PROVISION AS TO ACQUISITION AND DISPOSAL OF LAND.

12. (1) For the purpose of the purchase of land under this Act by a Library Authority the Lands Clauses Acts (aa), with the exception of the provisions relating to the purchase of land otherwise than by agreement, shall be incorporated with this Act.

(2) The Library Authority (a) of any Library District which is an Urban District (b) may, with the sanction of the Local Government Board, appropriate for the purposes of this Act any land (bb) which is vested in that Authority (c).

(3) A Library Authority (a) may, with the sanction of the Local Government Board, sell any land (bb) vested in them for the purposes of this Act, or exchange any such land for other land better adapted for those purposes, and the money arising from the sale, or received by way of equality of exchange, shall be applied in or towards the purchase of other land better adapted for the said purposes [or may be applied for any purpose for which capital money may be applied, and which is approved by the Local Government Board (d)].

(4) A Library Authority may let a house or building, or any part thereof, or any land (bb) vested in them for the purposes of the Act, which is not at the time of such letting required for those purposes, and shall apply the rents and profits thereof for the purposes of this Act (e).

NOTES.

(aa) It is not deemed necessary to print these provisions in this publication. (a) See Section 4, page 10.

(b) i.e., a Municipal Borough or Improvement Act or Local Board District (Section 27, page 38), and also a Vestry or District Board in the Metropolis (Section 23, page 36).

Query, Does

(bb) "Land" includes "buildings". See Section 11, note (cc), page 14. any contrary intention appear in this Section so as to exclude this interpretation? (c) 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.

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.)

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, Harrowgate, 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; and (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, &c., 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 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).

The question has been decided as regards property tax by the case of Andrews (Surveyor of Taxes), appellant, v. Mayor, &c., of Bristol, respondents (93 L. T. 204. Times, 25th June, 1892). This was an appeal by the Surveyor of Taxes upon a case stated by Income Tax Commissioners, who, at the instance of the Town Clerk of Bristol, on behalf of the Corporation of that City, had discharged three assessments of £40, £100, and £60 respectively, made under Schedule A, as the annual value of three buildings, each situated in different Parishes, in and used as Free Libraries for the same City. It appeared that each of the three buildings was established under the Free Libraries Acts, 1855 and 1866, 18 and 19 Vict., c. 70, and 29 and 30 Vict., c. 114, and all the statutory requirements had been complied with. The buildings were vested in the Corporation, and were under the general management of a "Libraries Committee" appointed annually by -the Town Council. Distinct accounts were kept of the receipts, payments, and liabilities of the Council in the execution of the Acts as thereby required. Each building was used solely as a Free Library, no payment being made or demanded for any instruction there afforded by lecture or otherwise, and was maintained, together with other Free Libraries in Bristol, by a rate not exceeding the statutory limit, the amount of which was calculated though not assessed separately, and formed part of a general Borough Rate. Each Library was in charge of a superintendent during the day, and at night was unoccupied

and locked up. None of the buildings were occupied by any officer of the Corporation, or by any person paying rent for the same, or having an allowance in lieu of rent, with the exception that fines were charged to and paid by persons who kept books lent by the Libraries beyond the time allowed by the rules. No payment was made to the Corporation by any person using them. The Commissioners discharged the assessments on the ground that the Corporation were, in respect of their ownership of these three Free Libraries, entitled to exemption as a "literary or scientific institution" within the meaning of Rule 6, Section 61, Schedule A of 5 and 6 Vict., c. 35. Held (allowing the appeal) that Free Libraries established by Corporations or Commissioners under the Free Libraries Acts are not within the class of institutions entitled to exemption under Rule 6. Judgment for the Crown.

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. See the Museums and Gymnasiums Act, 1891, page 151.

(d) The words in brackets [ ] are new. There is no provision as to any purpose for which "capital money" may be applied. It probably is intended to mean for the erection of buildings or reduction of loans.

(e) This Sub-section is entirely new; such power was not given by any earlier Act. The rents and profits it would appear may be used in addition to the rate.

POWER TO GRANT CHARITY LAND FOR PURPOSES OF THIS ACT.

13. (1) Any person holding land for ecclesiastical, parochial, or charitable purposes may, subject as herein-after provided, grant or convey, by way of gift, sale, or exchange, for any of the purposes of this Act any quantity of such land, not exceeding in any one case one acre, in any manner vested in such person. (2) Provided that—

(a) ecclesiastical property shall not be granted or conveyed for those purposes without the consent of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners; and

(b) parochial property shall not be so granted or conveyed save by the Board of Guardians of the Poor Law Union comprising the Parish to which the property belongs, or without the consent of the Local Government Board; and (c) other charitable property shall not be so granted or conveyed without the consent of the Charity Commissioners; and

(d) the land taken in exchange or the money received for such sale shall be held on the same trusts as the land exchanged or sold; and

(e) land situated in the administrative County of London, or in any Urban District containing, according to the last published census for the time being, 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.

(3) Any land granted or conveyed to any Library Authority under this Section may be held by that Authority without any licence in mortmain (a).

NOTE.

(a) This Section is a reproduction of Section 8 of the Public Libraries Amendment Act, 1890. For provisions affecting London, see Sections 21 and 22, page 32.

VESTING OF PROPERTY IN LIBRARY AUTHORITY. 14. All land appropriated, purchased, or rented, and all other real and personal property presented to or purchased or acquired for any Library, Museum, Art Gallery, or School under this Act shall be vested in the Library Authority (a).

NOTE.

(a) See Section 4, page 10. For provisions affecting London, see Sections 21 and 22,

page 32.

GENERAL MANAGEMENT.

15. (1) The general management, regulation, and control of every Library, Museum, Art Gallery, and School provided under this Act shall be vested in and exercised by the Library Authority(a), and that Authority may provide therein books, newspapers, maps, and specimens of art and science, and cause the same to be bound and repaired when necessary (b).

(2) The Library Authority (a) may also appoint salaried officers and servants, and dismiss them, and make regulations (c) for the safety and use of every Library, Museum, Gallery, and School under their control, and for the admission of the public thereto (d).

(3) Provided that a Library Authority (a) being an Urban Authority (e) may, if they think fit, appoint a Committee and delegate to it all or any of their powers and duties under this Section (ƒ), and the said Committee shall to the extent of such delegation be

deemed to be the Library Authority. Persons appointed to be members of the Committee need not be members of the Urban Authority (g).

NOTES.

(a) See Section 4, page 10. As to the City of London, see Section 21, and as to the Metropolis, Section 22, page 32.

(b) Section 21 of the Act of 1855, from which the whole of this Section is taken, enacted that the Authority might provide "the necessary fuel, lighting, and other similar matters". These words are omitted, probably as being unnecessary, since Section 11, page 14, authorises the provision of the various institutions, and Section 18, page 23, provides for the payment of all expenses in and incidental to the execution of the Act. (c) The regulations may impose fines for the detention of books. In the Nottingham County Court proceedings were taken against a borrower for fines amounting to 7s. 1d. 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 the corresponding Section in the repealed Act regulating the user and borrowing of books. 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 an information for non-return of a book in a case 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).

(d) The regulations cannot impose any charge for the admission of inhabitants of the District to a Library or Museum, or for the use of a Lending Library, but may fix a payment to be made by persons not inhabitants (Section 11 (3), page 15).

(e) See definition in Section 27, page 38. Commissioners appointed for a Parish under

Section 5 are not included.

(f) This is more explicit than the repealed Section. It will be necessary for a Library Authority acting by a Committee to define its duties and the extent of the powers delegated to it on its appointment, which may provide that its proceedings (within its delegation) are not to be subject to the approval of the Authority. This is doubtless the intention of the Act, especially in view of the provision that co-optative members may be appointed members of "the Committee," and their appointment might be rendered practically nugatory if the Authority retained the power to exercise control over the Committee's proceedings.

The question whether the Committee appointed under Section 21 of the Act of 1855 had power to act without obtaining the approval of the body appointing, was one upon which opinion and practice were 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