AN EXPENSIVE HISTORY

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30936, 17 December 1965, Page 17

AN EXPENSIVE HISTORY

(Special Corryipondant N.Z.P.A » LONDON, Dec. 16. Britain's most expensive literary exercise —a 21-volume history called “The History of Parliament”—has been criticised.

The decision to publish the history—potted biographies of everyone who has ever Mt In Parliament—was made 14 years ago. Since then only three volumes have been printed. To the book-buying public they cost 3gns each, but the taxpayer has so far contributed £250.000. The matter was raised in the House of Commons this week by Mr Frank Allaun, a Labour M.P. He asked the Government how much it was expected to contribute and how many yean it would be before the history was completed.

Mr John Diamond, for the Treasury, said that the Government had so far promised £360,000 to finance the work, but it was clear that this would be used up before the history was published. Mr Allaun said later: “The funny thing is the way they are going about it You have a committee responsible for three professors of history, who are in turn responsible for many faceless people sitting in libraries all over the country busily jotting down facts about people nobody has heard of, or cares about. “That of course, is where the money goes. I also gather there is money coming in from private sources and one estimate of the real cost so far is in the order of £800,000.”