exemption. On the other hand they have an equitable right, for they ought to be placed in no worse position than private institutions, since their objects are identical and their usefulness more general. Moreover, the sum at the disposal of the authority (which must cover rent or repayment of principal and interest) is already felt to be unnecessarily limited. And this equitable view has been entertained in many towns very favourably where the Assessment Committee have fixed a nominal sum as the amount at which the buildings are to be rated (see the list of buildings partially exempt).

In Greig v. University of Edinburgh (L. R. 1, H. L. (Sc.) 348) it was decided that University property, though dedicated to public purposes, being neither wholly nor in part held by the Crown, is rateable.

Museums and Gymnasiums. See The Museums and Gymnasiums Act, 1891, page 87.

ACQUISITION OF LAND.

Section 19. "The Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845," shall be incorporated with this Act; but the Council, Board, and Commissioners respectively shall not purchase or take any lands otherwise than by agreement.

XX. PUBLIC LIBRARIES ACTS AMENDMENT ACT, 1890. Power to Grant Charity Lands for Library Purposes.

Section 8. Any person holding land for ecclesiastical, parochial, or charitable purposes may, subject as herein-after provided, grant, convey,

or enfranchise by way of gift, sale, or exchange for any of the purposes of the Libraries Acts, any quantity of such land, not exceeding in any one case one acre, in any manner vested in such person.

Provided that no ecclesiastical property shall be granted or conveyed for such purposes without the consent of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England; that no parochial property shall be so granted or conveyed save by the guardians of the Poor Law Union comprising the Parish to which the property belongs, or without the consent of the Local Government Board; and that no other charitable property shall be so granted or conveyed without the consent of the Charity Commissioners; and the land taken in exchange or the moneys received for such sale shall be held on the same trusts as the land exchanged or sold. Provided also that land situated in the Metropolis, or in any town of over twenty thousand inhabitants which is held on trusts to be preserved as an open space, or on trusts which prohibit building thereon, shall not be granted or conveyed for the purposes of this Act.

Any land granted or conveyed to any library authority under this Section may be held by such authority without any license in mortmain.

NOTE. It is not deemed necessary purposes for the of this Manual to insert the provisions of the Lands Clauses Act.

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. ld. 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

assessed to any rate, page 19. (2) The majority is now "more than one-half". See Section 5 of the Act of 1866, page 21. (3) The Lord Mayor is the "presiding officer" for the City of London, and he will now act according to the directions of Schedule 1 of the Act of 1890, see page 30. (4) The City of London is excepted from the penny limit (see Section 3 of Act of 1890, page 21), but the voters may prescribe the limits in that Section mentioned.

ADMISSION.

Section 25. The admission to all Libraries and Museums established under this Act shall be open to the public free of all charge.

PRACTICAL POINTS.

WHO MAY USE THE FREE LIBRARY?-The only answer to this question which appears in the Acts is found in Section 25, viz., "the public"; but it is apprehended that the Committee may make regulations under Section 21, so as to exclude non-residents in the Borough or District. At Chesterfield the Town Council have decided that non-residents of the Borough shall be allowed to use the Free Library subject to conditions. See Section 3 of the Act of 1889, page 46, as to a joint Library for several Parishes, where the use of the Library, &c., is limited to "the inhabitants" of the Parishes.

EXTENT OF ACT.

Section 26. This Act shall not extend to Ireland or Scotland.

MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS.

BEQUESTS.

Smee v. Smee and Brighton Corporation. Bequest in favour of a Free Public Library held void on the ground that testator was of unsound mind when he made the will (49 L. J., P. D. A. 8; L. R., 5 P. D. 84; 44 J. P. 220).

Harrison v. Southampton Mayor. 8 and 9 Vict., c. 43, extended by 13 and 14 Vict., c. 65 [and further extended by 18 and 19 Vict., c. 70]. A statute authorising a devise of land for a public purpose will be taken to include a bequest of money for the purchase of land. The court will put a liberal construction on an Act which legalises the gift of property for laudable purposes (23 L. J. Ch. 9. 19. 2Sm. and G. 387. 23 L. T. (O. S.) 330). The following form of bequest may be useful::

I BEQUEATH the sum of

to the [Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses acting by the Council of the Borough of or the Local Board for the District of

Commissioners of

or the Free Library

or as the case may be] to be applied

by such [Council or Board or Commissioners] for the purposes of the Free Library and Museum, or either of them, and I