PUBLIC LIBRARIES AND MUSEUMS. (Hansard, 14 February 1850)

§ MR. EWART

moved for leave to bring in a Bill for enabling town councils to establish Public Libraries and Museums. He said there was scarcely any country in Europe so inadequately provided with public libraries as England; and, in submitting the present Bill to the consideration of the House, he was supported by, he might say, the unanimous resolution of the Select Committee appointed last Session. That the metropolis and the large towns of this 760 country were in a more lamentable condition for want of public libraries than any of the capitals or large towns of Europe, had been a subject of complaint so long ago as the time of Gibbon. Since the days of Gibbon the metropolis had had the benefit of the opening of the British Museum library; but much still remained to be done. If they compared the condition of London with regard to public libraries with that of Paris, or even Dresden, it was most miserable. Generally speaking, on the Continent the rule of accessibility was universal; and any hon. Gentleman in that House, who had resided for any time in a continental town, must have found the advantages to be derived from the accessibility of the public libraries. If the condition of the great manufacturing towns on the Continent and in England were compared, how great were the advantages in favour of the former. In Italy and Germany no great town was without a library. Here there was only a sort of small public library in Manchester; but there was none in Glasgow, Leeds, Sheffield, and other great manufacturing towns; whilst in Amiens, Rouen, Lyons, Marseilles, and other towns in France, the working classes resorted in numbers to the fine public libraries that were open to them. The literature of the country must naturally have suffered from the want of such institutions. The Committee turned their attention especially to the point, and found it to be so. All the evidence taken upon that part of the subject tended to prove that the labouring population would be far more advanced if they had such opportunities as were afforded by means of public libraries to the working classes of other countries. There were two kinds of education—that imparted in schools, and that acquired by individuals themselves; and they had the authority of Gibbon for saying that the education which a man gave to himself was far more important than that which he could acquire from a teacher. In public libraries the opportunity of self teaching would be afforded to the labouring classes. The Americans had made far greater advancement in the matter than the people of this country had. In every state of the Union there was a library kept up by the State, and accessible to the public, and from them the people derived immense benefit. There was scarcely a native of the United States who could not read. He would not then dilate at any length upon the subject. He was aware that his right hon. Friend the Mem- 761 ber for Manchester was about to bring before the House the important question of taxes upon knowledge, and it would then be seen what immense advantages the people of the United States, and of the Continent of Europe, had over those of England in that respect. It was for these reasons that he (Mr. Ewart) had been instructed by the Committee to lay their opinions before the House, and that he had taken the liberty of offering this Bill for its consideration. He begged to be permitted to describe very shortly the nature and provisions of it. In the first place it would be a very brief Bill. A few years ago his hon. Friend the Member for Salford and himself had introduced a Bill enabling town councils to establish public museums of art and sciences. That Bill was carried under the auspices and with the assistance of the right hon. Baronet the Member for Tamworth. It was carried unanimously, and it had given considerable advantages to the public. But inasmuch as the Bill he now proposed went somewhat further than that which was commonly called the Museum Act, and as the Museum Act contained one or two inconsistencies, he had thought it better to consolidate the two Bills, and to enable town councils to found both museums and public libraries. The Museum Bill gave to town councils the power of levying a small rate, not exceeding one halfpenny in the pound, for the establishment of public museums. He had adopted that provision in the present Bill to enable town councils to purchase land and erect buildings, and furnish them as libraries and museums out of the proceeds. In the next place, he proposed to vest fixedly and for ever the property and the buildings in the town councils. The Museum Bill restricted the power of establishing such museums to cases of towns possessing a population of not less than 10,000 inhabitants. He thought it better to extend the power to all municipal bodies whatsoever. He proposed to allow any municipal board to establish a library and museum under this Act. In the next place, the Museum Bill enabled town councils to levy one penny upon each person admitted to the museum. He thought that a useless impediment, although it was so small, and he proposed to abolish it and admit the public gratuitously both to the libraries and museums. These were the principles of the Bill. It would not give to the town councillors the power to purchase books; they relied upon books being 762 supplied by the donations of individuals. They had many instances of such donations; being given. He need only mention, as one, the Grenville contribution to the British Museum. But a very practical question that might be put was, whether the Bill was called for by the people for whom it was intended? He replied that it was. It had even been anticipated by the people. Some of the towns had anticipated a Libraries Bill by turning the Museum Bill to their use. One instance he would give was that of the town of Warrington, which, a short time ago, had taken advantage of the Museum Act to establish a library as well as a museum, and the library committee set forth in their last report that they had not only an increasing library, but that the specimens of art and science had been much increased also; indeed, they expected shortly to be well supplied with books. Another case was that of Salford. At the instance of the hon. Member for Salford, the Salford town council had placed a large building which was in their possession at the disposal of the public for a library, and, although it had been instituted only six months, there were already 5,000 volumes in it, and they had continual promises of further contributions. The people of Birmingham and Sheffield had held meetings, and expressed a good deal of anxiety upon the subject; and at a meeting held on Tuesday last, at Sheffield, it was stated that the First Lord of the Treasury had expressed to the deputation from that town a strong feeling in favour of the Bill. He (Mr. Ewart) might multiply instances to prove that in passing such a Bill as that he proposed, the House would be following, not anticipating, the feelings of the people. But what he had stated would suffice. One great advantage which might be hereafter derived from such institutions he should mention. It was that their contents would be illustrative of the local and natural history of the places in which they were established. They would be most valuable to the future historian, as furnishing not only works illustrative of the locality in the libraries, but as preserving in the museums samples of the natural curiosities of the neighbourhood. The Act was founded entirely on a popular basis. They were not about to ask the Government for any assistance, pecuniary or otherwise. They merely asked that those popular institutions might be legally founded by the people, supported by the people, and enjoyed by the people.