The Sun.
London, England, 1865-06-10 00:00:00

SUPPLY-THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

The house then went into committee of supply.
On the vote of £63,164 to complete the charge of
£100,164 for the British Museum,
Mr. WALPOLE said it had been usual for one of the
trustees of the British Museum to make a short statement
of the important particulars in this estimate. There was an
increase on the estimated vote for 1565-6 over the preceding
year of £4,037, and that increase arose on the salaries of
officers and house expenses, special purchases, and the pre-
paration of the catalogues, while the other items of expen-
diture either remained the same, or in some cases showed a
decrease. Last year £2,200 was asked for special pur-
chases, and of that sum £5OO was for the excavations at
Babylonia under the superintendence of Colonel Kemball,
and £7OO was given for the antique bronze lamp, called
The Julian," found in Paris. But this year the special
purchase recommended and sanctioned by the Treasury
consisted of
some very valuable additions to the mineral
collection. First it had been determined to continue the
excavations under the superintendence of Mr. Vice-Consul
Billiotti, and to purchase five houses, which would enable
that gentleman to find the remainder
of the tomb of Mau-
suing. In the course of the year the trustees had acquired
for £6OO the Eekschanow collection of minerals at St.
Petersburg, rnd they had also purchased a portion of the
Pourtales collection, including a chef d'ceuvre, the head of
Apollo. The collection at St. Angelo, Which it was in
contemplation to purchase, had been bought in by the
Neapolitan Government, or rather the Government of
Naples, and consequently the £2,000 voted for that pur-
pose would not be required, so that the vote of £lOO,OOO
would be reduced by that amount. The catalogues of
brew books had been very much improvedautrae of x
n expendi-
ture in
of £4OO, and there had been an expenditure
forming the catalogue of drawings and engravings from
coins and medals. With regard to the additions to the
sculpture department, he might mention that, besides the
head of Apollo, they had purchased the figure of Mercury
and several beautiful antique statues. In the numismatic
department some valuable acquisitions had also been made.
Mr. Willich had presented his valuable collection, consist-
ing of 220 coins, passing over all periods, from the first Caesar
to the last, and some of which were never before in the
British Museum. Defects in the natural history department
of the Museum had to a considerable extent been opplied,

and in particular a collection of fishes, birds, and animals
had been brought from the Holy Land. He believed the
house would not object to the proposed vote, th ) t h perhaps
it might be said that in the absence of increas c ccommo-
dation, the trustees ought not to have made a y addition to
the collection. Had they acted upon that , rinciple, they
wouldhave been guilty of neglect of duty in Ring to secure
valuable specimens when the opportunity o 'rt. red. The trus-
tees were at the present time considering the plans of the
Government for affording increased accommodation, and he
hoped that next session a satisfactory proposition on the sub-
ject would be made to Parliament.
Mr. AYRTON was satisfied with the care and discrimi-
nation exercised by the trustees in expending the public
money in the purchase of additions to the collections ; but
he urged upon them the expediency of opening the Museum
during those hours of the day when the working classes of
London were most at leisure. He also wished to know
whether any steps had been taken to acquire the ground sur-
rounding the institution with a view of extending the ac-
commodation on the present site.
Mr. GREGORY inquired if it was intended by the Go-
vernment to adopt any measures for transferring tho natu-
ral history collection from Bloomsbury to some other place.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER admitted
that a great portion of the working classes were practically
excluded from the Museum in consequence of the hours at
which it was opened ; but he objected to throwing so much
responsibility upon the trustees as would be involved by
opening the building at night. As to purchase of the pro-
perty abutting on the Museum, independently of the cost,
/-50,000 an acre, which that would entail, he doubted whe-
ther the retention of the several collections on one site was
best as a matter of convenience to the inhabitants of the
metropolis. On the contrary, he thought the principle of
diffusion, reasonably applied within certain and well- con-
sidered limits, would be preferable to an indefinite exten-
sion of the institution upon one spot from generation to
generation. He could hold out no expectation that the
Government would be able to introduce any proposal for
enlarging the accommodation during the present year.
Mr. WALPOLE suggested that, with a view to meeting
the convenience of the working classes, special provision
might be made for their admission on Saturday afternoons
and Mondays.
The vote was then agreed to, as were also the remaining
votes for the Customs, Inland Revenue, and Post-office
departments, and the non-effective civil service. Whilst
discussing the grant for the Post-office packet service, the
house was counted out at a quarter to 9 o'clock.