30 Royal Colonial Institute. 



" Canadian Loans in London." By Sir F. Williams Taylor. 



" The Purpose of Life in the East and in the West." By Sir Bampfylde Fuller, 

 K.C.S.I., CLE. 



" Queensland's Railways." By Major Sir Thomas Robinson, K.C.M.G. (Agent-General 

 for Queensland). 



" Austrahan Literature and Art." By WiUiam Moore. 



" Medical Science and the Tropics." By Major Sir Ronald Ross, K.C.B., M.D., F.R.S. 



" Northern Nigeria as I Saw It." By J. Astley Cooper. 



" Some Less-known Islands in the Pacific." By Sir Everard im Thurn, K.C.M.G., C.B. 



" A Journey down the Tana River in the East Africa Protectorate." By W. McGregor 

 Ross. 



" Some Aspects of the Evolution of the British Empire." By the Right Hon. Sir George 

 Reid, G.C.M.G. 



" Imperial Defence and Closer Union." By Viscount Hythe. 



" Land and the W^oman in Canada." By Miss Binnie Clark. 



" Agriculture and Land Settlement in South Africa." By William Macdonald, Sc.D. 



" Australia and the Empire." By Hon. W. A. Watt (Premier of Victoria). 



IX.— THE LIBRARY. 



The library of the Royal Colonial Institute contains over ninety thousand 

 volumes and pamphlets relating to the British Dominions, Colonies, and India, or 

 discussing problems of administration and colonisation. One of the objects for which 

 the Institute was founded was the formation of such a library, but owing to lack of 

 funds little progress was made until the Cotmcil were in a position to vote a small 

 annual grant. In 1881, thirteen years after the foundation of the Institute, the library 

 only contained 2500 volumes, but from about the year 1886 substantial progress 

 was made, so that at the present time it can claim to possess the most complete 

 collection of Colonial literature brought together under one roof. Although many 

 valuable and necessary books were annually purchased, the substantial increase of recent 

 years is largely attributable to donations from the various Overseas Governments and 

 India, the Secretaries of State, the different learned societies, Chambers of Commerce, 

 and other public bodies, and from publishers and authors in all parts of the Empire. 

 Co-operation from these quarters has enabled the Institute to gather together a unique 

 collection which is of great value to students of Empire topics and to all those who are 

 seeking information with regard to the administration, resources, trade, history, law, 

 ethnology, and general conditions of the wide domains under the British flag. The 

 library, the main portion of which is situated on the first floor of the Institute building, 

 is divided into as many sections as there are separate administrative units within the 

 Empire. These sections are further subdivided according to subjects, so that all the 

 books on a given topic are found together on the shelves. To take a specific example : 

 under Canada will be found the books dealing with the history, agriculture, fauna, 

 education, &c., of the Dominion, each contained in separate divisions. The parlia- 

 mentary library, which contains the Blue-books, parliamentary reports, debates, 

 sessional papers, government gazettes, and general official literature issued by the 

 Overseas Governments, is contained in the basement. In these official publications 



