15 



than the one to whom it is lent, hence a duplication of the issues would 

 probably more nearly indicate the actual number of volumes read than the 

 figures hero given. 



The total issue of books for home reading has been 50(5,614 volumes, 

 being an increase of 43,358 volumes over the issues of last year, and 

 though fiction takes, according to custom, the lion's share, it is satis- 

 factory to find that the recent expenditure on books bearing on the 

 various handicrafts has been justified in an increased demand for them. 



The largest increase, next to novels, has been in this class of works, 

 which is designated in the table as " science and the arts." All classes 

 of books have received an increased share of public favour during the year, 

 except magazine literature and books for the blind. Fluctuations in the 

 year's issues have always taken place in these latter books, owing to the 

 limited number of new books published for this interesting though small 

 body of readers. The largest increase in proportion to the number of 

 volumes contained in any particular class, has been in Latin and Greek 

 Classics and their translations, which has been 75 per cent. It is note- 

 worthy that this year, as last, in the issues for home reading, the Libraries 

 have not suffered the absolute loss of a single book. 



Table I. — General Statistics. 



* Reader's tickets are required to be renewed aunuallj', otherwise they are cancelled. 

 This prevents an accumulation of mere nominal readers. 



