Page:The library a magazine of bibliography and library literature, Volume 6.djvu/409

Constitution of Colonial Public Libraries. 397 duces between ^"600 and ^"700, and receives in addition a small Government grant. The library is open every day in the year, except Christmas Day and Good Friday, the hours for opening on Sundays being from 2 till 9.30 p.m. Amongst the regula- tions in force for its general management is one stating that a lavatory is provided, and requesting readers to use it, so as to prevent, as far as possible, the soiling of the books by dirty hands a request that might with advantage be posted up in many of the public libraries of the United Kingdom. Starting with a collection of about 5,000 volumes, the library now con- tains 27,000 volumes, and is rapidly increasing. One of the chief attractions of the Auckland Public Library is the valuable collection of works presented by Sir George Grey whose name is associated with the Public Library movement in every country in which he has resided amongst which are several early MSS., a considerable number of Caxtons, and early printed works, a large number of State Papers, and a series of draft despatches to Foreign Ambassadors, written by Thurlow, and corrected in some cases by Oliver Cromwell's own hand. There are, in addition to the Auckland Library, several other Public Libraries and Museums, and Mechanics' Institutes supported by annual subscriptions, together with a Government grant, the following table showing the number in each province, as well as the num- ber of subscribers and volumes : Auckland Taranaki Hawkes Bay ... Wellington . . . Marlborough ... Nelson Westland Canterbury ... Otago Total Institutes. Members. . 71 ... 2,791 . 5 ... 348 . 21 1,314 . 22 ... i,5 J 5 . 5 ... 234 . 29 ... 1,009 . 6 ... 238 . 66 ... 3,263 ,. 73 ... 3,777 298 H,4 8 9 330,770 Canada. There are comparatively few Public Libraries in the Dominion of Canada, though attention is now being generally directed to the necessity of establishing them in centres of population. This is the more surprising in view of the magnificent example set by the United States, where some