48 REPORT—1905. 
issued by this department as to the remuneration offered to finders of 
treasure trove.’ On further correspondence taking place, I was told that 
the Treasury had not ‘expressed any intention of departing from the 
general principles on which they have hitherto acted in dealing with 
treasure trove.’ 
By the Circular of 1886 ‘the antiquarian value of such of the coins 
or objects as are retained or sold,’ less a deduction of 20 per cent. of the 
antiquarian value of the objects retained, or of 10 per cent. of the anti- 
quarian value of all objects discovered, was promised to the finders. 
The finder alone is dealt with by the Circular, there being no mention 
in it of the finder’s employer or of the owner of the soil on which the 
treasure has been discovered. In this respect, then, the finder is in a 
better position than he would in all probability have occupied had his 
rights been those arising merely from the law of first finding. Finders as 
a rule are not aware of the true value of what they discover. Conse- 
quently it is to their interest to abstain from a sale to a passer-by or to a 
casual stranger, who usually has some good idea of the transaction in which 
he is engaged. If it were known that a finder’s interests were enhanced 
by a delivery of the articles into proper custody, much of what otherwise 
would be lost or cast into the melting-pot would be preserved for future 
generations. 
J think I have now placed my views sufficiently before the Committee 
to enable me to sum up what I suggest is suitable for discussion, viz. :— 
‘That a union of antiquarian and allied Societies is desirable for the 
purpose of submitting to his Majesty’s Commissioners of the Treasury one 
or more resolutions which relate to the amendment of the Law of Trea- 
sure Trove and of the administration of that Law.’ 
The specific amendments with which the resolutions should be concerned 
are the taking of the necessary steps for bringing to the knowledge of the 
public, as, for instance, through the medium of the Post Office— 
(1) The importance of the preservation of treasure trove ; 
(2) The remuneration which is offered to finders ; and, if considered expedient, 
(3) The desirability for the remuneration offered to finders being put upon a 
statutory basis; and 
(4) An extension of the Law of Treasure Trove so as to cover other relics of 
antiquity, thereby bringing the Law into harmony with what is believed 
to be the Law of Scotland. 
Finally, whatever resolutions were arrived at, suitable explanations of 
the reasons that led up to the resolutions and practical suggestions for 
carrying out the objects aimed at should be appended when they were 
forwarded to their destination. 
Mr. T. Sheppard (Hull Scientific Club and Yorkshire Naturalists’ 
Union) said that undoubtedly the law as it stands at present is greatly 
misunderstood, and from some little experience he had found that 
anything that was discovered was looked upon as Crown property, and 
both the owner of the land and the actual finder expected nothing what- 
ever in return. The suggestion that had been made with regard to the 
Post Office regulations, and that all antiquities should be looked upon as 
treasure trove or Crown property, was one that required careful considera- 
tion. Speaking as the Curator of a comparatively small museum (Hull), 
he could say that the number and quantity by weight of the articles’ 
