394 7^ Library. about 400,000 persons. During the year 1892 a Lending Branch was established, the books being lent out for fourteen days to any person who is a rateyayer in any municipality in the Colony, or to any person who is not a ratepayer on providing a guaran- tee signed by two ratepayers. The advantages of the Lending Branch have been freely availed of, the number of borrowers for one year after the branch was opened having been 8,000. In most of the suburban and country towns of Victoria there are Free Libraries, Athenaeums, or Scientific, Literary, or Me- chanics' Institutes, some of which receive books on loan from the Melbourne Public Library. Their incomes are derived partly from Government grants and partly from private indi- viduals, the total receipts in 1892 having amounted to /6o,ooo. South Australia. The Act incorporating the Free Public Library of South Australia was passed on February 28, 1884, and came into operation on July i of that year, when the South Australian Institute, which was its immediate predecessor, ceased to exist. In accordance with the terms of the Act the Library is vested in a Board of sixteen members, eight elected by the Governor, and eight by various public bodies named in the Act. The Library is open free to the public under similar conditions to those in force in New South Wales and Victoria, and contains about 33,000 volumes. It is well supported by the Government, and is housed in a very fine building. In almost every town of note there are Mechanics' Institutes and Libraries, over which the Government exercises a certain amount of super- vision, the majority receiving a Government grant according to the financial position of each. Queensland. The Public Library movement has not made such progress in Queensland as in those Colonies already referred to, but recent events seem to point to increased interest being now taken in the question. There is no so-called Free Public Library in Queensland at present, but throughout the Colony there are eighty-seven institutions, comprising Schools of Art, Mechanics' Institutes, and Miners' Institutes, possessing a total of 114,000 volumes, of which 19,000 are to be found in the Brisbane School of Art, and having an aggregate of 7,061 sub- scribers. These are supported by private subscriptions, and a Government grant at the rate of i for every similar amount raised by subscriptions to the extent of ^"200. The Government grant for last year amounted to ^"2,553, whilst the Government have already contributed a total out of State funds of ^"74,796.
