176 TIMEHRI. 
the result that it had virtually fallen away with the =a | 
lishment of a Chamber of Commerce in 1890. Many of ) 
the gentlemen on the Council of that body were also o a ; 
the Commercial Committee of the Society, and on the 
face of it he could not see that this was reasonable, as - 
the same question might be considered by the same 
persons in both. Two other local industries were in the ej [ 
same plight. When their Ordinance of Incorporation — 
was passed there was no mining industry, but still ne 
thought this was covered by the terms of the Ordinane e : 
and bye-laws. This and the timber industry had vir- 
tually fallen away from their charge and proteétion, and F 
those interested had the Institute of Mines and Forests _ 
to look after their special enterests. He thought th ~ 
Society should leave commercial questions to the Cham- 
ber of Commerce, and confine themselves to the very 
important and essential questions conneéted with agri- 
culture, In regard to the Society’s library, it discharg od 
the funtion of a semi-public library and no doubt at- 
traéted members, not one in ten or fifteen of whom cared — 
for agriculture. When he came to the colony nothing © : 
struck him so much as the absence of a public library. 
It was a refle&tion on the colony. He considered it a 
disgrace to the colony, and that it did not speak much — . 
for the wealth and importance of a city like George. — 
town, and was an insult to intelligent men with lit- 
erary tastes. Undoubtedly the want had been ae y 
supplied by the Society’s library, but he would put it 
to them whether they had not entrenched upon th e 
funétions for which the Society had been started. his 
was not a public library. In England such institutions 
were established in every important town, and po er 
