a fortnight. Even so, the privilege of borrowing was restricted to the session.

It is doubtful if the rules were strictly enforced for as early as 1873 Mr T. Kelly from New Plymouth moved that the Library Committee should be instructed to allow members outside Wellington the right to take out books and to keep them for two months. Though the motion was not approved it appears that members residing in Wellington did have books at their homes.

No great change was made in the wording of the rules, but it appears that at the end of the session members were taking books away, and in 1886 Mr James Macandrew from Dunedin admitted doing so. In the recess of 1885-86 Sir James G. Wilson (Bulls) had written to the Librarian asking for books to be sent to his home. The request was refused but following it the House passed a motion recommending the Joint Committee to prepare regulations for lending books during the recess to members living outside Wellington.

The Committee, however, did not favour the idea and reported that there were so many difficulties in the way that they would not carry it out. On the motion of the Premier, Sir Robert Stout, the House reluctantly agreed with the report.

There the matter rested until the session of 1891 when it was raised in a question addressed to a Minister. As a result the Committee brought down a report saying that they had agreed to a scheme for circulating up to six books at a time to members in the recess. Certain reference and valuable books, newspapers, and periodicals were excluded, but most other works could be borrowed. The Library would provide boxes or baskets for the transmission of the books, and six dozen were obtained for the following recess. During it 34 members borrowed 438 volumes, not one being lost, though two were damaged.

Both House and Council agreed to the scheme, though certain members were violently opposed to it. Since then it has provided members with reading material during many recesses. Certainly, some books have been lost, but probably there would be an even greater chance of losses if the practice of recess borrowing had not been regularised. In any case, books often disappear from the shelves in libraries with the best oversight and supervision and are never seen again.

Fiction

The provision of fiction in the Library has been criticised, but novels have been purchased since the early seventies. The numbers purchased have always been small, and have given well earned relaxation and pleasure to legislators as well as building up what is the only collection of the minor nineteenth century classics that exists in the Dominion. These books are frequently in demand by students of nineteenth century English literature.

Inter-library Loan

In keeping with the policy of allowing the widest possible use of the Library, while at the same time retaining all books necessary for Parliament, the Committee in 1909 drew up rules which would have permitted university libraries to borrow. Little use, however, seems to have been made of the privilege.

In 1936 the Committee gave approval for the participation of the Library in the New Zealand Library Association scheme. Libraries outside have not been slow to take advantage, and while considerable restrictions exist on the books that can be lent, only one book is borrowed by the General Assembly Library for every 20 or so lent.

Recess Privileges

Though the Library is primarily the Library of Parliament, it has always been generous in allowing the use of its resources to students and others. As early as 1875, while books could only be taken out by members of Parliament, heads of Departments, and Judges, the Recess Committee had discretion to allow the use of the Library for reference and study.

The minutes and correspondence show that the demands were many and that permission was frequently given. There was no general rule about admission, and as a result individual application was necessary. Mr Collier did his best to liberalise the privilege, but at the same time he wanted the use limited to genuine students rather than to those who wanted it for prestige and as a means of obtaining light reading.

A resolution of 1891 allowed the privilege to be granted on the recommendation of a member of Parliament, head of a Government Department, or local clergyman, but by the end of the century the right was restricted to members of Parliament. The recess privilege did not allow borrowers to take out current fiction though classic fiction could be borrowed.

The rules have long permitted the use of the library for brief periods by serious research workers. The position has now been placed on a permanent basis, and students at the honours stage at the University or undertaking serious research are allowed to use two special rooms in the Library.

Here it might be well to mention the request that has recently been made to allow the Library to keep open until 6 p.m. during the recess. This has been done three times in the past, in 1892-93, in 1903-04, and again in 1911, but the use was so small that the hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. were quickly reverted to.

The National Library

Though the General Assembly Library is principally the Library of Parliament, many of its functions are those of a national library and this matter has been raised on many occasions. The earliest references are those of James Collier in 1888, and his remarks are of interest, "... the Library of the General Assembly [may] develop or, as is more probable, bifurcate into a national library ..."

As the only large State library, it was natural that the General Assembly Library should be regarded as the basis of a national library and there were frequent references to this side of the Library's work in the debates on copyright deposit in 1903 and 1913. About the same time the Library Association meeting in Wellington carried a resolution saying that the Library should be regarded as the nucleus of a national reference library.

The matter was not forgotten but rather lay dormant until 1935 when the Munn-Barr report on New Zealand libraries suggested the amalgamation of the General Assembly and Turnbull Libraries, together with a country lending department, to form a national library. This suggestion more or less received the approval of the Government and plans were drawn up for a new library building.

The war intervened, but since 1950 the question has become increasingly prominent, and there have been two inquiries. While it is possible to combine a purely legislative and national reference library, I have doubts on the complete absorption of a parliamentary library by a national library. In the United States, for example, the Library of Congress gives both services, but Congress and its needs are supreme. The library seemingly envisaged for New Zealand would have wider scope and unless very carefully planned and managed, there could be conflict between Parliament and the department controlling the library.

The Library also played its part in the establishment of the Country and later the National Library Services. In 1935 Dr Scholefield travelled overseas at the invitation of the Carnegie Corporation of New York and on his return made a report on rural library services, which turned further attention to this matter.

A group of New Zealand librarians interested the Carnegie Corporation of New York in the proposal to organise a demonstration scheme in Taranaki and asked Mr G. T. Alley to prepare plans. In 1937, however, £3,000 was placed on the Estimates for the Country Library Service and Mr Alley was appointed Director later in the year. For some time the Service was also located in Parliament Buildings.

Twenty years earlier the Library had also assisted in the reorganisation of the Turnbull Library as a State library. Mr J. C. Andersen was for some time on the staff, resigning to become first Librarian. In addition, both Mr Wilson and Dr Scholefield were