one or two Public Libraries in the near neighbourhood as objectlessons. This was the case at Chiswick, and on March 10, 1890, a public meeting of the ratepayers was held at the Vestry Hall, Turnham Green, in order to determine whether the Acts should be adopted for the urban sanitary district of Chiswick. The chairman of the Local Board presided over a large attendance. Dr. Gordon Hogg proposed, and Alderman B. Hardy seconded, a motion in favour of the adoption of the Acts, which, on being put to the meeting, was carried, only five voting against it. One of the dissentients demanded a poll. The poll took place one week afterwards, with a result of some six to one in favour. The committee decided upon the acquisition for a term of years of the house known as No. 1, The Bourne, situate at the corner of Bolton Gardens. A meeting was held on the 8th of November, 1890, for the purpose of opening the reading-rooms. The two reading-rooms give access to some 89 daily, weekly, and monthly newspapers and magazines. The committee have issued circulars appealing to the ratepayers and inhabitants for donations of money or books to assist them in forming the lending library, and in response to that appeal they have received £36 14s. 6d. donations, and annual subscriptions to the amount of £7 9s. 6d., besides 522 volumes of books.

CROYDON.

The Public Library movement has evidently taken root in thoroughly good soil in the ancient town of Croydon. In a little over twelve months a central library and several branch libraries have been opened. The branch libraries have been brought into existence partly to relieve the threatened overcrowding at the Central Library at North End, and partly to enable residents living at some distance to have a good supply of standard works within easy access. By means of these branches the advantages of the library is being carried into every part of the borough, and as all pay for the support of the library so will all be at liberty to avail themselves of the benefits thereof. In May last the Town Council agreed to the plans for a new central library. In July, 1891, the Thornton Heath branch library was opened. The building, a portion of which is used as a library, is of red brick and stone, and stands at the northern end of the High-street, and has been erected by arrangement with the Corporation. The basement wiil be utilised as offices, and on the first floor, approached by a separate and commodious entrance on the south-west side, is the libraries apartment. This is a lofty apartment, about 40 feet by 36 feet, divided in two by a half glass partition, one compartment being devoted to the purposes of the library and the other of the reading-room. The library already contains 4,450 volumes. The reading-room is in every way well fitted. The building, as a whole, is an immense addition to the High-street corner, and Thornton Heath may be congratulated on possessing the handsomest library rooms in the borough. At its opening the entire

district seemed to turn out to do honour to the occasion. Flags streamed across every principal street. The Mayor, Mr. F. T. Edridge, J.P., held a reception, and everything was done in good form. Croydon bids fair to be as successful as any part of London or the suburban districts in its work. There is life and vitality about the operations of both the central library and its offshoots.

EALING.

Ealing comes out well. The last report issued, May, 1891, affords grounds for satisfaction, but this is especially so as regards the expenditure upon books, and the increased use made of the reading-room and reference library. As the time allowed for reading works in classes A, B, C and D was, early in the year, extended to a fortnight, it is rather surprising to find that a considerable decrease in the circulation has not to be recorded, instead of the small increase which has actually taken place in the books lent for home reading. The total circulation was 113,949, giving an average daily issue of 463 volumes upon the 246 days the library was open. The attendances in the reading-rooms have shown a marked increase. The rooms have been open 308 days, and the total attendances were 235,620. The committee have expended upon books, binding, and periodicals (three most important items), £194 15s. 1d., an increase as compared with the previous twelve months of about £20. The expenditure of £28 8s. 6d. for the printing of the catalogue has been met by the proceeds from sales and an advertisement on the cover. A feature of the work of the year has been the subscription to Mudie's for six volumes at a time. These books are added to the reference library for the time being, and changed when required. By this means, works too expensive to purchase, or those of only ephemeral interest, may be consulted. The chairman says that not a word of faultfinding had been heard. Every day as he saw the use made of the library he felt more convinced of the great benefit it was to the place. It was used by exactly the class of people for whom it was intended, and they had been able to provide books, not only for amusement, but also for instruction.

KINGSTON-ON-THAMES.

Much has been said in this volume about the unwisdom of endeavouring to adapt old buildings for the purposes of a Public Library, except under special circumstances which do at times present themselves. The following is a paragraph given without comment from the "Kingston News" of February 14, 1891, and referring to some proposed alterations:-" It is estimated that at least £2,000 will be required to meet the contemplated outlay on Clattern House to prepare it for the purposes of the free library, and for the use of officers of the Town Council. Judging from the experience of the past, if £2,000 is now reckoned on as being sufficient, an additional £500 may be put on to it. And then what will the town have for the money? An old building totally

out of keeping with the requirements, patched up and pulled about, upon which there will be a constant necessity for the outlay of more money. That will be the Kingston Public Library, to be shown to the visitors who will be drawn to the ancient borough and the county town of Surrey, when the handsome pile of buildings to be erected by the County Council has arisen not far off! As the alterations contemplated come to be carried out, difficulties are almost certain to arise, and with them increased outlay; and before many years are over there will be a loud outcry against the unwisdom of those who spent money on such a place."

RICHMOND.

The tenth report issued in June, 1891, does much to maintain the character of the work being done. Richmond came second in the adoption of the Act in and near London. The place before it was Westminster, so that Richmond has fulfilled a most important place in educating the metropolitan and suburban districts. Among the classification of the new borrowers there are 2 actors, 19 army and navy officers, 19 artists, 2 authors, 10 barristers and solicitors, 2 botanists, 25 civil servants, 12 clergymen, 6 journalists, 10 medical men, 5 music teachers and musicians, 9 photographers, 47 schoolmasters and teachers, and 3 scientists. It will thus be seen that in accordance with the fitness of things in a place like Richmond, the professions are strongly represented. There were 110 students and scholars. The working-classes are also very well represented.

WILLESDEN.

The districts around London governed by Local Boards are coming out exceedingly well. The movement here was not of long duration, but at the same time very decisive. The "Middlesex Courier," the leading local paper, gave an active advocacy of the question. After the presentation of the requisition an appeal for the adoption of the Acts was printed by them, and in this the writer said: "We know, and everybody else knows, where too many of the leisure hours of the middle-class part of the population are spent, and the attractions of a clean, well-lighted, and comfortable reading-room may be set against the tawdriness of the publichouse bar, or the vice laden air of the billiard-room and the skittlealley. At the public-house a man wastes his time, his money, and his morals; at the reading-room he uses his time well and improves his morals, while it is extremely likely that he will be increasing his wage-earning capacity. The public-house is the ante-room of the gaol, while the library is the doorway of the knowledge which is power-power for success, for prosperity, and for honour. The public-house is the high road to perdition; the library the wicket of truth. To provide an institution which shall draw away from the drinking bar the men of the nation is something, but to show them the pleasant path-ways of truth along the high road of knowledge is more, and it is being done-done in scores of

towns throughout England, and done in many a metropolitan parish-with most conspicuous success, and with remarkable freedom of any approach to an abuse of the privilege provided out of the public funds for the public good." In the latter part of February this year the vote was taken, and resulted in a majority of 1,187 out of a poll of 6,620. In June the committee appointed to take into consideration and report upon suitable sites for three libraries, sent up their report. It is proposed that one Public Library shall be erected in North or South Kilburn, another at Harlesden, and a third at Willesden Green. There is every probability that two of the three sites required will be presented, but in regard to Kilburn the committee reported that the surveyor to the local board had been in communication with the agents of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, who were prepared to dispose of a site, with a frontage of 50 feet to Salisbury Road, for the erection of a library, at the rate of £6 per foot. The committee recommended that steps be taken by the board to acquire this site, and intimated that negotiations are proceeding for two further sites, in Willesden Lane and Acton Lane, as to which further report would be made. The report of the committee was adopted.

WIMBLEDON.

The library here is in a good building designed for the purpose. Each year there is an increase in the number of borrowers, and the appearance of activity presented by the library, especially in the evening, must be cheering to all who took an interest in the formation of this institution.

WOOD GREEN.

Here, too, as at Willesden, there has been a short but energetic canvass, resulting in July, 1891, in a vote of two to one in favour of the Acts. Mr. W. Mawer championed the movement, and worked well. A meeting was called by the opponents, and the question was discussed in an amicable manner. But an amendment to the effect that Wood Green should adopt the Acts was carried at the meeting. The cost of the poll was a little short of £19. The network around London will soon be complete at this rate of progress.

PART II.

T

CHAPTER XVII.

Public Library Committees and Commissioners.

HE majority of the members of these bodies are acutely sensible of the purposes and work of Public Libraries. Too often, however, the constitution of the committee is such as tends rather to hinder the work of these institutions than to help it, and it is most essential that town councils and other governing bodies should see to it that only men in sympathy with the work and who will give the necessary time to it are elected. It must be acknowledged that town councillors are seldom bookmen but always politicians; and in not a few cases the penny in the pound for the library is regarded as unproductive and useless, and with them the time spent in attending committees is looked upon as time lost, and not infrequently the business is hurried over and little thought bestowed upon it. Wherever the political element prevails, no matter on which side it may be, there is sure to be congestion, and it may be unhesitatingly stated that the Public Library governed by a committee whose work and deliberations are always tinged with a political bias is as good as lost. There is no part of the operations of a town council or other governing body which ought to be more removed from a political cast and character than in connection with these libraries. They are institutions supported by all classes, for the benefit of all, and should be administered in the interests of all. It is impossible for this to be so, if political prejudice and idiosyncrasies are perpetually influencing the decisions of those who control them.

The library committee's minutes ought not to be necessarily submitted to the council for confirmation, as the burgess members having no vote in the meetings of the Town Council or vestry their deliberations are liable to be negatived, and their time thrown away. The book-lovers on the committee, therefore, are apt to stay away, and thus the library may go down. Another result of a preponderance of council members is that the chairman is nearly always chosen because he is a member of the corporation, and it sometimes happens