Page:The library a magazine of bibliography and library literature, Volume 6.djvu/410

398 The Library. of the finest Public Libraries in the world are to be seen, which have cost enormous sums of money to establish and maintain. Still, with the exception of the Public Libraries of Toronto, Hamilton and Guelph there are no public institutions of any im- portance in any other of the towns of the Dominion. There are of course the Legislative Libraries containing in some instances vast and valuable collections, but of these I do not intend to speak, although they are public inasmuch as citizens can consult them by obtaining tickets from the Speakers of the different legislatures. Regarding the Toronto Public Library, an Act was passed in 1882 by the Ontario Legislature to provide for the establishment of Free Libraries in the Province. According to this Act a petition may be presented by not less than 100 electors in cities, and from ten to thirty in other municipali- ties, praying the Council to take measures set forth in the Act to establish a Free Library. For the purpose of providing for the expenses necessary for carrying out the Act, a municipal assessment is made annually upon all rateable, real and personal property not exceeding one half of a mill on the dollar. Free Library Debentures may be issued by the Council, on the requisition of the Board of Management, in order to purchase and erect the necessary buildings, and obtain books and other things required. Since the passage of this Act the Toronto Public Library has been established, and is managed by an energetic committee, the members of which appear determined to make it the most representative and national library in the Dominion. It has numerous branches scattered throughout the Province, and in order that the difficulty in the way of providing large numbers of books for them may be obviated, a special telephonic system connecting all the branches and centering in the main building has been adopted, by which readers at any of the branches can consult catalogues and have every facility for selecting from the same large collection of books as readers at the Central Library. Deliveries and returns are made every day by a special conveyance. Steps are being taken by the Board of Management to secure for the library every work of any im- portance bearing upon the history and literature of Canada. If continued persistently by those in charge of the library this policy must ensure success, and result in the Toronto Public Library being at no distant date in possession of a Canadian section unsurpassed by any other library in the Dominion. It at present contains about 75,000 volumes. The Hamilton