GENERAL REPORT. 
The additional rate of one farthing in the pound which the City 
Council has authorised to be levied for Library purposes, making 
the total rate one penny three farthings, suggests the enquiry as to 
how far this expenditure is justified and if the results so far achieved 
by the Free Library movement warrant this large annual outlay. 
Books are very cheap; standard works printed in excellent type 
and nicely bound can be purchased from sevenpence to one shilling 
per volume, and are, therefore, within the reach of every thrifty 
_ working-man. Would it not be wise to encourage every man to 
form his own library and io read by his own fireside? The first and 
most obvious answer to this is that the books would not be bought, 
and therefore would not be read, and the average man would be 
- content with his halfpenny paper, which would at least give him 
entertainment. But there remains a better answer than this. The 
wonderful success of the Free Library movement all the world over 
proves that the Free Library was needed, and that it supplies a 
want; and no one can study the character of the books issued without 
- coming to the conclusion that it is a great educational movement. 
_ The Elementary Education Act has now been in existence for 
_ twenty-five years; a generation has grown up of men and women 
who not only can read, but who have received an education which 
fifty years ago or less would have been considered a “ polite ” 
_ education. We have given our people an appetite for reading and 
a thirst for knowledge, and if we do not place within the reach of our 
_ youths when they leave school the power of gratifying this appetite, 
we deny to them the means and the stimulus to continue their 
education, which to a large number is the only way by which they 
‘ean advance themselves in life and become useful and valuable 
citizens. Taking this larger view of Library work, we can claim 
that it abundantly justifies the liberal expenditure of public money. 
From this standpoint the statisties given in the Chief Librarian’s 
_ report become interesting and instructive. 
