READING 



6507 



READY RECKONER 



Reading. In British parlia- i 

 mentary procedure, term denoting 

 successive stages in the passage or 

 rejection of a bill. The first reading 

 is a formal business without debate, 

 but provides the opposition with 

 the opportunity of rejecting the bill 

 by moving that it be read a second 

 time this day six months. The 

 second reading with debate on 

 broad lines is taken after the bill 

 has been printed and circulated to 

 members. After the committee 

 and report stages, the bill as 

 amended comes up for the third 

 and final reading. Divisions may 

 be taken at all stages. See Bill ; 

 Parliament. 



Reading. County borough of 

 Berkshire, also the county town. 

 It stands on the Thames, where it 

 is joined by the 

 Kennet, 36 m. 

 from I/O n d o n, 

 and is served by 

 the G.W., L. & 

 S.W., and G.C. 

 Rlys., and by the 

 Kennet and Avon 



churches, the chief 

 are those of S. Lawrence, S. Mary, 

 S. Giles, and the restored chapel of 

 the Grey Friars, at one time used 

 as the town hall. Other buildings 

 include the municipal offices, con- 

 nected with which is the museum, 

 famous for its collection of relics 

 from Silchester (q.v.), and the 

 county hospital. The town has a 

 university college, opened in 1892. 



Reading is an important agri- 

 cultural centre, being especially 

 noted for its seeds. It is also im- 

 portant as a rly. junction, and has 

 large engineering works and biscuit 

 factories. The council maintains a 

 service of electric tramways. In 

 1121 Henry I founded a Benedic- 

 tine monastery at Reading, and 

 therein he was buried. It be- 

 came a corporate town in the 13th 

 century, and was later a centre of 

 the wool trade. Henry VIII made 

 the abbey into a palace. From 

 1295-1885 Reading sent two mem- 

 bers to the House of Commons ; 

 it now sends one. Market days, 

 Mon. and Sat. Pop. (1921), 92,274. 

 Reading. City of Pennsylvania, 

 U.S.A., the co. seat of Berks co. It 

 stands on the Schuylkill river, 

 59 m. N.W. of Philadelphia, and is 

 served by the Philadelphia and 

 Reading and the Pennsylvania 

 rlys., and the Schuylkill Canal. 

 Reading lies in an important coal 

 and iron mining region, and trades 

 in agricultural produce. It contains 

 large rly. workshops and has iron 

 and steel works, machine shops, 

 woollen and worsted mills, and hos- 

 iery, hardware, and boot and shoe 

 factories. Founded 1748, Reading 

 was incorporated 1783, and be- 

 came a city 1847. Pop. 107,800. 



Reading, RUFTTS DANIEL ISAACS, 

 IST EARL OF (b. 1860). British 

 lawyer and administrator. Born in 

 London, Oct. 10, 1860, he was the 

 son of Joseph M. Isaacs, a mer- 

 chant. After an education at Uni- 

 ... versity College 

 : School, London, 

 j and a brief spell 

 at sea, he became 

 a member of the 

 Stock Exchange, 

 where he gained 

 experience which 

 served him after 

 he became a bar- 

 rister in 1887. He 

 had soon a large 

 practice, especi- 

 ally in commer- 



cial cases, and in 1898 he became a 

 Q.C. In 1904 he entered Parlia- 

 ment as Liberal M.P. for Reading, 

 and in 1910 was appointed solicitor- 

 general and knighted. Soon pro- 

 moted attorney-general, he was 

 the first occupant of that office to 

 be a regular member of the cabinet. 

 In 1913 Isaacs was made lord chief 

 justice, the first Jew to hold that 

 position, and in 1914 a baron. 

 During the Great War he spent 

 much time in the U.S.A., where he 

 was special envoy and high com- 

 missioner. In 1921 he resigned 

 from the bench to become viceroy 

 and governor-general of India. 

 Made a viscount in 1916, he was 

 raised to the rank of earl in 1917. 

 His eldest son is known as Viscount 

 Erleigh. 



Its buildings include Wantage Hall 

 and S. Andrew's Hall, and in 

 1925 steps were taken to trans- 

 form the college into a university, 

 There is a grammar school dating 

 from 1486. The gaol, in which 

 Oscar Wilde wrote De Profundis, 

 was closed in 1919. Some ruins of 

 the Benedictine abbey remain, and 

 the grounds are public property. 

 Palmer Park and Prospect Park 

 are other recreation grounds. On 

 the other side of the Thames is 

 the suburb of Caversham. Earley 

 is another suburb. 



Reading, Berkshire. Ruins of the Benedictine abbey; top, 

 left, municipal offices and parish church of S. Lawrence 



Reading Room. Room, usually 

 in connexion with a library, where 

 accommodation is provided for 

 students and other readers. Most 

 great libraries include reading 

 rooms, one of the best known being 

 that of the British Museum. See 

 British Museum: 

 Library. 



Ready Reckoner. 

 Table or tables 

 showing for easy 

 reference the rates 

 of various wages, 

 percentages, etc., 

 for various periods ; 

 also the prices of a 

 wide range of num- 

 bers of articles at 

 so much per article. 

 The figures or prices 

 are arranged i n 

 tabular form, and 

 graduated so 

 as to simplify cal- 

 culation. 



