11.—22

XXVI. ADVERTISING OFFICE. A summary of the work of this Branch of the .Department is as follows : — Accounts. —The number of accounts for Government advertising recorded, checked, and certified in the office during the year was 12,742, as compared with 13,749 in the previous year. Expenditure.— The total expenditure for Government advertising for all Departments during the year under review amounted to £36,102 17s. 3d., an increase of £1,420 3s. Bd. over last year's amount. Cuttings.—Press clippings supplied to Ministers and Departments approximated 2,400 weekly. XXVII. EXPLOSIVES AND DANGEROUS GOODS. A. Explosives. Licenses. —Licenses covering the importation of the following quantities of explosives were issued during the year : Gelignite, 121,0501b.; polar gelignite, 1,236,600 lb. ; gelatine dynamite, 24,950 lb. ; polar gelatine dynamite, 53,600 lb.; dynamite, 6,000 lb. ; geogel A, 11,200 lb.; samsonite, Nil; polar samsonsite, 218,3501b.; A2 monobel, 128,5001b.; polar A2 monobel, 284,9501b.; polar quarry monobel, 30,000 lb. ; polar ajax, 500 lb. ; polar ligdyn, 8,500 lb. ; blasting-powder, 72,500 lb. ; blastingpellets, 8,750 ; sporting powder, 13,955 lb. ; detonators, 1,000,000 ; E.D. fuses, 778,000 ; safety-fuse, 9,043,240 ft. ; fireworks, 51,439 lb. ; amorces, 1,1701b. Other licenses were as follows (corresponding figures for previous year in parentheses) : Conveyance, 213 (207) ; sale, 623 (633) ; storage, 4-39 (421). B. .Dangerous Goods. Local Authority Administration-During the year the Hokianga County Council was gazetted a licensing authority under the Explosive and Dangerous Goods Amendment Act, 1920. The number of licensing authorities is therefore now 164. Departmental Administration.—The total of licenses issued in districts directly under the control of the Department shows an appreciable increase. Licenses numbering 2,426 were issued during the year, as against 2,266 for the previous year. Licenses issued under the Industrial Efficiency Act totalled 1,718, as against 1,646 for the previous year. XXVIII. TURNBULL LIBRARY. The number of volumes accessioned is now 57,000. A total of 2,200 were catalogued in the year, and the number recatalogued was 3,000. It is estimated that fewer than 25,000 volumes remain to be catalogued. The year's acquisitions included many valuable volumes, early editions, facsimiles, and copies of manuscripts. Use of the Library. The attendance of readers has increased by about 1,000 to 4,500. An equal number of casual visitors inspected the exhibitions or the library. Reader's research privilege tickets to the number of fifty-eight were issued over the period. The staff of the National Historical Committee continued to make considerable use of the library, as did numerous others seeking information on many aspects of Centennial studies. These studies have also involved the taking of many hundreds of photographs, mainly for official publications. University students, secondary-school pupils, and art students have also made many visits during the year. As usual the call for copies of material has been considerable, and both photostat and typed copies have been in steady request. Exhibitions. The year's exhibitions have mostly treated aspects of New Zealand history, the last one showing the landmarks of our history almost entirely by means of original documents and drawings and early editions of books. Exhibitions dealing with anniversaries of 1939 and English literature of 1780-1840 have been illustrated by some of the library's rare editions and " association copies." Donations. The fact that never a year goes by without its meed of splendid gifts to the library speaks volumes for the esteem in which it is held. Again it is a pleasure to draw attention to certain of the more notable of these for the information of students and others. The expression " according to Cocker " takes its derivation from the fact that Edward Cocker published his " Tutor to Arithmetick "in 1664. It was therefore gratifying to receive from Mr. J. C. Seagar a copy of this of a slightly later date—l 677. It was a popular book and ran through more than a hundred editions. From Mr. ,T. Atkinson, who claims descent from Captain Cook, came a daguerrotype of his ancestor, Jabez Cook, the grandson of Cook. The Guildhall Library, through the courtesy of Viscount Wakefield, presented a sumptuously bound (by Zaehnsdorf) and magnificently produced volume entitled " The Great Chronicle of London." This is the transcription of an important early manuscript history, which was used by such people as Stowe, Foxe, and others. It is strange that it had never been printed till this, but fitting that its importance should be so nobly recognized by this rich volume. The library's collection of " illustrated books " has always been good and representative, but one weak point was made especially sound by the gift of a large group of books illustrated by Randolph Caldecott. These were received from Mrs. James Houston and Miss Blackett, together with others of a similar nature, and also an unusual and attractive water-colour of Captain Cook's cottage in Staithes, Yorkshire, by Mrs. L. C. Lander,

15