St. George, Hanover Square, Public Libraries. 247 of French and German works, and an excellent children's library, num- bering i, 600 volumes. The Reference Library contained six thousand volumes of important, and in most cases costly, works. There was another special feature which we must not forget to mention the Natural History Collection, which had been presented to the Commissioners by Mr. S. Prout Newcombe, of Chelsea. He trusted that this collection would prove of great educational value as a source of instruction to the parish at large, and if voluntary efforts were needed for its maintenance, that the Commis- sioners might obtain them. It was now his pleasurable duty to present the first copy of the Catalogue of the Lending Library to Mr. Goschen, and to ask the right honourable gentleman to formally declare the Library open. Mr. Goschen accepted the catalogue amid a round of applause. He said there was not one present who did not deeply regret the cause of the Duke of Westminster's absence. (Hear, hear.) The parish of St. George owed a deep debt of gratitude to his grace for the munificence he had shown in the presentation of the valuable site of their new Library. (Applause.) The Duke, as Mr. Antrobus had suggested, was a man of whom all London might be proud. With regard to the rate by which the new Library was to be maintained and eventually paid for, the Chairman had spoken of the reluctance of the minority of ratepayers. Well, he did not know that there was not some ground for the attitude of the ratepayer. Whenever any great social improvement was required the poor ratepayer alone had to find the money. (Laughter.) Now, he would suggest that as personalty was not at present rated, and it appeared to be escaping from its fair share of the burden, personalty should ease its conscience by making some substantial presents of books. (Hear, hear, and laughter.) In any case, however, the ratepayers would agree that they had in the Library something for their money. He had not so far been over the whole of the building, but it appeared to be a magnificent institution of the kind. (Applause.) He did not think that any parish of their number of inhabitants, could possibly wish for a finer building, for one better appointed, or for greater opportunities than this afforded. They had been a little behind in London with regard to public libraries. The provincial towns had been a good deal ahead in the movement, and as compared with other countries England as a whole had a deal of lee way to make up. (Hear, hear.) There were public libraries in some countries as far back as one hundred years ago, and their influence was such that the booksellers actually complained that through the institu- tion of the free libraries the sale of their books was restricted. He did not think the authors of the present day were disposed to look unfavour- ably on the public Library, but if they did regard it with jealous eyes, he did not think much of their opinions. For it was obvious that, the greater the literary sentiment in the mass of the population, the greater must be the demand for books as a whole. (Hear, hear.) There was one thing which he should like to say with regard to the social aspect of a library. It was a misconception that St. George's parish was composed exclusively of wealthy people. Of course, it had its essentially rich parts, but there were other parts inhabited solely by artisans and others who could not spare a great deal of money for books. To the smaller tradesman and the workman, therefore, institutions like that in which they were met were of inestimable value. A library like that, however, ought to suit the requirements of all classes, and he trusted that the Commissioners, who had worked so hard for the past four years, would always bear the fact in mind. He need not remind the company that a great responsibility rested upon the Commissioners, and upon their able Librarian, with regard to the selection of books. (Hear, hear.) The work of a librarian ought 19
