Jottings. 409 WILLENHALL. It has not been possible for some years past to purchase any new books for the Willenhall Free Library, owing to the mortgage debt on the building. A movement has now been started to raise funds to clear the building, or, at least, to find money to expend on a considerable number of books. WORCE3TER._Mr. S. Southall, Town Clerk, has resigned the honorary secretaryship of the Public Library Committee, and the duties will in future be performed by the librarian, Mr. T. Duckworth. Jottings* MR. ASQUITH, the Home Secretary, in a speech on London Reform, delivered on December 8th, spoke of the provision of public baths and public libraries. He said: " In St. Pancras, with its 234,000 inhabitants, there is not a single public library to which the working man can go. In the parishes of Bethnal Green and Mile End, two of the most necessitous districts in London, there is neither bath nor library. To a certain extent the people themselves, who are directly consulted in the matter, are responsible ; but I say that if you send the right class of men aye, and the right class of women to these bodies, the condition of things which I have described will soon be of the past." He added : "You may, aye, you should, see in every parish in London baths and washhouses and libraries, where the elementary conditions of civilisation may be placed at the disposal of the humblest of our citizens." MR. THOMAS BARCLAY in a letter to the Times (December 26th), describes the work of the Paris Comite de Legislation Jtrangere, part of which consists in the formation of a library of foreign law books and foreign and colonial codes and laws. The library now numbers 30,000 volumes, and its catalogue, issued in 1889, is said to be "one of the most valuable bibliographies the international jurist can have in his library." THE following note was published in the Times of December 26th: "It appears from statistics just issued in connection with the public libraries of America that the State of Massachusetts ranks first, with 212 free public libraries and a total of 2,760,000 volumes. This yields no fewer than 1,233 volumes for every 1,000 persons of the population. The nearest rival is New Hampshire, with 42 libraries and 175,000 books, or 464 volumes to each 1,000 of the population. The Western State of Illinois comes third, with 42 libraries, but only 130 volumes to each 1,000 of the population. Massachusetts has more libraries than all the six States ranking next *o her ; yet the curious circumstance is pointed out that she has never received any large bequests. In fact, in the list of individual gifts of $1,000,000 and upwards for public libraries she does not appear. Chicago claims the two most princely donors, namely Mr. John Crerar, with gifts amounting to ,600,000 sterling, or $3,000,000 ; and Mr. W. N. Newberry, with ,400,000, or $2,000,000. In New York, the Astor family have given ^400,000 for public libraries ; Baltimore received ,300,000 from Mr. George Peabody and ,250,000 from Mr. Enoch Pratt ; Philadelphia has received ,300,000 from Dr. James Rush ; and Pittsburg has received ,220,000 from Mr. Andrew Carnegie." THE presence of some polemical books and papers in the Cork Free Library has been discovered, and the discovery has caused much
