At the same time, to dogmatize upon the question of hours is unwise, as local circumstances condition the question so much. Moreover, the recent movements in the industrial and commercial worlds are in the direction of reducing working hours, and most people are now at liberty before 7 P.M., a fact which does away with the _necessity_, if not the convenience, of keeping libraries open to the late hours until recently in vogue. Again, a suburban library, with a population which returns from a neighbouring city in the evenings, has need to be open later than one, say, in the city itself. The whole matter is one of public convenience, and if it is remembered that to have the library used to its fullest limit is the ideal, the hours will be chosen well. At the same time, there are always readers who prefer to use the library in the last hour of the day, whatever that hour may be. If the closing hour is nine, they will arrive at 8.45; if eight, at 7.45, and so on; it is a curious, not uncommon human trait, which may be borne in mind when hours are being arranged. =350. Age Limits.=--There are wide differences in the practice as regards the limit of age from which persons are allowed to use the libraries, but within recent years the opinion on this point has undergone considerable change. Formerly persons under eighteen and sixteen were forbidden the use of public libraries; now such high limits are very uncommon, though fourteen is still frequently seen in the rules of otherwise progressive libraries. Of course, local conditions must receive due consideration in this matter, though it is difficult to think of any circumstance which calls for any distinction being made between children of twelve and those of fourteen years of age. There are hundreds of bright, intelligent lads and girls of twelve who are the equals in knowledge and ability of their fellows of thirteen and fourteen years of age; in fact, children do not fit, intellectually, into age-compartments; their capacities are surprisingly individual. What seems reasonable is the entire abolition of age limits in lending libraries, subject to the reservation that the librarian should have discretionary power to refuse to issue books to any child unable to read and write. Failing this, the limit might be fixed at twelve where there are no separate juvenile libraries, but reduced to seven where such departments exist. There is a certain amount of trouble and inconvenience to adults resulting from admitting very young children, especially in open access and other libraries without separate juvenile accommodation, and this would be partly met by the compromise proposed. Separate children’s libraries are the solution of the difficulty, and, when these can be provided all round, the age limit downwards can be abolished so far as they are concerned, while the limit for the adult library can be raised to twelve or fourteen. But adequate provision