412 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION. 
% 
tice to the gentlemen who have at various, tifries been cm 
trusted with the selection of books, if I did not acknow- 
ledge the great care and ability with which their task has 
been accomplished, and any one who takes the trouble to 
glance over the catalogues will find that, a& a whole, the 
Library is provided with a great number of the works of 
the greatest thinkers, the 'perusal of which cannot fail to 
, have a most beneficial effect upon our community, The 
gentlemen referred to may feel assured, that whatever 
estimate has been, or is now made of their disinterested 
labors, they have , sown good seed which will in duo time 
bear -fruit, 7 and confer lasting benefits upon the people 
of otir Island. 
. The Library was at first lodged in a building on the sito 
of the present To wnhall. The rent was $600 a year. On 
the 1st of April, 1856 the Library wa3 rembved to Finlay’s 
house, 'opposite the Court-House, where the rent was Si20. 
On the 1st June 1869 the- Library was removed to its pro* 
sent quarters, the rent paid being $-160, a part of which, 
however, is returned in the rent of the basement rooms. 
This building, situated at the corner # of Lower Prince 
Street and Edward Street, is fairly suitable for the pur- 
pose, but endeavors should be mado to secure a home of its 
own for the Library. The committeo have already had 
under their consideration apian for effecting this, and I 
shall, advert to the subject again. I have appended hereto 
a statement of the receipts and expenditure of the Library, 
so far as' I have been able to obtain an account of them 
from the published reports of the committee. 
It may easily be understood, that in a Library contain- 
ing only 8,000 volumes,, the deficiencies must be numerous. 
I believe that, considering the character of our Library, 
and the objects it is intended to subserve; the most notice- 
