other inhabitants require educating upon the question. Efforts are being made in this direction, and Leith will before long be added to the list.

The same can be said of Perth. In December, 1890, at a soirée of the Ratepayers' Association, the member for Dundee delivered an address on Public Libraries. This association have taken up the question, and the fair city will not be content to be left long out of the list of adoptions.

There is a quaint and interesting old library at Innerpeffray, which lies between the towns of Crieff and Auchterarder. The library of Innerpeffray was founded by David, third Lord Madderty, whose family is now represented by Viscount Strathallan. His grandfather, James Drummond, was the second son of David, Lord Drummond, and was created Lord Madderty on January 31, 1609. The first Lord Madderty was educated along with James VI.; was esteemed by that monarch as a man of parts and learning, and became a special favourite at the Court. When the library was founded, early in the seventeenth century, the endowment included a provision for the schoolmaster, who was made custodian of the volumes. This portion of the foundation was taken over by the School Board some time ago, but the library has remained till now under the terms of the original deed. The library has from the first been quite free, and some time ago a dispute was pending betwixt the towns of Crieff and Auchterarder regarding their rights to the custody of this famous library, and so attention was directed to that institution. Its present position, secluded from immediate contact with the world, and somewhat difficult of access, has made it less familiar to Scotsmen than its valuable contents warrant.

There are in Scotland a very large number of institutions called "Public Libraries" which are really subscription libraries. To give anything like a comprehensive list of these would occupy too much space, but parti ulars of a few may be given. Rutherglen, near Glasgow; Knockando, near Elgin; Smailholm, near Kelso; Haddington, Greenock, Wishaw, Dunbeath; New Aberdour, Banffshire; Bridge of Allan, Inverurie, Strathnairn, near Inverness; Newtown, Kelty, Rothesay, Pollokshaws, Dumfries, Gartmore, Hamilton, Blairgowrie, Montrose, and Crail, all possess their "Public" Libraries. Keith has one with over

250 members; the income is about £120 a year. Kilmarnock has a library, which claims to be the largest of its kind in Scotland, but it has to exercise the greatest economy to make it self-supporting, and it barely reaches that point. Many of these institutions and others scattered throughout Scotland would form an excellent nucleus for turning themselves into Public Libraries in the full sense of the term, and securing the adoption of the Acts. This is especially the case as regards the parochial libraries, of which there are hundreds capable of being transformed into comparatively large and vigorous institutions, after the pattern of pioneer Tarves.

G

CHAPTER XIV.

Public Libraries in Wales.

ALLANT little Wales, considering that there are not many large towns in the Principality, does not come out amiss in its Public Library work. The total number of adoptions of the Acts is yet short of a dozen. Wales and Scotland had a national system of education long before in England we had reached the same stage, and the people of both countries have for generations been known as earnest and eager friends of educational and social progress. As will be seen at the end of this chapter, the movement is spreading in quite a number of places in Wales, and in course of a few years the number of adoptions is likely to increase. In no part of the United Kingdom would a small Government grant be more acceptable and useful than in Wales. The penny rate in the small districts is not sufficient to stock and maintain a Public Library. Wales should agitate this question of a state subsidy, and urge the point upon its parliamentary representatives. It is a matter of surprise to many visitors to the Welsh coast that more of the holiday resorts have not adopted the Acts. Take the flourishing watering-places on the Welsh coast, good-sized commercial towns. Llandudno rates itself for School Board purposes, 4d. in the pound. A single penny would raise £210 a year; for want of a library for the young £830 a year in rates is largely wasted. Beaumaris is less wealthy, and pays £340 for the purpose, in a 74d. rate, but she could raise £50 a year as a beginning. Several county boards in the country have school rates of treble theirs, and one raises £1,000 under a rate of about 14d. Yet here are a university and a great normal college, and there is no getting a healthy book, as far as the students are concerned if not in the college, save at a bookstore. Rhyl has no school board, but a numerous young population, and no library. Colwyn Bay, in the parish of Llandrillo yn Rhos, is a rising place, with 400 scholars, and raises £520 under a 5d. rate; she could for a single penny raise over £100 a year. By the important town of Holyhead £670 is paid in a rate of 5s. 5d. in the pound, and here over £100 could be raised, but the art of reading must be largely lost by many hundreds for want of a library.

BARRY AND CADOXTON.

This is a district near Cardiff, and the Acts were adopted in March, 1891. The voting was as follows:

Number in favour of the adoption of the Acts

Number against

Number of voting papers returned unsigned or in

blank or not properly filled up

392

87

179

The Public Libraries Committee, to whom the Local Board have

delegated all their powers under the Acts, consists of seven members of the Board and six of the general public. It has been determined to build a Public Library at Barry Dock, the centre of the district, and to have branch reading-rooms at Barry and Cadoxton. The work has been warmly and spiritedly taken up by the committee, and the library will soon be in operation.

CARDIFF.

It is here among the Welsh towns that we see the best example of what is being done. Cardiff was the first town in Wales to adopt the Acts, and from the first report down to the twentyeighth the progress has been steady and very satisfactory. It was mentioned in the last edition of this work that the operations of every department of the library had become congested owing to its ever-increasing popularity, and it became a question of rebuilding on a new site or making extensive additions to the existing building. The latter plan was decided upon, and the alterations have been made. The extension shows an effective elevation, and forms a distinct local attraction as a public building. The site was of a character that did not lend itself to very effective treatment, and no little difficulty has been experienced in combining practical results with architectural harmony. The ultimate design, however, evidences conspicuous ability.

At the end of April, 1891, Mr. J. Thornhill Harrison, C.E., Local Government Board Inspector, held an inquiry concerning the application of the Corporation for the sanction of the Department for an additional loan of £5,000 for the purposes of the Public Libraries Acts. The present library building was erected in 1881, at a cost of £10,000, under the sanction of the Treasury. In consequence of the rapid growth of the town, the Corporation made application in July, 1889, to the Local Government Board for approval of an extended scheme, and on July 1, 1889, after an official inquiry, the Department gave their consent to the site and the loan. The present inquiry was merely formal, the principle of the extension having been once approved of. A question was raised about the museum being put on the top floor, and that the under floors are not to be fireproof. Mr. Harrison: Yes, that is worth serious consideration. The Architect: The only reason why the committee decided not to have the building entirely fireproof was a pecuniary one. The cost would be about £1,000 or so more. Mr. Harrison: But you have single pictures of this value, haven't you?-Yes, sir. Mr. Harrison: Personally, I think the suggestion a good one, and if the committee like to make application for the extra money I will readily recommend its being granted.

Mr. Ballinger, the librarian, stated that in his opinion it would be wiser to carry out the scheme, the estimated cost of which was £15,000, because it would provide book storage for the library department for at least 30 years, whereas the accommodation for the book storage shown upon the smaller scheme would require

further extension in about 10 years. The amount of space given to the public in the newsroom, ladies' room, lending library, reference library, and magazine room, would be very much increased by the expenditure of the additional £5,000, and that these public rooms could be all thoroughly lighted by daylight would be an impossibility. The internal arrangements of the larger scheme were of such a character that the cost of administration would not be any greater than for the smaller scheme. He had also carefully considered whether the income from the penny rate would be sufficient to meet the payments on account of the further loan of £5,000 now applied for, and yet leave a sufficient sum for the maintenance of the institution. The produce of the penny rate which would meet the necessary payments (the basis of his estimate), assuming that the buildings would be completed in two years, was as follows:

1d. rate as at present

Income.

Estimated increase, two years, at £183 (the average of

£3,006

366

150

10

£3,532

Mr. Harrison suggested that the committee should endeavour to acquire possession of sites in the centre of the various districts, and build permanent reading-rooms in the localities where the population was fixed, such as the Docks, Roath, Canton, and Grangetown.

This question of branches has been a burning one in Cardiff. The borough covers a large area, and some of the suburban districts are very thickly populated. One of the local newspapers printed a series of articles going minutely and fully into the subject of the central institution versus branch libraries, and much was said for both sides. It was pointed out that if a branch lending library as well as reading-room were opened in one district the other suburbs would naturally cry out to be similarly served. The matter of means entered, of course, fully in the discussion. It was felt that to erect branches would cripple the central institution, and wisely the decision has been arrived at to avoid so

undesirable a result. It is natural that outlying districts which see the utility of these institutions should wish to see one of them placed in their midst, but the ability to maintain one good central library and a number of branches, in a perfect state of efficiency, out of the nimble penny should be looked fully in the face. Cardiff has seen its way through this difficulty, and three branches are projected. A reading-room at Cathays, to be called the north branch, was opened in July, 1891.

Everything which can be done to maintain the popularity of the work in Cardiff is carefully and promptly carried out. In order to make the public better acquainted with recent books added to the lending department and available for issue, an ingenious arrangement has been adopted. A board is hung in the library, on which are placed tickets containing the author, title, and number of such books as have been added during the previous three months. If a borrower wishes to obtain one of these, he removes the card and hands it to an assistant, who, when he has found the book, puts the ticket in a box. The entry is thus removed from the notice board, to be replaced when the book is returned, and so on until the book has been in circulation three months, when it is altogether removed to make way for more recent additions to the stock.

The work in the reference library is of a very solid and useful nature. History, biography, and travel represent the largest issue in this section. There are in the reference room four of the prettiest and most appropriate stained windows which can be found in any Public Library. They were presented by Mr. James Ware. They represent respectively poetry, fiction, travel, and history. For the first-named the subject is Milton dictating "Paradise Lost" to his daughter. The other portraits are of Scott, Raleigh, and Gibbon. A set of similar windows in every Public Library in the country would be a decided gain.

The Public Library committee have a separate banking account -a step which should be taken by most committees. The catalogues are very carefully prepared. For a penny the borrowers in the juvenile section-which is largely used--have a twenty-four page catalogue of books selected with great discretion, and a sixteen-page supplementary catalogue is sold for a halfpenny. A new catalogue of the reference department was issued recently. A local printing firm undertook the entire responsibility of producing it, having the privilege of taking advertisements for it. The catalogue sells for 6d., and copies are paid for periodically to the printers as sold. The cost of printing catalogues is so great that the plan is deserving of being copied. There are separate catalogues of the books on music and books for the blind. A glance at the latter shows that fifty-five volumes in the Braille character are at the disposal of those to whom sight is denied ; printed in Moon's type there are about 150 volumes, whilst seven are printed in ordinary Roman embossed type. The different books of the Bible can be had in either Moon's type or in the Braille character, and in the selection of other works on the list care