See the General Note at Top of page 71. SCHOOLS OF ART. XV. THE PUBLIC LIBRARIES ACT, 1884. Section 1. Whereas doubts have arisen as to whether authorities acting under the Public Libraries Acts, have power to fulfil the conditions required for a Parliamentary grant in aid of the establishment of a School of Science and Art, and it is expedient to remove such doubts: It is therefore hereby declared and enacted that,- Where any authority acting under the Public Libraries Acts accepts a grant out of moneys provided by Parliament from any Committee of the Privy Council on Education towards the purchase of the site, or the erection, enlargement, or repair of any School for Science and Art, or School for Science, or School for Art, or of the residence of any teacher in such school, or towards the furnishing of any such school, such authority shall have power to accept such grant upon the conditions prescribed for the acceptance thereof by the said Committee, and to execute such instruments as may be required by the said Committee for carrying into effect such conditions, and upon payınent of the grant shall, together with their successors, be bound by such conditions and instrument, and have power and be bound to fulfil and observe the same. POWER TO ESTABLISH MUSEUM. XV. THE PUBLIC LIBRARIES ACT, 1884. Section 3. 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. NOTE. See Section 9 and amendments thereof, page 75. POWERS TO BORROW ON MORTGAGE. XIII. THE PUBLIC LIBRARIES (IRELAND) AMENDMENT Act, 1877, CAP. 15. Section 5. For carrying the principal Act and this Act into execution the Council, Board, or Commissioners respectively may, with the approval of the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, from time to time borrow, at interest, on the security of a mortgage or bond of the Borough Fund or the Town Fund, or of the rates levied in pursuance of the principal Act, such sums of money as may be by them respectively required, and the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland may from time to time advance and lend any such sums of money. The clauses and provisions of the See the General Note at Top of page 71. Companies Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845, with respect to the borrowing of money on mortgage or bond, and the accountability of officers, and the recovery of damages and penalties, so far as such provisions may respectively be applicable to the purposes of the principal Act and of this Act, shall be respectively incorporated therewith (a). (a) See these provisions, page 129. NOTE. PROPERTY OF LIBRARY, &c., TO BE VESTED IN COUNCIL, BOARD AND COMMISSIONERS RESPECTIVELY. 13. 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 or School of Science and Art(a) established under this Act, shall be vested, in the case of a Borough, in the Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses, and in the case of a Town in the Town Commissioners. NOTE. (a) Or School of Music (see Section 12 and amendments thereof, page 77). IF MEETING DETERMINE AGAINST ADOPTION OF ACT, NO FRESH MEETING TO BE CALLED FOR ONE YEAR. 14. If any meeting called as herein before provided to consider as to the adoption of this Act for any Borough or Town shall determine against such 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. LIBRARIES AND MUSEUMS TO BE FREE. 15. The admission to all Libraries and Museums established under this Act shall be open to the public free of all charge. THIS ACT TO BE INCORPORATED WITH LOCAL ACTS IN FORCE IN BOROUGH OR TOWN. 16. Upon the coming into operation of this Act in any Borough, it shall, as regards such Borough, be incorporated with the said Act of the Third and Fourth Victoria, Chapter one hundred and eight, and upon the coming into operation of this Act in any Town it shall, as regards such Town, be incorporated with the Act or Acts in force therein relating to the powers and duties of the Town Commissioners, ADDITIONAL POWERS OBTAINED BY LOCAL ACTS. Further powers in addition to those contained in the Public Libraries Acts have been obtained by Local Acts in many towns. The following extracts are published by the courtesy of the Town Clerks of Manchester and Sheffield, and may be serviceable :— THE MANCHESTER IMPROVEMENT ACT, 1871. 34 AND 35 VICTORIA, CAP. LXV. (LOCAL.) Power to make Bye-Laws as to Libraries, &c. 17. The Corporation may from time to time make bye-laws for all or any of the following purposes relating to the present or any future Public Library, Museum, or place of instruction, for the time being belonging to, or vested in, or under the control of the Corporation : For regulating the days on and hours at which the same shall be opened and closed, and for regulating the conduct of persons frequenting the same, and for protecting the same, and the books, maps, plans, newspapers, and other articles and matters, fixtures and fittings therein or thereto belonging, from injury or destruction : For enabling the servants of the Corporation to exclude or remove therefrom idle or disorderly persons, or persons not using such place for the purpose for which the same is intended, or being guilty of a breach of any bye-law relative thereto, or of any public law : For imposing penalties upon any person improperly obtaining, retaining, or disposing of any book, newspaper, or other article therefrom, or neglecting or refusing compliance with the terms of any guarantee or other document signed by him in relation thereto. Further Provisions as to such Bye-Laws. 18. The Corporation may, in and by any such last-mentioned bye-law, impose a penalty, for any offence, not exceeding five pounds, and for a continuing offence not exceeding that sum for every day during which the offence may continue; provided always that such bye-laws be so framed as to allow the justices before whom any penalty imposed may be sought to be recovered to order the whole or part only of such penalty to be paid. No such bye-law (except such as may relate solely to officers and servants of the Corporation) shall be valid or binding unless the same may be made and published and submitted to one of Her Majesty's principal Secretaries of State, in the manner prescribed by the Act passed in the fifth and sixth years of the reign of his late Majesty King William the Fourth, intituled "An Act to provide for the Regulation of Municipal Corporations in England and Wales". Bye-laws under the foregoing provisions have been duly made, of which the following is a copy :— BYE-LAWS OF THE PUBLIC FREE LIBRARIES. CITY OF MANCHESTER. The Mayor, Aldermen, and Citizens of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, being assembled in Council in the Town Hall, in the said city, on Wednesday, the 3rd day of September, 1871, and more than two-thirds in number of the whole Council being present, do hereby, in pursuance of "The Manchester Improvement Act, 1871," make the following Bye-laws: 1. In construing these Bye-laws the word "Library" shall mean any and every Public Free Library for the time being, belonging to, or vested in or under the control of the said Council, and the several rooms, passages, and staircases thereof, and the word “Librarian” shall include the principal Librarian and his assistants, and the word "Book" shall include newspapers, pamphlets, pictures, engravings, maps, plans, and other articles of a like nature; and all words importing the masculine gender shall be deemed and taken to include females, and the singular to include the plural, and the plural the singular. 2. Every such Library shall be open to the public gratuitously daily throughout the year, with the Exception of Christmas Day, Good Friday, and such other days, if any, as the Libraries' Committee of the said Council shall direct, and during such hours as the said Committee shall direct. No person shall enter or remain in any Library except whilst it is open to the public as aforesaid. 3. No person who is in a state of intoxication, or is uncleanly in person or dress, or who is suffering from an infectious or offensive disease, shall be admitted or allowed to remain in any Library. No person shall be allowed to lie on the benches or chairs, or to sleep in any Library, or to interfere with the arrangements for conducting it, or with the comfort of the readers therein, or to use the same for any purpose for which it is not intended. No conversation shall be permitted in any Library. No person shall partake of refreshments, or smoke, spit, strike matches, or bring a dog into any Library. The admission of persons under 14 years of age to any Reading Room shall be in the discretion of the Librarian. 4. No person shall pass within the enclosures of any Library or take any book from the shelves. 5. Every person desiring to read books in any Library shall write his true name and place of abode, and the title and number in the catalogue of the book required by him, on a ticket provided for that purpose, which is to be delivered to the Librarian; and shall, before leaving the room, return such book into the hands of the Librarian, and shall not, under any circumstances, take the same out of the room. 6. Books will be lent from the lending department of each Library to an elector of Manchester or Salford, on his signing a voucher in the presence of the Librarian, or to a non-elector upon the production of a voucher for the safe return of the books, signed by a person enrolled on the List of Citizens of Manchester, or on the List of Burgesses of Salford, or on the Parliamentary Lists of Manchester or Salford, such vouchers to be on the forms provided for the purpose. 7. Any person who shall deliver, or permit to be delivered, to the Librarian, any voucher which shall not have been actually signed by the citizen, burgess, or elector by whom it purports to have been signed, or some person duly authorised by him, or wherein any false statement is made, shall be subject to a penalty not exceeding £5; and any person not being the intending borrower named in any voucher, or authorised by him, who shall attempt to use the same, shall be subject to the like penalty. 8. In exchange for the voucher above mentioned the Librarian will deliver to the applicant a borrower's card, which must be produced on every application for a book. (Any person who is not named in the said card, or authorised by him, who shall make use of the same for the purpose of obtaining a book or books, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding £5). The lending register of any Library shall be sufficient evidence that the book therein named has been lent to the person whose name is written opposite the same on the date therein specified. 9. No person shall be eligible to borrow books from more than one lending department at the same time; but any borrower who has conformed to these Bye-laws may have his card transferred from one lending department to another. No person shall have more than one borrower's card, nor be allowed more than one book or set of books, at the same time. 10. Every person taking out a book from any lending department under the foregoing regulations must return the same within the period specified on the label of such book, and must, whether such period has expired or not, return the same in accordance with any public notice calling in books posted in the Library from which the same shall have been borrowed. 11. If any book be not returned in accordance with the regulations herein contained, or if it be returned torn, cut, soiled, written in, or with leaves turned down, or otherwise injured, the borrower shall pay to the Committee such a sum of money as will replace such book or the set of |