Several other delegates having spoken, the following resolution, 

 proposed by Mr. Nevill, seconded by the Rev. P. H.lDitchfield, F.S.Ai 

 (Berks.), and accepted by Mr. Johnston, was carried : — 



" That this Congress approve the principle of Mr. Johnston's 

 proposal and request the Council in conjunction with Mr. 

 Johnston to draw up a recommendation that may be 

 circulated by the Congress to the Bishops." 



Mr. Nevill brought foward a matter that had recently been 

 discussed in Notes and Queries — the need of access to ecclesiastical 

 documents, other than wills, at Somerset House. Such documents 

 would be useful to the historian and the genealogist, but at present 

 they were kept locked up and the officials declined to admit 

 knowledge of them. 



Mr. Phillimore proposed to include Probate Records, and said 

 that at that moment a memorial had been prepared for facilities of 

 access such as were asked for. 



Mr. Nevill agreed to the amendment and the resolution was 

 carried in the following terms : 



"That H.M. Government be respectfully asked to direct that 

 arrangements shall be made by the authorities at Somerset 

 House that access for literary study may be given to all 

 documents, ecclesiastical as well as Probate Records, now 

 in their charge, in the same way as at the Public Record 

 Office." 



Col. P. Saltmarshe (East Riding Society) called attention to the 

 desirability of expediting the indexing and calendaring of ancient 

 documents at the Record Office, and moved a resolution that repre- 

 sentations should be made on the subject. He said, that those who 

 study at the Record Office are compelled to waste much time. 

 It would not cost much, for instance, to index the list of fines, and 

 the sale of the index might partly cover the cost. As regards the 

 great Law Rolls, with the exception of an ancient calendar, they 

 were altogether unindexed except for two years of Edward II. He 

 thought that the Congress was a body which might legitimately 

 make representations to Government on the subject. 



Mr. W. Paley Baildon, F.S.A., thought that some reference ought 

 to be made to the great amount of work done by the present staff 

 of the Record Office, and spoke of the danger of attempting to hurry 

 work of this kind. Hurry was simply a question of cash and of 

 employing outside help. He proposed as an amendment ; — 



"That this meeting of the Congress of Archaeological 

 Societies in recording its appreciation of the excellent work 

 now being done by the staff of the Public Record Office in the 



