Public Library Reform. By William Weare. (Penny and HulL 5s.
net.)—Mr. Weare proposes to put all the Public Libraries of the Kingdom under the charge of a Department of Government. There is to be a President, with a seat in the Cabinet and £5,000 a year, and nine Vice-Presidents, with £1,000 a year each, and County Directors, with £1,000 and travelling expenses—the number is not stated, but we may take it to be at least equal to that of the counties. So we get a sum of nearly £60,000 for work which is now done gratuitously. Then comes clause 2, answering to the Librarians, &o, now in existence. Every Director-in-Charge is to have £500; every Sub-Director-in-Charge .2250; Senior Assistants with .2175, Assistants with £120, and Caretakers with residence, coal, Sc., and 30s., or £2 2s. without. As the benefits of the library are to be so universal, the Act being compulsory in all "places and areas within the United Kingdom," a formidable expenditure is in prospect. It is a minor matter that the burden of supplying four copies (additional, of course, to those now demanded) of all works is imposed on publishers. We might add that the com- pensation to booksellers, whose trade would be ruined, should be added.
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