View report page

192
for the legitimate wants of those dependent upon him, and by so
doing to consider all his surplus revenue as a trust fund which he
was bound to administer in the manner best calculated to produce
the most beneficent results for the community at large. That was
why Mr. Carnegie considered a free library one of the wisest gifts
to be given, provided always it was maintained as a public institution.
Mr. Carnegie had now given about £8,000,000 for the benefit
of English speaking people, thus being the largest individual
constructer of buildings in the world. He (the speaker) honoured
the Hammersmith Borough Council for having so readily adopted
the Free Libraries Act. The libraries had always been of immense
value wherever they had been established, and indeed they were
essential at the present day, for it would be disastrous to leave the
elementary education of the children unsupplemented. The library
undoubtedly did a great deal in this direction. It ought not to be
regarded as merely for recreation; it was to foster a love for books,
and to enable the young especially to gain information concerning
the occupations they were to take up. He rejoiced to know a
special room was being set apart for the boys, but he would like
that, if possible, the Librarian might prepare a special course of
reading for the young. (Hear, hear.) Their profound thanks, he
concluded, were due to Mr. Carnegie.
The Rev. R. J. Walker, in seconding, said he might claim on
behalf of Hammersmith that it was a borough in feeling and not in
name only. There were many places in London dignified by the
name of borough, yet were without any local feeling. In Hammersmith
far the opposite was the case. The speaker went on to allude
to the great value to the public of the new Library, and contrasting
literary and scientific training, said sufficient justification for the
former was the pleasure it gave, and by reading both private and
public life was influenced. Dean Colet, the founder of St. Paul's
School—in memory of whom he had had the honour of presenting a
small window to the Library—made a great point that literature,
and not bloterature, should be read, and this ought to be the maxim
of the reading public to-day.
DESCRIPTION OF THE CARNEGIE LIBRARY.
In July, 1902, Dr. Andrew Carnegie, most generously offered to give
£1o,000 to erect a Central Library for Hammersmith provided the cost of the
site was not a burden on the Penny Rate. The Borough Council, with the
permission of the Local Government Board, kindly granted a site in Brook Green
Road, having a frontage of about 150 feet. The building was erected from the
plans of Mr. H. T. Hare, F.R.I.B.A.
The foundation stone was laid on 5th May, 1904, by the then Mayor
(Alderman C. Pascall).