SALE OF LANDS.

Section 20. The Council, Board, and Commissioners aforesaid respectively may, with the like approval as is required for the purchase of lands (1), sell any lands vested in the Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses, or Board, or Commissioners respectively, for the purposes of this Act, or exchange the same for any lands better adapted for the purposes; and the moneys to arise from such sale, or to be received for equality of exchange, or a sufficient part thereof, shall be applied in or towards the purchase of other lands better adapted for such purposes.

NOTE.-(1) See Section 18, page 59.

GENERAL MANAGEMENT.

Section 21. The general management, regulation, and control of such Libraries and Museums, Schools for Science and Art, shall be, as to any Borough, vested in and exercised by the Council, and as to any District in and by the Board, and as to any Parish or Parishes in and by the Commissioners, or such Committee as such Council or Board may from time to time appoint, the members whereof need not be members of the Council or Board, or be Commissioners, who may from time to time purchase and provide the necessary fuel, lighting, and other similar matters, books, newspapers, maps, and specimens of Art and Science, for the use of the Library or Museum, or School, and cause the same to be bound or repaired when necessary, and appoint salaried officers and servants, and dismiss the same, and make rules and regulations for the safety and use of the Libraries and Museums, and Schools, and for the admission of the public.

NOTE.-See Section 10 (1) of the Act of 1887, page 47, as to the Metropolis.

PRACTICAL POINTS AND CASES.

FINES FOR DETENTION OF BOOKS.-In the Nottingham County Court proceedings were taken against a borrower for fines amounting to 7s. 1d. for detention of a book. An order for payment of the sum claimed, together with costs, was made. In this case the defendant had signed an acknowledgment of the rules framed under this Section regulating the user and borrowing of books before being entered as a borrower. One of the rules required books to be returned within a prescribed time or a fine of so much per week would become payable, and the proceedings were taken to enforce the fine.--(Nottingham Corporation v. Abbott.)

The like proceedings have been taken at Gateshead.

The following is a copy of the information in a case taken at Richmond with which the librarian has favoured the editors, viz. :—“ Did unlawfully and without just cause detain a certain book, to wit, of the value of . . . to the possession of which the said [librarian's name] claims to be entitled after due notice of his claim to the same". This information was laid under a Metropolitan Act (2 and 3 Vict., c. 71, s. 40).

COMMITTEE.—The question whether the Committee appointed under Section 21 has power to act without obtaining the approval of the body appointing it is one upon which opinion and practice are divided. It is to be observed that the powers and duties of the Committee when appointed are limited to the matters named in the Section, so that it will have no power to levy a rate, and there is nothing in the Act to prevent the Council or Board retaining the right to exercise control over the Committee's proceedings. In Parishes it would appear that the Commissioners have no power to appoint a Committee, as the Section only gives authority to "such Council or Board," and the provision that the members of the Committee "need not be Commissioners" (if this view is correct) is a superfluity. In Boroughs the matter is complicated by the provision in Section 4, that when adopted the Act is to "be carried into execution in accordance with the laws for the time being in force relating to the Municipal Corporation of such Borough".

Section 22 of the Municipal Corporation Act, 1882, requires the Acts of every Committee to be submitted to the Council for approval, and the order of the Council is required for the payment of all expenses charged on the Borough Fund by any Act of Parliament, or otherwise by law (Schedule 5 (11)). It is suggested that if the Committee is distinctly appointed under the Free Libraries Acts their proceedings will not require approval, except for the payment of expenses where the payments are to be made out of the Borough Fund.

The co-optative members (if any are appointed) would appear to have the same powers as members of the authority when acting on the Committee.

VESTING OF PROPERTY.

Section 22. The lands and buildings so to be appropriated, purchased, or rented as aforesaid, and all other real and personal property whatever presented to or purchased for any Library or Museum established under this Act, or School, shall be vested, in the case of a Borough, in the Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses, in the case of a District, in the Board, and in the case of a Parish or Parishes, in the Commissioners.

NOTE.-See Section 10 (1) of the Act of 1887, page 47, as to the Metropolis.

WHERE ADOPTION OF ACTS DETERMINED AGAINST.

Section 23. If any meeting called as aforesaid to determine as to the adoption of this Act for any Borough, District, or Parish shall determine against the adoption, no meeting for a similar purpose shall be held for the space of one year at least from the time of holding the previous meeting.

NOTE.-This Section is repealed by the Act of 1890, see Schedule 2, but see Section 5 of that Act, page 22.

CITY OF LONDON.

Section 24. The Lord Mayor of the City of London shall, on the request of the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Commons of the City of London, in Common Council assembled, convene a public meeting in manner herein-before mentioned (1) of all persons rated and assessed to the Consolidated Rate (1 (a)) in the City of London, in order to determine whether this Act shall be adopted in the said City; and if at such meeting (1) [two-thirds (2)] of such persons then present shall determine that this Act ought to be adopted for the City of London, the same shall thenceforth take effect and come into operation in the City of London, and shall be carried into execution in accordance with the laws for the time being in force relating to the City of London: Provided always that the resolution of such public meeting, signed by the Lord Mayor (3), shall be reported to the said Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Commons, in Common Council assembled, and entered on the minutes thereof, and that such entry shall be evidence; the expenses incurred in calling and holding the meeting (1), whether this Act shall be adopted or not, and the expenses of carrying this Act into execution in the City of London, shall be paid out of the Consolidated Rate, and the Commissioners of Sewers of the City of London may levy a part of the Consolidated Rate, or, by a separate Rate, to be assessed and recovered in like manner as the Consolidated Rate, all moneys from time to time necessary for defraying such expenses, and distinct accounts shall be kept of the receipts, payments, and liabilities of the said Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Commons with reference to the execution of the Act (4).

NOTES.-(1) See the provisions of the Act of 1890, page 22. The public references to the meeting must now be taken as applying to the ascertaining of the opinion of the voters. (1(a)) See Section 1 of the Act of 1890 as to the construction of references to persons

as regards Ireland, provide for the erection of buildings "suitable for Public Libraries, or Museums, or both, or for Schools for Science or Art":

And whereas Section 10 of the Public Libraries Act (Scotland), 1867, provides for the erection of buildings "suitable for Public Libraries, Art Galleries, or Museums, or each respectively," and doubts are entertained as to the meaning of those provisions: Now, therefore, it is hereby declared and enacted that

Buildings may under the said sections be erected for Public Libraries, Public Museums, Schools for Science, Art Galleries, and Schools for Art, or for any one or more of those objects.

Addition of Institutions.

Section 3. (1) Where any of the following institutions, namely, a Public Museum, a Public Library, a School for Science and Art, a School for Science, a School for Art, or an Art Gallery has been established either before or after the passing of this Act under the Public Libraries Acts, or any of them, there may at any time be established in connection therewith any other of the said institutions without any further proceedings being taken under the said Acts.

XVI. PUBLIC LIBRARIES ACTS AMENDMENT ACT, 1887.

Branch Lending Library.

Section 5. The power to erect, establish, and maintain a Library, given by the Public Libraries Act, 1855 (herein-after called the principal Act), shall be extended so as to empower the library authority to establish and maintain a Lending Library without providing any separate building for containing the same, and to enable them to place such Lending Library under the care and superintendence of such person as they shall think fit, and in a building or room not appropriated for the purposes of the said Act, or erected, purchased, or rented by the library authority, and all the powers of the said Acts shall be applicable for the purposes of this Section.

XX. PUBLIC LIBRARIES ACTS AMENDMENT ACT, 1890.
As to the Metropolis.

Section 9. The power conferred upon the Board of any Improvement Act District by Section 18 of the Public Libraries Act, 1855, as amended by the Public Libraries Acts Amendment Act, 1887, of appropriating for the purposes of the first-mentioned Act any lands vested in them, shall extend to the Vestry of any Parish in the Metropolis, and to the Board of Works of any District therein, provided that such Act shall have been adopted in such Parish or District.

NOTES.-(1) Now the Local Government Board. See Section 8 of the Act of 1887, page 51. (2) See the extended meaning in Section 2 of the Act of 1884 above. (3) See the Directory of the Science and Art Department for the conditions upon which grants are

made towards the erection of premises and the conduct of classes and lectures (published annually, price sixpence, by Eyre & Spottiswoode, East Harding Street, Fleet Street, London, E.C.). Reference may usefully be made to a publication entitled Public Education in Cheshire, by John T. Brunner, M.P., and Thomas E. Ellis, M.P. (price one shilling, John Heywood, 1 Paternoster Buildings, London).

PRACTICAL POINTS AND CASES.

APPROPRIATION OF SITE. If the authority, with the consent of the Local Government Board, appropriates lands for the purposes of the Acts, they are not required to charge the penny rate with any rent or any purchase money. Query whether "lands" includes buildings. The power to "appropriate" is limited to the Council or Board.

A. G. v. Sunderland Corporation. Lands vested in Corporation for public pleasure grounds. Injunction granted to restrain the use of a part for erection of Town Offices, &c. Conservatory, Museum, and Library allowed. —(45 L. J. Ch. 839; L. R. ; 2 Ch. D. 634; 34 L. T. 921; 40 J. P. 364.) ERECTION OF BUILDINGS.—If money is borrowed for the purchase or erection of buildings, the repayments of principal and interest, being "for the purposes of this Act" (see Section 15) are payable out of the penny rate.

RATING OF FREE LIBRARIES AND MUSEUMS. -The institutions in the following towns are totally exempted from local rates, viz. :— Aston, Birkenhead, Birmingham, Blackburn, Brierly Hill, Cambridge, Canterbury, Carlton, Clitheroe, Coventry, Darlington, Derby, Doncaster, Exeter, Folkestone, Gateshead, Hanley, Harrogate, Kidderminster, Leek, Leicester, Loughborough, Macclesfield, Manchester, Newport, Northampton, Norwich, Plymouth, Richmond, Rochdale, Sheffield, Southampton, Southport, Truro, Warwick, Watford, Wednesbury, Whitehaven, Wigan, Winsford, Yarmouth, Aberdeen, Hawick, Thurso, Wick, Cardiff, Dundalk, Fulham, Lambeth, Westminster. The following are partially exempt :- Blackpool, Bolton, Bootle, Bristol, Fleetwood, Newcastle-on-Tyne, South Shields, Worcester. The statute 6 and 7 Vict., c. 36, sec. 1 provides that any society instituted for purposes of Science, Literature, or the Fine Arts exclusively, and occupying for the transaction of its business any lands, houses, or buildings, may obtain exemption from rates on certain conditions, viz.-(1) That the society claiming exemption is supported wholly or in part by annual voluntary contributions, and does not, and by its laws may not, make any dividend, gift, division, or bonus in money to its members; (2) That it obtains a certificate of exemption from, in England, the barrister appointed to certify the rules of Friendly Societies, or, in Scotland, from the Lord Advocate. On these provisions reference may be made to the cases collected in Chambers' Law relating to Public Libraries, and Museums, etc., at page 163. It is said in some towns that Free Libraries and Museums do not come within the terms of the Section quoted, since they are not supported "wholly or in part by annual voluntary contributions," and that they have no legal right to claim

and