of the ship must also be so approved, and no foreigner is permitted to sail in the ship. These are not merely paper regulations, they are stringently enforced. As I have said, we are thankful to the Bishop for his advice in these matters. Some of the recommendations in this paper I do not think are practicable. Some of them are, I should think, useful. But apart from my own opinion, I will with pleasure submit his recommendations to my Government, and, as in times past, so to-day, they will be ready to listen to those who are well-informed, and who give us unbiassed advice.

The CHAIRMAN: I do not observe that anyone else desires to address the meeting, and I will therefore now ask you to permit me to convey to the Bishop our cordial thanks for his most admirable paper, to which, also, we are indebted for the useful and interesting discussion which has arisen out of it. It is not necessary to "paint the lily," or to go over again any part of the paper which we have so much appreciated. I will therefore now at once express your acknowledgments to Bishop Selwyn, and invite him to make such reply as he thinks desirable to the comments which have been made.

The Right Rev. Bishop SELWYN: I thank you all most cordially for your reception of my paper, and at the same time I apologise to Sir James Garrick and other gentlemen who have addressed us for not having had the paper ready sooner. It was written under great pressure of other work, and I could only get the proofs to-night. I think Sir James Garrick did me an injustice in saying I took no notice of private efforts in Queensland. The words I used were "You must back up, as a Government, the private efforts which are being made to teach, to ameliorate, aye, to christianise them." No one is more fully aware than I am of the great value of the efforts that have been made. All I ask is that the Government should back them up. I do not think Sir James Garrick can say they are backed up at this moment. A great friend of ours at Mackay, Mrs. Robinson, sought to build a school for the Melanesians. They suffered very much from the depression, and we in Norfolk Island sent her regularly £10 from the offertory to help her in the effort, but I have not seen that the Queensland Government have given any help towards the school, though her husband has been deprived of his salary. As regards the long extract from the Bundaberg paper, what I am sorry for is the inaccuracy of the editor. It is said the island of Malayta was never visited by English missionaries. I and others of my mission staff have been there twice or three times every year for the last twenty years. As I mentioned in my paper, my friend Mr. Comins last year held a baptism at Saa, in the

island of Malayta, and many were baptised. I am much obliged to them for wanting to send white missionaries to the island, but they are there already. Sir James Garrick says there is special leave always obtained for the introduction of women before they are recruited. I speak with deference, but that law has been the law of the Government of Queensland for the last ten years. Yes, I can show it in the regulations. I do not know what the £300 Government Agent does as regards special leave, but I know what they did before, and that was mighty little. I say the law looks well on paper, but you have to be very particular about it. You put the Agent in a position which is about the hardest a man can fill. It is a hard position, whether you pay him £300 or £3,000 a year, for a man to be shut up for months in a little labour vessel, in which he is looked upon as an enemy. There is the testimony of one of the Queensland captains selected for this purpose, who, in his cups, it must be confessed-but when wine is in truth will out- said to the Government Agent, "Sir, I look upon you as my natural enemy." It stands to reason that a man who is going to enforce the letter of the law must be regarded as an enemy when the other man is trying to get his ship full. The man is in the most difficult position, and, whether you pay him £300 or £3,000, the way in which he will do his duty depends on his moral fibre. Therefore, you must not make it a question between the Government Agent and the employer, who is the captain, but you must make it the business of Government to do the recruiting, and I stick to that with all my heart. In conclusion, I beg to propose a hearty vote of thanks to our Chairman.

The motion was cordially approved, after which the meeting terminated.

MEETING OF THE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED KINGDOM.

A SPECIAL MEETING of the Library Association was held by permission of the Council in the Library of the Institute, on Tuesday, May 29, 1894, when Mr. James R. Boosé, the Librarian, read a paper on "The Library of the Royal Colonial Institute." Sir Frederick Young, K.C.M.G., presided.

Amongst those present were the following:

MESSRS. HENRY W. BALL, S. M. BENNETT, MR. AND MRS. C. BETHELL, MESSRS. JAMES BONWICK, W. S. BRARSINGTON, F.S.A., A. M. BROWN, M.D., JAMES W. BROWN, F. J. BURGOYNE, N. BUTCHER, F. B. F. CAMPBELL, MRS. CAREY-HOBSON, MESSRS. W. CHAMBERLAIN, R. S. CHAPMAN, S. J. CLARKE, A. COTGREAVE, F. H. DANGAR, E. C. F. DAY, CHARLES DICKINSON, D. DOUTHWAITE, F. EDWARDS, T. EVERATT, C. WASHINGTON EVES, C.M.G., C. E. FAGAN, H. W. FINCHAM, W.A. FINCHAM, JOHN FULTON, RICHARD GARNETT, LL.D., W. J. GARNETT, JOSEPH GILBURT, C. W. F. Goss, T. GRAHAM, W. SEBRIGHT GREEN, Rev. W. P. GRESWELL, THE MISSES HALLMARKS, MESSRS. ROBERT HARRISON, H. HAWKES, G. R. HUMPHREY, L. Inkster, S. W. KERSHAW, F. P. DE LABILLIERE, A. W. LAMBERT, A. G. LAW, MRS. LAW, LIBRARIAN PUBLIC LIBRARY WATFORD, LIBRARIAN WEST HAM PUBLIC LIBRARIES, LIBRARIAN PUBLIC LIBRARY BERMONDSEY, LIBRARIAN NEWINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY, MESSRS. J. Y. W. MACALISTER, F.S.A., MATTHEW MACFIE, R. M. MACLEAN, WILLIAM MANLEY, SAMUEL MARTIN, THOMAS MASON, R. MOULD, J. S. O'HALLORAN, E. A. PETHERICK, W. C. PLANT, H. E. POOLE, G. POTTER, G. PREECE, J. HENRY QUINN, CHARLES C. RAWSON, A. B. ROBINSON, EDWARD SALMON, J. SEYMOUR, S. W. SILVER, H. G. SLADE, A. SMITH, C. SMITH, F. A. TURNER, DR. J. WAGHORN, MESSRS. J. R. WELCH, M. H. WILDE, V. YOUATT.

Sir FREDERICK YOUNG: It is with peculiar pleasure that I take the chair at this meeting. As one of its Vice-Presidents I wish, on behalf of the Royal Colonial Institute, to give a very hearty welcome to the gentlemen of the Library Association of the United Kingdom who have honoured us with their presence this evening. We are very happy to see within the walls of the library of our Institute representatives of this very distinguished society. Gentlemen, you belong to a most honourable calling. You are the guardians and custodians of the enormous collection and the vast amount of written ancient and modern mental work which constitutes the most valuable portion of the intellectual life of nations; and of the progressive civilisation of mankind. You live among books, and the constant contact and association with literature in all its forms (the very atmosphere you breathe) cannot fail to exercise a deep influence on your minds, tending to elevate you above the range of thought of those whose more ordinary avocations destine them to fulfil less attractive pursuits in the daily routine of their lives. It is my duty to introduce to you my young friend Mr.

Boosé, our talented librarian, who has undertaken to give us an account of the progress of the Library of the Royal Colonial Institute. In doing so I may mention that many years ago, during the infancy of the Institute, I always declared that I should never be satisfied until it possessed the best and most complete Colonial library to be found in the Empire, always of course excepting our great National Library at the British Museum. My earnest wishes that this should be the case have been always admirably seconded by Mr. Boosé, who with great ability and indefatigable perseverance, has exerted himself ever since to endeavour to fulfil, as far as possible, the hopes I long ago entertained. Of course no library can ever be said to be complete; but this I do say, that I think to-day we possess a library, to which we are constantly making additions, of such extent and value that we have the greatest reason to be proud of it. It is to give you some account of its history and progress that we are assembled here to-night. I now beg, therefore, to call on Mr. Boosé to read the Paper he has prepared on

THE LIBRARY OF THE ROYAL COLONIAL INSTITUTE.

Mr. BoosÉ: The title which I have selected for my Paper is comprehensive enough to embrace a treatment of each section of the Library of the Royal Colonial Institute in all its aspects, but to deal with all of them even in the briefest way would require a much longer time than is at my disposal; so I shall, therefore, confine myself chiefly to the main points with respect to past and present conditions.

So rapid has been the growth of Colonial literature, more especially of recent years, that a separate paper might well be written upon the several divisions of the Library, treating in detail the works regarding each of the British Colonies. Coming, however, to the subject before us, I will first refer to two instances, prior to the establishment of the Royal Colonial Institute, of the existence of similar institutions.

As long ago as 1837 a society was formed, with the title of the Colonial Society, for the purpose of affording a place of rendezvous to persons interested in the various dependencies of the Empire in every quarter of the globe, and by means of which information upon all Colonial subjects might be collected and circulated through the intercourse of many individuals having the same object in view. One of its chief purposes was stated to be the establishment in a convenient situation in the West End of the Metropolis of an extensive library, consisting of all important works relating to the

Colonies, together with a selection of the most approved maps, charts, and the latest surveys-in addition to a regular supply of one or more newspapers from each Colony. The Society occupied rooms first in Parliament Street, and afterwards in St. James's Square, but, owing to insufficient support from those for whose benefit it was established, ceased to exist about five years after its inauguration, the contents of its library being sold, many of the books having since found a home in this library. The second attempt was more limited in scope, and bore the title of the General Association for the Australian Colonies. This was started in 1855 for the purpose of furthering the welfare and prosperity of the Australian Colonies, and more especially of promoting the passing of the several Constitution Bills of those Colonies, and of entering into correspondence when necessary with the various Departments of State of Her Majesty's Government. The founders of this Association comprised, amongst others, the following gentlemen, who subsequently took an active part in the establishment of the Royal Colonial Institute, and are at present amongst its most active Fellows: The Right Hon. Hugh Childers, Mr. F. A. Du Croz, Sir Arthur Hodgson, Mr. Donald Larnach, Sir Charles Nicholson, and Sir James A. Youl, who acted throughout the Society's existence as honorary secretary and treasurer, and is at present one of the warmest supporters and a Vice-President of the Royal Colonial Institute.

The Association at one time numbered 231 members, but during 1862, or only seven years after its establishment, it came to an untimely end, as its funds were not sufficient to carry out the varied and important objects which it was thought expedient to take in hand. The minute-book and proceedings of the Association, containing many important and valuable documents, were kindly presented to the Library of the Royal Colonial Institute by Sir James Youl, and are interesting records of the work performed at that period in connection with the affairs of the Australian Colonies.

Coming now to the more immediate subject of my Paper, it is exactly twenty-six years ago that a few gentlemen, prominent amongst them being Viscount Bury (now Earl of Albemarle), Mr. A. R. Roche, Sir James A. Youl, and other representatives of Colonial interests, met together with the object of forming a society which should assume in relation to the Colonies a position similar to that filled by the Royal Society as regards science, and the Royal Geographical Society as regards geography-the result being the foundation of the present institution under the title which was