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19
5. That even if the proper authority acted, and
the papers were properly issued and collected,
the result was not properly ascertained
within the meaning of the Acts.
No further action was, therefore, taken in the
matter pending the hearing, which took place on
the A^-May and 11th June, and resulted in the
upholding of the validity of the poll.
[The Judgvient in the case will be found as an
Appendix to this Report.
The Vestry of Hammersmith, a Parish which
has recently adopted the Libraries Act, called
attention to the desirability of amending the Public
Libraries Act by providing that the expenses of
calling and holding the public meeting, or taking
the opinion of the ratepayers as to whether the
Act shall be adopted or not, and the expense of
carrying out the Act shall, so far as the Metropolis
is concerned, be charged upon and paid out of the
poor rate, instead of by a separate rate, subject to
the limitation contained in the Act.
In the case of a poll resulting in the non-adoption
of the Acts, the cost is so small that a rate of a
small fraction of a penny only would be required to
meet same (in this Parish about the thirtieth part
of a penny), and of course it is practically impossible
to collect such a rate, while, in the case of
the adoption of the Acts, it is very undesirable
to have to charge the Library Kate with the cost
of the clerical work involved in increasing the rate
book work by a very large percentage.
The Vestry accordingly agreed with the proposal
and a communication was made to the Local
Government Board to that effect.
A Bill to effect the object in view was introduced
into the House of Lords, but made no progress.