H.—32.

1934. NEW ZEALAND.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY LIBRARY. REPORT OF THE CHIEF LIBRARIAN FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31st MARCH, 1934.

Laid on the Table of the House of Representatives by Leave.

To the Chairman of the Joint Library Committee. ■Sir, — I have the honour to report on the operations of the General Assembly Library for the year 1933-34. Accessions. During the year 2,880 volumes were added to the collection from all sources. The accessions in the last few years have been as follow : 1925-26, 1,501 ; 1926-27, 2,162 ; 1927-28, 2,270 ; 1928-29, 2,153 ; 1929-30, 2,906 ; 1930-31, 3,136 ; 1931-32, 3,142 ; 1932-33, 2,176 ; 1933-34, 2,880. The total number of books on the register at the Ist August was 132,900. The Library stock, however, does not amount to that figure. Our loss by wear-and-tear is a very serious matter militating gravely against the preservation of a national collection. Every year a considerable number of books has to be discarded. There are still one or two classes in which we have not yet been able to complete the stocktaking so as to be able to write ofi all books which have definitely been withdrawn. Until that is done, it will be impossible to say how far short of the number on the register the library stock really is. Binding. I am glad to say that the money which has been made available for binding has enabled us to bring up to date many series of official papers of the British Dominions which had been in abeyance for the past fourteen years. Amongst these are the official gazettes of Great Britain and some of the colonies and dominions. These have now all been completed as far as possible. I hope that it will never again be necessary to allow this sort of binding to lapse. Donations. During the year the Library received as a donation from the Right Hon. Lord Louis Mountbatten a copy of a valuable work on naval medals by his father, the late Admiral of the Fleet the Marquis of Milford Haven. Other donations were received from the Consul-General for Japan ; the late Dr. L. Cockayne, C.M.G. ; Mr. William Denny (Dumbarton) ; Dr. A, C. Keys ; Mr. B. Stocker ; the Country Press Co-operative Co. of Australia; the Melbourne Herald Co. ; the Kuo-Min-Tang (Wellington) ; Mr. J. M. Rose, Waitahuna; the New Zealand Racing Conference ; and Miss Nias. Staff and Organization. During the year considerable alterations have been made in the internal arrangement of the Library. This was made possible by giving efiect to a suggestion put forward by me in 1929. The row of committee-rooms on the first floor was made available to us and the necessary expenditure for the alteration was approved. Access was obtained by opening a doorway through the southern wall of the main reading-room and removing as much as possible of the walls dividing the committeerooms. The addition of these four rooms (which we have called A, B, C, and D) has enabled me to move the New Zealand collection from the very unsuitable position on the landing which it had occupied for many years to Room D, which I hope will eventually house the bulk of our New Zealand .books. The fiction has been brought up from the ground-floor to Rooms B and C, and the French