TO THE COMMITTEE FOE THE YEAE ENDING 

 SEPTEMBEE 29th, 1907. 



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GENTLKirEN, 



It gives me much pleasure to lay before you my Annual 

 Report, the figures in which deal with the year ended March 31st, 

 1907. I can lay before you no new features, but merely indicate 

 to you the salient points of the various tables, which deal with the 

 work of a year which, if a busy one, was comparatively uneventful. 



As regards the Library Stock; in the Lending Department 

 the total number of books is 23,700. Of these 387 are new books, 

 and 650 are replacements, and all classes show an increase. Three 

 books have been lost and paid for, and two totally lost To the Refer- 

 ence Department 146 new books have been added, and the total 

 Stock is 14,036. In the Childrexi's Library, the issues steadily in- 

 crease, and the stock is now 2,223 books. The total number of 

 books in the Library is 37,736, against 37,016 at the time of the 

 last Report. The experiment which has now been tried two years 

 of doing away with one of the intermediate stocktakings, ha/S 

 worked so well, that in futiu'e we shall only take stock twice a 

 year, and the one fixed for November or December mil be carried 

 out without the recall of the books. As a rule, I am glad to find 

 that the books are well used, and that there is little to complain 

 of in this respect. 



In the Newsrooms, there has been little to find fault with with 

 regard to the conduct of those attending. I wish I could say there 

 was no pilfering or mutilation of jDapers. These practices still con- 

 tinue, but in a lesser degree than formerly, and I hope they may 

 eventually cease altogether. The readers who do not indulge in 

 these practices would assist me very much if they would help to 

 protect their own property, by finding out and repeating the few 

 culprits. 



