32 The Library. public Xibrattes an& lectures. CHELSEA PUBLIC LIBRARIES. Central Library, Manresa Road, S.W., November i8/7z, 1893. The Secretary, Local Government Board. SIR, I am directed by the commissioners for these libraries to inquire if they are entitled to regard it as within their powers under the Public Libraries Acts to pay a fee to a lecturer or lecturers to deliver occasional lectures on the library premises or elsewhere, or if they are not, are they empowered to pay a lecturer for a lecture or lectures if the subjects of these are entirely confined to explaining or illustrating the contents of the library, with a view to encouraging a larger use of the books by the rate- payers ? If the answers to the above questions are in the affirmative, I am further to ask if the commissioners are empowered to set apart a room in their premises for the express purpose of such lectures. I am, sir, your obedient servant, J. HENRY QUINN, Clerk. Local Government Board, Whitehall, S.W. 12th December , 1893. SIR, I am directed by the Local Government Board to advert to your letter of the i8th ultimo, and in reply to state that it appears to them to be doubtful whether occasional lectures such as you refer to would con- stitute a school for science or art within the meaning of Section II. of the Public Libraries Act, 1892, and if they did not, it would not appear that the Chelsea Public Libraries Commissioners have any power to incur expenditure in respect of them. If any expenditure of the kind appeared in the commissioners' accounts, the question of its legality would be one for the district auditor to consider in the first place. The board cannot decide the question at the present time. I am, sir, your obedient servant, S. B. PROVIS, Assistant Secretary. J. H. QUINN, Esq., Clerk to the Chelsea Public Libraries Commissioners, Central Library, Manresa Road, S.W.
