CORRESPONDING SOCIETIES. 47 
On the present occasion, however, it is only incidentally that I would 
urge, if need be, an extension of the law. My object is rather to indicate 
how by a mere departmental instruction, at the cost of printing and 
postage alone, the risk in England and Wales of loss of objects of 
antiquarian value might be considerably lessened. I[ am alluding to a 
suggested recognition by the Treasury of its servants, viz. Post Office 
officials, who are to be found in every village and town throughout the 
country, as the accredited custodians for the time being of all articles of 
_ antiquarian value, which having been brought to them purport to have 
been discovered in the neighbourhood. Further, I am suggesting the 
dissemination through those officials, as, for instance, by notices and 
posters, of the liberal terms which the Treasury has promised to finders. 
As regards the first point, the Post Office for many reasons is to be 
preferred to the police officials. The reasons for the preference, even if 
not obvious, need not here be enumerated. With respect to the prac- 
ticability of the scheme suggested, I have been informed privately by an 
official of the Post Office that there could be no objection from a practical 
point of view to the receipt of treasure trove and other articles, provided 
that they were immediately forwarded to the postmaster of the district 
in which the receiving office lay. On the delivery by the finder of the 
article at the village or other post office he should be given a receipt 
with counterfoil and an envelope addressed, say, to the Treasury Solicitor. 
The receipt could then be placed in the envelope and posted by the finder 
himself, who would retain the counterfoil. In this way the confidence of 
finders would be gained, for they would be assured of the safety and 
acknowledgment of their deposits at the Post Office. 
As regards the second point, the publication of the Treasury promise 
of remuneration to the finder, we have fortunately to hand the precedent 
set by the Royal Irish Academy, which has for many years been in the 
habit of posting notices, illustrated and otherwise, throughout Ireland. 
The practice, too, of the Corporation of the City of London, to whom 
the franchise of treasure trove was granted by the first charter of 
Charles I., may be instanced. Mr. Welch, F.S.A., Curator of the Guild- 
hall Museum, kindly informs me that the Corporation inserts in all its 
building leases a clause claiming coins and other objects of value which 
may be discovered on the site. As Curator of the Museum, Mr. Welch 
unofficially secures, through the clerk of the works, the co-operation of 
the workmen in all important improvements, with whom he agrees for 
liberal payment for all objects worth securing for the Museum. 
As regards the County Council of London, who, I believe, have not 
had the right to treasure trove. conferred upon them, a notice is posted 
upon buildings in course of demolition, and upon sites which are being 
excavated by them. By this notice a reward is promised to workmen 
who discover objects of geological and archzological interest, which, being 
the property of the Council, are handed over to the foreman or clerk of 
the works. 
With precedents such as these to hand, it would not be difficult for 
the Treasury to scatter broadcast its notices concerning the remuneration 
offered to finders of treasure trove. That the Treasury has issued such 
a notice comes as a surprise to many, for the general feeling I find, 
even among the educated classes, is that no reward is given to finders. 
T myself on applying this year at the Treasury for a copy of the Circular 
‘issued by the Treasury in 1886, was informed that ‘no instructions are 
