[ vl 1 



Tlio Trustees were honored for fifteen years with the duty of conducting the 

 management of the Library. During that time they were not called upon to 

 report, and periodical accounts of their transactions were not furnished by them 

 as is now required. It was only by occasional Addresses to the different 

 Governors at the opening of various portions successively added to the building, 

 by the publication in the newspapers of lists of books received, of donations, of 

 letters accompanying them, or which treated of subjects of interest connected 

 with the interior economy or development of the different branches of the 

 Institution, that the Trustees were enabled to instruct the Public from time to 

 time as to their proceedings. 



Under these circumstances, as well as the very great expansion of the 

 Institution in all its respective branches, and the remarkable increase of the 

 number of Visitors and Readers, the President of the Library has consented to 

 introduce a brief outline of the history of its development by the way of 

 Preface to this Catalogue. 



The first occasion upon which the Trustees gave a public account of their 

 proceedings was when they received His Excellency Major-General McArthur, 

 Acting Governor of Victoria, who opened the Library on Monday, the 11th day 

 of February, 1856. 



They then presented to him the following Address : 



Sib, 



It affords the Trustees much satisfaction that it is at last in their power 

 to ask your Excellency to throw open to the Public the doors of this Institution ; 

 on which occasion they have the honor to submit to you a Report of their 

 Proceedings. 



The necessity for making provision to meet the literary wants of the 

 community forced itself upon the attention of Her Majesty's Government and 

 the Legislature at an early period of the history of the Colony of Victoria. 

 Accordingly, in the year 1853, the sums of 3,000 for the purchase of books, 

 and 10,000 in aid of the erection of a suitable building, placed on the 

 Estimates by His Excellency Mr. LaTrobe, were voted by the Honorable the 

 Legislative Council; and in the following year like amounts, placed on the 

 Estimates for similar purposes, were also cheerfully voted. 



Towards the close of 1853 the Trustees were appointed ; and when the 

 dedication to the public of a piece of land containing nearly two acres as a 

 site on which to build was officially announced to them, they called for plans ; 

 and invited, with the offer of liberal premiums, the competition of all the 

 professional men whose services were available. 



From those sent in, that of Mr. Reed was selected. The portion of the 

 building already erected, and the drawing of the whole, as it is proposed to 



