The Public Library in Christchurch has been in existence for over forty years, and now occupies a handsome, commodious two-storey brick building at the corner of Cambridge Terrace and Hereford Street. The institution dates back to 1859. In that year, when the city of Christchurch and the province of Canterbury were still young, a public meeting was held on the 26th of May to consider the best means of establishing a Mechanics' Institute. The meeting was adjourned to June of the same year. Mr. J. Hall (now Sir John) presided at the resumed meeting, and there was a very good attendance. Those present were enthusiastic in regard to the project, and, after a long discussion, they adopted rules and regulations, and elected the first officers, as follows: president, the Superintendent of the Province, Mr. William Sefton Moorhouse; treasurer, Mr. G. Miles; secretary, Mr. C. J. Rae; librarian, Mr. F. Thompson. The first committee was composed of the following: the Rev. C. Alabaster, H. Jacobs, C. Fraser, T. R. Fisher; Dr Turnbull, and Messrs C. C. Bowen, Button, T. I. Joynt, J. Anderson, L. Nathan, J. Johnstone, W. Brooks, A. Johnstone, J. P. E. Mouritz, E. Connell, J. Ollivier, J. B. Stansell, J. Varyer, C. W. Bishop, S. Locke, and T. C. Barnard. The committee lost no time in setting to work, and made such good progress that it was not long before the institute was ready to start on its educational career. The formal opening took place on the 4th of August, 1859, When the plan of Christchurch was first prepared in England, a site was reserved for a Mechanics' Institute. The residents at the town, therefore, presented a petition to the Superintendent, asking that he should set aside a site suitable for a large building. In response to this the Provincial Council on the 29th of May, 1861, offered a sum of money instead of a site, and the committee then purchased sections 405 and 406, comprising half and acre of land at the corner of Hereford Street and Cambridge Terrace, where the present imposing building stands. The price paid for the land was £262 10s, which seems very small now; though, no doubt, it was a fair price in those days. It was decided that page 167 funds for erecting a building should be raised by means of subscriptions and shares, the latter to be £5 each. At the end of 1862 it was announced that the committee had in hand the sum of £1150, £650 having been obtained from shares and subscriptions and £500 from the Government. Of this sum, £265 had been spent on the site, and the balance, therefore, was £885. After a good deal of discussion, the committee accepted a tender for a building at £1169. As time went on, the institution grew with the town and the province. Nine years after its foundation, the name was changed to “The Christchurch Literary Institute.” Five years later, in 1873, another important step was taken in the history of the library, when a conference took place between the committee and the Board of Governors of Canterbury College. The result of the deliberations was that the Superintendent was requested to place before the House of Assembly a Bill enabling the committee to transfer the property of the Institute to the Superintendent of the Province, for the purpose of a public circulating library and reading room. The next step was taken on the 15th of December, 1873, when the site, building, and books were formally transferred to the Superintendent of Canterbury “on trust for the purpose of a public library, to be established and maintained under and in pursuance of the provisions of the Canterbury Museum and Library Ordinance, 1870.” It was provided that the transfer was subject to the condition that a reading room and circulating library should continue to be maintained on the site, “and from time to time supplemented and increased, so as to satisfy future requirements.” It was also provided that the advantages of the reading room should be open to the public free of charge, and that the circulating library should be open to the public either free of charge, or, at the discretion of the management at a charge of not more than 20s a year, payable yearly. The Superintendent, in the same year (1873) handed over control to the College Board of Governors. In 1875, the Provincial Council entered into a contract for the construction of a new wing to the building. Three years later the collection of [gap — reason: illegible] was materially added to by the transference from the library of the Provincial Council of 1212 volumes. After the abolition of the province, the Governor of the colony, in whom all public property had been vested, formally conveyed the institution to the Board of Governors, which has had sole control ever since. At present (1902) the reference department conthins 13,451 volumes, and the circulating library 20,009, making a total of 33,460. Magazines and newspapers from almost all parts of the world, and dealing with popular topics, as well as many branches of science and art, are placed on the tables. Subscribers to the circulating department are charged at the rate of ten shillings a year, but the reference department and the reading room are free. It is estimated that over 800 persons use the library every day, and the number of subscribers is 1819. The circulating and reference departments are open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on week days; the reading room from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. on week days, and from 2 to 5 and 7 to 9 p.m. on Sundays. The new buildings recently erected necessitated an expenditure of about £5000. They comprise a public reading room 60 feet by 36 feet, and a gallery 10 feet wide all round; a building, into which the librarian's office and issue office have been removed, 56 feet by 27 feet; and, above this, a subscribers' reading room, 33 feet by 27 feet. The new portions have been built of brick, faced with white Oamaru stone.