As Dr Thomas Bray was the first to procure library legislation in England, so was he the first to obtain a law of this kind in North America. He founded a library in South Carolina, which in 1700 formed the subject of an Act passed by the Legislative Assembly of South Carolina for its regulation and protection. In 1715 a similar law for the same purpose was passed by the Legislative Assembly of North Carolina. In subsequent years many laws were passed by different States for the incorporation and regulation of all kinds of social, subscription, mercantile and other libraries, much on the same lines as were found necessary in other countries, in order to give such associations legal standing and recognition. In some of the States laws have been enacted providing for the payment of an annual grant to proprietary libraries, on condition that they are made free to the general public for reference purposes. This plan of utilizing existing library facilities for the public benefit is common to both the United States and our own colonies, and there are many less effective ways of securing reading privileges at a comparatively cheap rate. It would add enormously to the educational resources of London, for example, if, in return for an annual Government grant, the general public could have access to the reading-rooms of some of the more important literary, scientific and artistic libraries, especially those which are rich in the current periodical literature of other countries. In the “Report of the Commissioner of Education” for the United States, 1895-96, vol. i., there is a very elaborate account of the “Library Legislation in the United States,” to which reference must be made by those who want minute details of the laws of the different States of the Union. Here it is only possible to deal with the laws affecting school and municipal libraries, and to give typical examples of the legislation in each class.