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$urrx TRINIDAD PUBLIC LIBRARY. 415 
paired, because a municipal body bas no sense of the pub- 
lic wants of the age. My proposition is, therefore, that 
an additional grant be made to the Library (say about 
£100 a year), specially for the purpose of procuring Works 
on the Natural Sciences. For some years this grant will 
do no more than supply the existing deficiencies in Works 
relating to the Natural History of the West Indies and ' 
Tropical America. 
We find that when the late Dr. Leotaud offered his col- 
lection of Birds for deposit in the Library (to be vested in 
the Crown), he made the stipulation “ that a fair amount 
of books on Natural History should be annually got from 
Europe.’ , The committee agreed to this, but the subse- 
quent placing of the Birds at Government-House seems to 
have relieved the committee of the condition.' This shows, 
however, the willingness of the committee to have the 
deficiencies in this respect made good, and the sole ques- 
tion with them now seems to be the matter of funds. 
I should further recommend that publishers in the Island 
should be required to send one copy of every publication, 
including newspapers, to the Public Library, such books 
and papers not in any case to be taken out of the Library 
nor to be lent to readers within the Library until bound. 
All pamphlets and works of every kind, Parliamentary 
papers included, to be properly bound, and where pre- 
sented, the gift to be duly acknowledged, and duly recorded 
in the catalogues. As to binding, private experience alone 
is sufficient to show that no books can be preserved in this 
country unless they are bound. 
At Government-House there is a collection of news- 
papers and Parliamentary papers, which will be of great 
utility to the future historian of the Island. There is 
also a set of the London Gazette. From time to time 
