceedings, and my hon. Friend may depend upon it that nothing will be clone which is calculated to endanger the Sheepshanks' and other bequests. Moreover, considering the amount of popular interest in the subject, we shall endeavour so to arrange that before any final and definitive step is taken, there shall be an opportunity for Parliament to express an opinion upon it.