114 REPORT ON EXCHANGES. 



merit of State that a committee had been appointed by Her Majesty's 

 treasury to inquire into and report upon the question of the interchange 

 with foreign Governments of Parliamentary papers and other official 

 documents, and I have now the honor to inform you that the committee 

 therein alluded to has now made its report, and that the lords of Her 

 Majesty's treasury have been pleased to lay down the following rules 

 upon the subject, which will be found in the accompanying paper, and 

 which Earl Granville has instructed me to make known to the Govern- 

 ment of the United States. I am at the same time requested to state 

 that in all cases in which an exchange may be agreed upon, and in 

 which presentations may be made, the books and papers will be packed 

 at the stationery office, and forwarded to such address as may be given 

 by the foreign minister in London of the Government making the ap- 

 plication, the cost of transmission in each case being defrayed by the 

 Government to whom the books are presented. 



I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, 

 L. S. Saokville West. 



(INCLOSURE.) — RULES FOR THE INTERCHANGE WITH FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS OF PAR- 

 LIAMENTARY PAPERS AND OTHER OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. 



Whenever any application is made by the Government of an inde- 

 pendent state for a "complete" exchange of its public documents with 

 Great Britain, the lords of the treasury will be prepared to entertain 

 such a proposal on the following understanding : 



1. That a complete set of the English publications to be exchanged 

 would be understood to consist of the following documents : 



(a.) Papers of all kinds printed or presented to either House of Parlia- 

 ment ; 



(b.) Historical, scientific, or antiquarian works published by the Gov- 

 ernment, such as the Record publications ; with liberty, however, of 

 reserving very costly works, of which only a small number of copies 

 may be printed, as subjects of separate negotiation ; 



(c.) Maps aud charts published by the Government; and, 



(d.) Departmental publications which are placed on sale, but not to 

 include works published by booksellers with the aid of grants or sub- 

 scriptions from Government. 



i 2. That the Government making the application would in return under- 

 take to send a " complete" set of its own publications for the Library 

 of the British Museum, the "completeness" being of course left to the 

 good faith of that Government. 



But besides this general or what maybe termed a national exchange, 

 the lords of the treasury will be prepared to entertain within reasonable 

 limits applications which may be made to it through the foreign office 

 for gifts of special classes of British Official publications, such as mili- 

 tary, Parliamentary, and statistical works, for the use of national or 

 parliamentary libraries, or of state-supported institutions, or of other 

 libraries of historic interest, provided the Government making the ap- 

 plication be ready to give its own works of the saiie class ; but such ap- 

 plications will, as heretofore, be considered on their own merits. Appli- 

 cations for the presentation of official publications to libraries of muni- 

 cipal authorities or voluntary associations of individuals, such as scien- 

 tific societies or others connected with the state, cannot be entertained. 





