The Sun.
London, England, 1857-01-14 00:00:00

PARLIAMENTARY PRINTING.

The art of printing is a marvellous invention.
That it is fraught with incalculable benefits
.to the
human race is a proposition long past the need of
proof, and one which we ourselves should be the
very last to dispute. But, as the best things are
open to abuse, the reader will perhaps feol less
surprise than sorrow at hearing, upon very good
authority, that " at least one half the printing in
this country is absolutely thrown away." A
good many people would be prepared, no doubt,
to accept this saying with considerable latitude of
application, but we must premise at once that the
subject matter of the complaint is not general lite-
rature, nor, indeed, any particular branch thereof,
as usually understood. The remark of Mr. M'Cul-
loch, who represents the authority appealed to,
was levelled against the printing executed for the
public service ; and, since the types as well as the
tongues of our legislators will now very shortly
be put in motion again, we should like to bespeak
a little consideration for one branch of the question
concerned. It will not have been forgotten, we
dare say, that a select committee inquired into this
subject in 1854, and continued their researches in
1855, and it is from their report that the principal
information is to be derived.

The office through which payments for public
printing are made is the Stationery-office, at the
door of which it is the duty of Mr. M'Culloch, as
Controller, to stand guard in defence of the trea-
sures contained, and very efficiently does he appear
to discharge this salutary function. "If I,"
said he, " were to be in the least degree what is
called ' liberal, you would very soon have the bill
for printing and stationery up to 1,000,0001. a
year, and it would not stop even there." Under
such circumstances we ought to be thankful that
the actual charge figures for less than half that
amount, but the case requires more analysis still.
The demand thus made (458,275/. in the last esti-
mates) includes the expenses, not only of printing,
but of stationery, and the comprehensiveness of
this latter item will be appreciated when we state
that it includes not only writing materials for the
several public departments, but paper for the cart-
ridges which the military and naval services require.
The quantity of " stationery," in fact, which was
despatched on this errand to the East, combined
with other exigencies of the war, had the effect of
just about doubling the estimates between 1853
and 1854. Taking now the first step in the way
of discrimination, we observe that in 1854 the
total cost of printing for the public service was
put at something betweeen 100,0001. and 110,0001.,
and that the value of the paper directly con-
sumed in this work was about 100,0001. more.
This enables us, therefore, in pursuing the present
object of our remarks, to eliminate about a quar-
ter of a million sterling from the discussion,
and to reduce the actual sum under consideration
to 200,0001., or thereabouts. But this printing
for the public service is not all Parliamentary
printing. A large amount of work is performed
for the various departments of Government in the
shape of forms, circulars, returns, tax-papers, &c.,
so that when we come to look at Parliamentary
printing alone, the outlay involved is again dimi-
nished by fully one-half ; in fact, " printing and
paper for printing for both houses, Reports and
Acts," appear in last year's estimates as a charge
computed at just 100,0001. How this may have
been divided between the two houses we cannot
exactly say, but it seams, from a return on the
subject, that in 1853 the printing for the House of
Commons cost 65,0001., so that something less,
perhaps, than a third of the whole may be appor-
tioned to the Lords.
In the House of Commons the control in these
matters rests with the Printing Committee a
committee appointed for the purpose of assisting
the Speaker, upon whom in the first place the re-
sponsibility devolves. At this point, however, yet
another distinction must be drawn—it is not every
piece of printing which comes under the cognisance
of the Speaker and his assessors. Every session, as
our readers will remember, papers are presented to
both Houses "by command," a category which
includes the reports of commissions, and over
these the Printing Committee has no power what-
ever. Working our way, therefore, by degrees to
the desired residuum, we discover that the whole
amount that ever comes under the control of the
Printing Committee of the House of Commons is,
upon the average, about 24,0001. a-year. We (i.e.,
the management) have no control beyond that, nor
any cognisance of it in any way." A large propor-
tion, therefore, of what is called Parliamentary
printing is not under the control of Parliament.
:Now, the question is how to reduce expenses
which are allowed upon all hands to have acquired
an unnecessary magnitude. Very likely the cost of
the work performed may be reduced by and bye,
as the report points out, when the terms of perform-
ance come under ievision ; but, as a most compe-
tent witness pointedly deposed, " the greatest crav-
ing which you can effect is by preventing the print-
ing of unnecessary documents." That the ease has
its difficulties Mr. M'Culloch himself admits. The
vary life of our national institutions is publicity, and
even the expedient of selection or compression be-
come full of hazard where the least suspicion of
"gadding" would destroy the whole value of the
proceeding. Where lie the advantages of an inquiry
if the results are not to be made known? We must
perforce assume that the investigations in question
are useful, or they need never have been set
on foot, so that to suppress the information which
may have been collected would be like ignoring the
advantages of printing altogether. Yet that things
are carried too far there is no denying. The report
upon the Hull Election cost 3,0001. Application
was once made to the Stationery-office for "a map
of Ireland, showing the situation of every one of
the schools which are under the management of the
Commissioners of National Education." This was
refused, but Mr. M'Culloch points out an " abuse
of printing" in the appendix to the second volume
of the Wine Duties Report, which contains " a table
of 234 pages; of what is called 6 vattingl of wine in
the different docks.' " " There is not," he adds,
" I believe, a sane person in the empire who ever
read one line of it, or ever will. But, though per-
fectly useless, it occupies 234 pages, and 1,750
copies were printed and circulated at the public
expense."
...

The remedies suggested by the committee on
this head are exceedingly reasonable, and will re-
ceive, we trust, due effect. They recommended
that an extension of powers should be conferred
upon the Printing Committee, so as to embrace the
reports of commissions, and that all reports should
first be printed with the evidence only, leaving the
appendices subject to special decision by the Print'
ing Committee, acting under the directions of the
house, and in communication with the persons from
whom the reports proceed. Generally speaking
the actual reports or conclusions at which commit-
tees arrive lie in a very small compass, the bulk of
the volume being formed by the evidence and ap-
pendix attached. Two very well informed wit-
nesses—Mr. M'Culloch and Mr. Vardon—recom-
mended the publication, in the first instance, of
reports only, but we concur entirely in the opinion
of the committee, that the evidence on which the re-
port is based should not be withheld. It deserves
to be noticed that, though the cost of papers " by
command" Las been rising materially, that of
the documents under the control of the Printing
Committee has of late been diminished, while the
interest attaching to such publications generally
seems indicated by some increase in their sale.
The demand, however, is still but small, except
in cases of special attraction, such as, we are as-
sured, are the Bank Charter, Coal-mines, and Mar-
riage with a Deceased Wife's Sister. The ordinary
rule under the Printing Committee is to strike off'
1,000 copies of a document, of which 700 are de-
livered to the House, 100 reserved for permanent
sets, 100 sold to regular subscribers, and 100 left
to supply casual demand. The reports of commis-
sions, on the other hand, run from 1,750 to 5,000
copies—a source of great additional expense, though
the interest taken in the subject may occasionally be
considerable, and in one instance, where 10,000
copies of certain documents were ordered, a plea of
justification was put in, as we think, to good pur-
pose.
We should greatly regret to see any check given
to usages which conduce, however circuitously, to
the diffusion of knowledge on public affairs, but,
considering that a vast amount of " printing for
the public service" ends only in the production of
waste papers it is obviously desirable to retrench
an expenditure so plainly unremunerative. The,
extent of waste, in fact, may be the measure of
economy. We think not merely a cheap sale, but
even a gratuitous distribution of
to
oarbe attendedliamentary
papers, likely in some instances
with advantage. There can be no benefit, how-
ever, in publications or copies which are never
issued. The waste paper of the House of Commons
accumulated at one time to such an extent that
the reduction of the cost of warehouses to store it
in became a matter of consideration ; and Mr.
Vardon estimated in 1855 that three warehouses
devoted to this purpose would be got rid of under
the improved management. In this direction,
therefore, may reforms be applied without any
danger to the publicity of business or prejudice to
the labours of those persons whose researches and
reflections the documents embody.—Times.

Letters from Senegal of December 5 announce, the
death of Mohammed Sidi. the chief of the Bracknas,
who was one of the most determined adversaries of
French domination, and who, in consequence of the
expedition of last October, had retired into the desert.
This chief was an ally of the King of Trams, who
himself took to flight to escape from the French troops.