Directors of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company the Library is 
indebted for several cases of books delivered in Singapore free of freight. 
The Rules framed by the Committee for the Library have now been in operation 
for Some considerable time, and I have great pleasure in reporting that no cause of 
complaint has been received, or suggestions for alterations or amendment, but that al- 
ways I have met with a very ready acquiescence with them from all using the Library. 
The amount of lines for the year only amounted to $ 6.90, ranging from 5 cents to 81, and 
only $6 for destroying books. 
The Committee, during the past year, drew up and published the following Rules 
for Out-Sfiition Subscribers. 
RAFFLES LIBRARY & MUSEUM, SINGAPORE. 
Out-Statiox Sub scei bees. 
L The Committee of the Raffles Library and Museum, desirous of extending the 
privileges of the Library to residents of Penang, Malacca, and the Native States under 
the protection of the Government of the Straits Settlements, hereafter called ‘‘ Out-Sta- 
tions,” have made the following Regulations. 
2. Any persons desirous of joining the Library can do so by applying to the Lieu- 
tenant-Governor or Acting Resident, or other person selected by themselves and approv- 
ed of by the Committee, who shall act as Local Secretary. 
3. The Local Secretary shall he considered responsible for the safety of the books 
lent, and that the Rules of the Library be adhered to. 
4. No book will be lent to an Out-Station till it lias been in the Library for 12 
months, and no periodical till it has been in the Library for 0 months. 
5. All parcels of books will be forwarded to the Local Secretary and must be return- 
ed by him within 3 months of date of receipt, and all charges for carriage, Ac., must be de- 
frayed by the subscribers, and the books returned to the Library with all charges prepaid. 
0. The subscription shall be 3d per annum, payable half-yearly in advance, entitling 
the subscriber to two complete works and one periodical at a time,. but subscribers may 
have a greater number of works by paying extra subscriptions at the same rate. 
This arrangement, I am sorry to say, has met with no response, partly owing, I believe, 
to the difficulty in getting books to and from Singapore, and also the diffidence of 
accepting the responsibilities and trouble of a Local Secretary -ship. 
A new Catalogue of Books, containing all 'additions to the Library up to September, 
1S75, has been published, and has met with a ready sale. The additions since that date, 
especially of official papers, will necessitate the publication of an extensive supplement 
within the next six mouths. 
The great disadvantage the Library labours under is the want of space. At present 
the Library is inconveniently crowded, and does not admit of such an arrangement as would, 
especially in the case of reference books, much facilitate their use, and renders it highly 
difficult to find room for any additions. This overcrowding is the more to be guarded against 
when it is remembered that in a tropical climate, books must be freely exposed to the 
air and constantly examined and cleaned, in order to prevent damp and the ravages of 
white ants and other destructive insects. 
Museum. 
From the total want of room, the extension of the Museum lias been totally suspended. 
During the earlier part of the year I arranged two cases along the side of the Reading-room, 
but as the space became necessary to the Library, I had to pack the specimens away out 
of sight. 
Our present quarters, which we owe to the continued courtesy of the Municipal Com- 
missioners, do not contain sufficient available space for the Library, and therefore renders it 
impossible to display any Museum objects, and I have been forced to discontinue collecting 
till I have proper space, as unless such specimens can be constantly examined, they speedily 
are destroyed. The only objects I have collected, and this during the earlier part of the 
year, have been those only which are not often to be obtained, or are not so liable to be de- 
stroyed by insects. The collection of the most important and interesting objects, viz : Eastern 
commercial products, has not therefore been entered on, and to the want of these illustra- 
tions is due the suspension for the present of the series of lectures started by Sir Andrew 
Clarke and continued under His Excellency Sir Wm. F. D. Jervois, 
The chief additions during the year have been a set of Kyan specimens of dress, domestic 
utensils, &c., which were purchased, and a most valuable collection of Siamese commercial pro- 
duct?, antiquities and other objects presented by His Majesty the King of Siam. These I have 
not been able to exhibit for want of space, and I would beg leave most earnestly that this Com- 
mittee would urge upon the Government the necessity of providing a proper building as soon 
as possible ; and as soon as this is provided I propose publishing a descriptive Catalogue of 
the Museum, with the donors’ names attached to all presentations. 
