that it was wholly uncertain what was really the result of the voting. It was stated, for instance, that no voting papers were sent to the ratepayers of the outlying district of Muswell Hill, who, it was suggested, would be likely to vote against the adoption of the Acts, as they were too far off to benefit by it. Moreover it was suggested that the overseers were the "prescribed local authorities to conduct the voting. It was stated in the affidavits that the voting papers had not been properly collected; that some which were marked "No" were not reckoned. Upon these grounds Mr. Jelf, Q.C. (with Mr. P. S. Stokes), moved on the part of several ratepayers for a rule for a quo warranto to question the election, and in the result he obtained a rule calling on the commissioners appointed to show cause why a writ of quo warranto should not issue commanding them to show by what authority they exercise the office of commissioners under the Public Libraries Acts for the parish of St. James and St. John, Clerkenwell, upon the grounds (1) that the vestry and guardians or governors of the poor were not the prescribed local authority for the said parish for ascertaining the opinion of the majority of the ratepayers of the parish under the Public Libraries Acts; (2) that a voting paper was not issued to each ratepayer as required by the Acts; (3) that the voting papers issued were not properly collected; (4) that a scrutiny of the votes had been refused, though lawfully demanded; (5) that even if the proper authority acted, and the voting papers were properly issued and collected, this result was not properly ascertained within the meaning of the Acts. Their lordships granted a rule nisi.

On May 15, 1888, the matter came again forward, and was adjourned. Then in June the question was argued out at length, and the report occupies some six columns of newspaper matter. The case was heard before Mr. Justice Field and Mr. Justice Wills as to whether the former ruling of rule nisi should not be reversed. Mr. Justice Field, in giving judgment, said it was objected that voting papers were not sent to each ratepayer; that they were not properly collected; and that a scrutiny was refused; and that even if these conditions had been properly complied with, the result had not been properly ascertained in the meaning of the Acts. Anxious as he was always to secure purity of election, he could not come to the conclusion that there was any improper or unfair dealing on the part of the promoters of the Public Library in this instance. There was a substantial majority of ratepayers in favour of the project, and there was nothing to show that the election had been otherwise than fairly and honourably conducted. Mr. Justice Wills concurred. The rule was accordingly discharged.

It was held by the Judge that voters who declared for a library subject to the limitation of the rate to one halfpenny are committed to the penny rate if the majority have agreed to the higher figure. The effect of this decision may be to diminish the number of favourable votes in the first category, but it is only right that the strict conditions of the appeal should be understood. It has

also been clearly laid down that the actual voters bind the whole parish or district, whatever proportion they may bear to the whole number of ratepayers.

In one Lancashire district, in December, 1888, counsel's opinion was obtained on the levying of the rate, and Dr. Pankhurst gave it as his opinion that the Local Board had full power to levy such rate, and had full power at any time after the adoption of the Acts.

In the metropolis the extension of Public Libraries has been much checked by reason of the area prescribed being the parish. While some of the large metropolitan parishes constitute a suitable area, a feeling has prevailed in some of the smaller ones that if a Public Library were established there the inhabitants of neighbouring parishes would practically share in the enjoyment of the benefits, though the whole expense would fall on the ratepayers of the individual parish. For various administrative purposes the parishes are already grouped in district boards, and it has been suggested that the adoption of Public Libraries would be much encouraged by permitting the area adopted to be either the parish or the district as may be preferred. Accordingly, the principal Act of 1855 is modified so as to enable the district board of works as well as the parish to establish a Public Library. The expense is to be defrayed out of the fund at the disposal of the district board. Special provision is made for exempting from a library rate metropolitan parishes which have already established a Public Library or may hereafter do so, the powers of parishes to establish a library being kept alive.

New regulations are made with regard to the borrowing of money by a library authority, and the powers and duties of the Treasury with regard to sanctioning loans, &c., are transferred from the Treasury to the Board of Trade.

In the Amendment Act of 1889 a useful amendment was effected. Hitherto the expenses of calling and holding the meeting of the ratepayers to decide whether the Public Libraries Acts shall be adopted or not, and the expenses of carrying those Acts into execution in any parish, have been paid "out of a rate to be made and recovered in a like manner as a poor rate." Now, those expenses are to be paid out of a rate to be raised with and as part of the poor rate. Hitherto every person occupying lands used as arable, meadow, or pasture ground only, or as woodlands, or market gardens, or nursery grounds, has been rated in respect of the same in the proportion of one-third part only of the full net annual value thereof respectively; now, such a person will be entitled to an allowance of two-thirds of the sum assessed upon him in respect of such lands for such expenses. More serviceable still is the provision now made for securing a joint library for several parishes. It is now to be lawful for the commissioners appointed under the Acts for any two or more adjoining parishes, with the consent of the vestries of such parishes, from time to time to agree to share, in such proportions and for such period as may be determined by the agreement, the cost of the purchase,

erection, repair, and maintenance of any library building situate in one of such parishes, and also the cost of the purchase of books, periodicals, and newspapers for such library, and all other expenses connected with the same; and the inhabitants of both or all the parishes, as the case may be, will be entitled to use the library so long as the agreement shall continue in force. And any such agreement may provide that upon its termination an adjustment shall be made of the interests of the several commissioners in the library, building books, and other property to which they have contributed, and as to the mode in which such adjustment shall be reached. Further than this, poundage for collection of the library rate is now quite illegal.

Among other points to be discussed in the framing of a Consolidation Bill will be the following:

The necessity of making it absolute law, and not a matter of local favour, to have Public Libraries exempt from local and imperial taxation.

That the law of Mortmain shall not apply to Public Libraries. That the rate be allowed on the gross, and not on the ratable, value.

That all public documents shall be presented free of all cost. That British Museum duplicates and South Kensington loans be only to rate-supported Libraries and Museums.

Taking the power out of the hands of the ratepayers for the adoption of the Acts, and transferring it to the governing body. The citizens would still have a voice through their representatives. This would often save the expense of a poll, and there would be other gains.

That loans for buildings be for a period of fifty instead of thirty years.

That loans be permitted for works of art, and objects for museums, as well as for sites, buildings, and fittings.

The power to enforce the rate immediately after the adoption of the Acts.

That committees shall be permitted to make such charges, for renewals of borrower's cards, &c., as they deem necessary. There is a doubt whether, as the Acts are worded, such charges are legal.

Clauses giving facilities to rural districts to affiliate with the nearest town for the supply of books and general library work. The maintaining of the rate at a penny for Public Libraries as at present, and a further penny for museums and art galleries. The Museums and Gymnasiums Act of 1891, printed in the Appendix, allows a halfpenny to be levied for museums, and legalises the charges made for admission. The halfpenny is a beginning, but the full penny is needed.

CHAPTER XXII.

The Case for Rural Public Libraries.

N every preceding issue of this work the urgent need for something being done for public libraries in villages has been put forward. The progress of this movement in the metropolis and provincial towns is apparent everywhere, but in the rural districts there has been little or nothing done to adopt the Acts. The question has, indeed, been discussed in many villages, and letters are constantly being received asking if nothing can be done towards establishing these institutions in villages. There is no wonder that residents in the rural districts should look with longing eyes upon the provision being made to supply literature to the townspeople, and feel that there is something wrong in the state of Denmark if villages cannot have like advantages. In England there is only one single adoption of the Acts in a place with a population of less than 5,000, in Scotland there are about three, and, taking the four counties, there is practically only one place, Tarves in Scotland, with its population of 2,400, which can be said to be purely rural that has a Public Library under the Acts. The nearest approach to it is Much Woolton, near Liverpool. Surely this is a serious matter. The number of villages throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland is represented by many thousands, and the towns by hundreds, and yet out of all this plethora one only or two, to include Woolton, have seen their way clear to avail themselves of these Acts.

The book needs of our English villages were never greater than at the present time. Much has been said of late about the making of village life brighter and more interesting, in order that the people may be induced to remain in the rural districts, and so stem to some extent the tide of centralization which has during recent years flowed so rapidly into the towns. The whole subject lies closer to the roots of our national well-being than is generally thought. The parson and the squire have, between them, done much to choke village life, and now existence in many rural districts is, for the rank and file of humanity, very dull and uninteresting. Human nature rebels against remaining in the vicinity of boredom longer than can be helped, and hence one of the reasons why so many country people take the first chance of removing into towns. If it were not for the everextending number of organizations, an association for the encouragement of village life might be started, and would accomplish good. But a few earnest men with a given object in view and nothing to gain could in course of time do just as much useful service. The multiplication of books and reading-rooms will, on all hands, be looked upon as among the facilities which would help to make village life brighter. Many districts are struggling with village clubs and reading-rooms, but the saddest reading

of reports for years has been the annual statement of the accounts of some of these village reading-rooms. A large percentage of these institutions scarcely seem to mature to full and active life. Of village museums supported out of the rates there is not one. And yet it cannot be said that many villages would not welcome in their midst libraries and museums as free to them as their highways, and supported in the same way, if the step were practicable. The small yield of the penny rate for maintenance presents, however, an insurmountable barrier at present, and the politician who will solve the problem of how to aid by Government grant villages to maintain municipal libraries and museums will rank with the Ewarts, Cobdens, and Brights as a public benefactor.

The grouping of two or more villages together as suggested, and made possible by two small recent Acts of Parliament, scarcely meets the difficulty, as the villages are in so many cases scattered over an area which geographically makes such a combination a remote possibility. Yet it is as desirable that the outlying rural labourer should have books within reach, as that they should be put in the way of the people in the East-end of London. The decreasing of the area, which must now consent to pay a penny in the pound, may make some way out of the difficulty, but even that is not very certain. Hundreds of villages are absolutely without any facilities for book borrowing, except from the libraries of Sunday schools, and the books in these are usually of so unsuitable a character for general reading that it would be well if many of them were placed in a dark cupboard and charitably forgotten.

Something has been done in a few rural districts in the supplying of books by workmen's clubs, but the extension of the franchise to counties cannot fail to vastly extend the reading of books in the country, and this increased demand can only be met adequately by a Public Library. Much interesting information is given in the Duchess of Rutland's "Reading and Recreation Rooms and Public Libraries," and "Encouraging Experiences of Public Libraries, Reading and Recreation Rooms,' as to what has been, and is still being done in the providing of village libraries and reading-rooms. How to make life pleasant in the country is a problem of far greater importance than is apparent on the face of it. This drifting away into the nearest large town, or, worse still, the metropolis, to swell the millions here of the youth of both sexes, is fraught with much that is not conducive to the best welfare of the nation. It will be a sorry day for dear old England when the homely virtues of its people, the simplicity in methods of living and in personal habits, become weakened and made less prominent by the contaminating influences of life in the large towns.

What is the destiny of village communities? Are they moving with the times or no? Certainly it cannot be said that they are progressing as fast as the well-organized town communities. And of the more remote villages the unpalatable truth is that they are