appoint, and the members of the committee are not required to be members of the council.

(b.) In DISTRICTS. The board or trustees acting in the execution of the Improvement Act, or a committee appointed by them; also local boards under the Local Government Act, 1858. (c.) In PARISHES. Not less than three nor more than nine commissioners, to be appointed by the vestry, are constituted a body corporate for the purposes of the Act, under the name of "The Commissioners for Public Libraries and Museums for the Parish of in the County of

The vestry can elect other than those on the vestry to serve, and this is in all cases advisable.

6. The council, board, magistrates, or commissioners are empowered to borrow money at interest, on the security of a mortgage or bond of the borough funds, or general district rate, or of the rate levied under the Act; and the provisions of the Companies Clauses, and the Lands Clauses Consolidation Acts, 1845, are incorporated with the Public Libraries Act.

The Amendment Act of 1884 (47 & 48 Vict. c. 37) empowers any authority acting under the Public Libraries Acts to accept a grant from the Committee of Council on Education towards the purchase of sites or the provision of premises or furniture for schools of science or art.

7. When two or more neighbouring parishes combine for the purposes of the Act, each parish is to appoint not more than three commissioners, and the commissioners for the several parishes are to form one body corporate, and to act together in the execution of the Act. The expenses of carrying the Act into operation are to be borne by the parishes in such proportions as they may mutually approve.

8. Upon receiving the report of the presiding officer, the district authority shall cause the result of the poll to be made public in such manner as they shall think fit. This will, as a rule, be by means of an advertisement in the usual local papers.

The amount of intimidation which goes on when the vote on this question is being taken is at times perfectly amazing. In the autumn of 1888, when the vote was being taken in Hull, it was stated before the stipendiary that there were whole streets where opponents had induced wives of absent fishermen to vote against the Acts, and themselves aided to fill up the voting papers. A charge of forgery was instituted, and the case was brought home to the party. The most common cases of intimidation are where landlords of property in cases where the tenants have compounded for their rates threaten that in case the Acts are adopted they will advance the rents. In some cases the threat has gone to the extent of saying that threepence or even sixpence a week would be added to the rent. It is not quite clear as to whether the Corrupt Practices Act does or does not apply to these cases, but the point has not yet been threshed out in the Law Courts. In any instance where the evidence is clear of such intimidation the writer will be glad if the facts are placed before him.

CHAPTER IX.

Public Libraries in the Northern Counties.

T is in the northern and midland counties that we have to look for the best development of the Public Library movement up to the present time. The spirit of emulation is, however, abroad, and in another ten years the metropolis and some of the western counties will, there is reason to think, have made so much progress that they will be in line in every way with those of the north and midlands. But it was in the north of England that the movement first entered the soil, and it is here that its roots have most widely spread and the work has been carried on with the greatest vigour. Some of the modern geographies are beginning to split up the forty counties of England differently to the arrangement in the older books, but for present purposes and in order to adjust the length of the chapters the division of the counties is not on all-fours with the recognized school books. The counties here dealt with are Northumberland, Durham, Yorkshire, Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Lancashire, and the towns are named alphabetically where it is thought necessary to call attention to the work. It has been already stated that the time does not appear to have yet arrived when Public Libraries ought to be made the subject of unsparing criticism. The real national interest in these institutions is as yet only a few years old, and whilst the largest and best of the libraries are doing a work which will bear the closest examination, there are others which have to struggle with difficulties and surroundings which hamper and harass their work. These hindrances may arise from various causes. But it becomes increasingly evident that the tone of the work comes chiefly from the librarian unless his hands are tied by a captious committee. It is not a pleasant statement to make, but nevertheless a true one, that some librarians are so very unbusinesslike in their methods that the wonder would be if the libraries under their charge were particularly successful. These cases are, however, not numerous, and are becoming less so. It not infrequently happens that, even in libraries where the management is not quite what it should be, the use made of the building and the books grows by leaps and bounds, so that even in spite of adverse circumstances the work is successful. It is a truth which cannot be too often reiterated, that the same qualities which go to make a man successful in other walks of life invariably produce a librarian whose work possesses spirit and energy. The ranks of librarians who are deeply in touch with the purposes and possibilities of their work are being constantly enlarged, and so long as this is so there need be no fear as to the future of these institutions.

It has been, of course, impossible to mention more than a limited number. Some will, perhaps, argue that the work of many Public Libraries differs so little that it was unnecessary to mention more

than a limited number of representative libraries. But the main object in view is the promotion of the movement, and to bring as many side lights to bear upon it as possible. In districts where it is sought to adopt the Acts the work of libraries in adjacent and similar sized towns and districts to the place where the movement is in progress is quoted, and it is with a desire to aid these that so many places have been named in these chapters. There is the further desire to prevent so many librarians from being disappointed at their own place being left unmentioned. Nearly all the places where the Acts have of late years been adopted are named in the present and chapters immediately following, but all are, in any case, in the table of statistics at the end to which reference will require to be made for the actual figures indicating the current state of each library. It is a pleasure to be able to record several adoptions of the Acts since the issue of the last edition.

ASHTON-UNDER-Lyne.

The library here has for some time struggled to carry on an increasing work in rooms in the Town Hall, which are not at all adequate to its requirements. The committee, however, saw a year ago an end to their troubles on this account, for on April 10th, 1890, a letter was read at the Town Council meeting from the trustees of the late George Heginbottom, offering the gift of £10,000 for the erection of a Public Library and Technical School for the town. It was the generosity of this gentleman which led to the Acts being adopted in 1880. He left them £500 towards the formation of a Public Library, but which amount, if not used within five years, was to go towards the advancement of the Mechanics' Institute. This donation roused the Corporation and the burgesses. They went into the matter thoroughly, and it soon assumed a practical shape. To this new gift, made a year ago by the trustees, there was only one condition attached, and this was that the whole of the money was to be expended on the building itself. The Corporation must purchase the land and provide the necessary furniture. The £10,000 will be laid out on the building and on such fixtures in the way of shelving, &c., as are attached to the freehold. It is obvious that with so large a sum a very handsome structure will be erected, and that is precisely what is being done. The moment the preliminaries were arranged they went into the matter with praiseworthy energy and acumen. Messrs. John Eaton & Son, of the town, are the architects. The style of the building being erected is after the early English style of architecture, and it is mainly divided into two sections. One will be the Public Library, and the other portion will be the Technical Schools. The whole building will practically consist of a basement floor and first and second floors. The library accommodation will be ample, and all the books will be arranged on the same method as at the British Museum. The books will be arranged in cases round the

sides and in the body of the room, so that quick and easy access can be had to any volume required. On June 6th, 1891, the corner stones were laid, and the occasion was made a red-letter day in the history of the borough. Where a Technical School is being combined with a Public Library, and the ground space is ample, the style of building and the arrangement of the rooms may with safety be copied. The accommodation provided in the basement will be for a large store-room extending under the whole of the library, and large class-rooms, in which may be taught carpentry, plumbing, cooking, turnery, &c. The ground floor is to be devoted to the purposes of the Library and Technical School, having a library 68ft. by 30ft., with an open timbered roof. Here also will be the paper and magazine room, 38ft. by 22ft.; reference library, 30ft. by 22ft.; ladies' reading-room, 24ft. by 22ft.; committee room, and spacious hall, with provision for the distribution of books. On this floor also are to be the various technical class-rooms. There will be a chemical laboratory 44ft. by 22ft., fully fitted with apparatus; a lecture theatre to seat sixty or seventy students; a professors' preparation room; and a class-room, which may be used for dyeing, metallurgy, theoretical spinning, weaving, &c. The upper floor, to which access will be gained by a stone staircase, will be devoted chiefly to art purposes. The science and art department are expected to contribute a portion towards the cost of the technical instruction department. A view of the building appears as a frontispiece.

BARNSLEY.

Barnsley adopted the Acts in 1890. Some years ago the question was first mooted by Mr. Alexander Paterson, the editor of the " Barnsley Chronicle," and there was then a very strong feeling against a Public Library in certain quarters. When the question came again forward, it was entirely the other way, and there was absolute unanimity. A public hall was erected in the town some years ago, and this was so unsuccessful that the company came to bankruptcy, and the hall, offices, and some other effects became a white elephant to the creditors. After various suggestions had been advanced as to the uses to which the hall might be put, the whole block of buildings came to the hammer, and was purchased by Mr. Charles Harvey, J.P., who with commendable public spirit offered the hall to the town for the purpose of a Public Library, making the wise proviso that the Acts should be adopted. This gift represented an actual money value of not less than from £10,000 to £12,000. After the necessary alterations, decorating and fitting up, which in all cost about £600, subscribed chiefly by the townspeople, the Marquis of Ripon formally declared the building open in July, 1890. In the course of a thoughtful address, the speaker wished that all boroughs throughout the country would follow the example of Barnsley in the adoption of the Acts. He believed Public Libraries to be a most important part of their educational system, and that they ought to exist as widely as possible. They had established

amongst them now a system of primary education which, although he was far from saying that it might not be capable of improvement, had within the last twenty years brought elementary education within the reach of all the population of the country. But the time during which children remained in the elementary schools was far too limited sometimes, and it required to be supplemented and continued, and the great problem of the day, in respect to educational matters, was how they could continue the benefit of the primary education given in the elementary schools, and how they could best build upon the foundation which was there laid down. The continuation of their education might be said to be of two kinds-a continuation in time and a continuation in study. Children left school so early that unless some means were found of carrying on the education which they had been receiving, they were apt to lose all the benefit that they had already derived, and therefore there was a need for that continuation in time which was afforded by evening schools. But there was also a need of continuation in study, by which he meant that the opportunity should be given to those who had most profited by the instruction in the elementary schools to advance to higher branches of study. That could only be done by such means as those which were afforded by University Extension Lectures and methods of that description. But the whole of these efforts for the further education of their children after they left the primary schools rested as its foundation upon their having brought within their reach the books which were necessary for their study and the means of easy reference to those books. Therefore it seemed to him that the establishment of a good library was essential in the principal centres of population, aye, and in those which they might be accustomed to think of, in those populous neighbourhoods, as but small centres of population. Later on in his address he said that he recognized heartily that one of the most useful purposes of a Public Library was that it should be a place of rational recreation, where men and women could go and obtain books for their reading which would afford them some relief and enjoyment in the midst of their hard-working lives. He looked upon that as an end in itself highly to be recognized, and as one of the most useful objects of an institution of that sort; because, in days like these, when there was so much hard, dreary, and monotonous work in the world, when the time of men was taken up by the labour which was forced upon them by this fierce battle of modern competition, it was of vast importance that there should be the means offered to persons of all classes that would afford them some opportunity of brightening their lives, and relieving the monotony of the conditions which pressed upon all men who were engaged in work in these times.

The institution is now in full operation, and its success is more than assured. Efforts are being made to establish a branch of the National Home Reading Union, in order to encourage a systematic study of some of the standard books in the library.