Volume 8, 1955 - The Arctic Circle - Home

VOL. VIIlNO. 3THE ARCTIC CIRCULAR6-•\During the nineteenth century, Command Papers greatlyincreased in numbers. as the government discovered the wisdomof issuing spontaneous information on matters of current publicinterest, without awaiting a request by Parliament. This outlet"laS not available when the Hous e was in reces s, and in order tocreate a means of pUblication to cover urgently developing situations(such as those in foreign affairs) I the agency of H.M.Stationery Office was created.Command Papers in printed form were issued in numberedseries, the numbers always being enclosed in square brackets.Three series have been developed to date, as follows:(a) III to 14222/, terminating with the Session of 1868-69.(b) rC. 1/ to IC. 9550j, ending with the Session of 1899.(c) LCd. 1/ to / Cd•••• / in current use.The Arctic Papers are confined to the first two of these series.Public Sale of Parliamentary PapersThe publication of Parliamentary ~::a.pers in bound volumesappears to have begun in 1773 (Journal of the House of Commons,Vol. XXXIV, p. 385). Prior to 1800 I House of Commons Paperscomprised the bulk of the published Parliamentary Papers, whichby that date totalled only 110 volumes. By mid-century, the numberof volumes of a single session exceeded this number I withCommand Papers proportionately incre2.sing.Until the Session of 1836, Parliamentary Papers were notsold to the public. Pr:or to 1801., reports, estimates, etc. werepublished only in the Journalc of the House of Lords and/or Houseof Commons. After several abortive efforts to find a practicalsolution to the problem of publication, a Select Committee of theHouse of Lords, ea.rly in 183.4, rC3clved thut it would be " •••generally convenient and might lead to a fu:tther saving of thepublic money", if the Parliamenta.ry Printers were permitted toaccept orders from booksellers for copies of the Papers printedfor the use of the House. A Second Report (1835) by this sameCommittee recomm.ended: "Tha.t the Reports and ParliamentaryPapers printed for the use of the House should be rendered accessible