new borrowers have been enrolled, 757 males and 411 females, whose 

 occupations I have tabulated as usual. The borrowers are distributed 

 over the various wards as follows, the second column showing the number 

 who ought to come from each ward in proportion to the population. 



Becket, Babington, Friar Gate, and Litchurch Wards furnish more 

 than their quota of readers, the last-named remarkably so, and the other 

 four wards fall below their fair share. 



The arrangement referred to in my last report with regard to in- 

 fected houses is still carried out, and works well. All books which 

 have been in infected houses have been destroyed, and the public may 

 have all confidence that the Library is not a means of spreading 

 contagious diseases. 



The News Room and Reference Room continue to be extensively 

 used, and no complaint can be made of the conduct of those who 

 resort thither. In the evenings the News Rooms are always full, and 

 I have very rarely indeed to draw attention to the regulations enforcing 

 silence. 



I have not been able to do nearly as much in the Museum as I 

 hoped to have done during the year ; but, with the ej«ception of the 

 Geological collection, everything is in good order. The naming of the 

 specimens is all but completed, and if I can only get time, a few weeks 

 should see everything in order. The Committee may rely on my best 

 efforts in this direction. 



Mr. C. J. Courtney, who had been in the service of the Committee 

 for nearly eighteen years, received the appointment of Librarian at the 

 Minet Library, Camberwell, in May last. His services were always 

 cheerfully and willingly rendered ; and the appointment of Mr. W. H. 

 Walton, as his successor, will, I am sure, secure the Committee another 

 zealous and faithful servant. Of the rest of the staff, I can only speak 



