View report page

26
LIBRARY RATE.
By the original vote of the Ratepayers under the Library
Acts the Library Rate was limited to ½d. in the £. A Requisition
was sent, pursuant to the Statute, to the Overseers, calling
upon them to take the opinion of the Ratepayers for power to
extend the Rate to the full legal limit of a 1d. in the £. An
anonymous Donor at the time offered that if this limit was
annulled and power given to levy for the full legal maximum of
1d. in the he would, at his own expense, provide a site for a
Central Library at Brixton, and erect the neccssary building.
Another anonymous Donor also offered, on the same condition
that he would make a donation of £500 towards the purchase of
the necessary books for this Brixton Library. On the 10th
October, 1889, a resolution was almost unanimously passed by
the Vestry in favour of the restriction to ½d. in the £ being withdrawn.
Voting Papers were accordingly sent out to the Ratepayers,
and on the votes being counted on the 10th December,
1889, there appeared for the abolition of the limit of ½d., 11,251
votes, and against the alteration, 13,239 votes, giving a majority
of 1,988 votes against the alteration. A very large number of
Voting Papers were returned perfectly blank. The limit of the
Rate to ½d. in the £ was therefore continued.