he end of the session members were taking books away, and in
1886 Mr James Macandrew from Dunedin admitted doing so. In the recess
of 1885-86 Sir James G. Wilson (Bulls) had written to the Librarian
asking for books to be sent to his home. The request was refused but
following it the House passed a motion recommending the Joint Committee
to prepare regulations for lending books during the recess to members
living outside Wellington.

The Committee, however, did not favour the idea and reported that there
were so many difficulties in the way that they would not carry it out.
On the motion of the Premier, Sir Robert Stout, the House reluctantly
agreed with the report.

There the matter rested until the session of 1891 when it was raised in
a question addressed to a Minister. As a result the Committee brought
down a report saying that they had agreed to a scheme for circulating
up to six books at a time to members in the recess. Certain reference
and valuable books, newspapers, and periodicals were excluded, but most
other works could be borrowed. The Library would provide boxes or
baskets for the transmission of the books, and six dozen were obtained
for the following recess. During it 34 members borrowed 438 volumes,
not one being lost, though two were damaged.

Both House and Council agreed to the scheme, though certain members
were violently opposed to it. Since then it has provided members with
reading material during many recesses. Certainly, some books have been
lost, but probably there would be an even greater chance of losses if
the practice of recess borrowing had not been regularised. In any case,
books often disappear from the shelves in libraries with the best
oversight and supervision and are never seen again.

_Fiction_

The provision of fiction in the Library has been criticised, but novels
have been purchased since the early seventies. The numbers purchased
have always been small, and have given well earned relaxation and
pleasure to legislators as well as building up what is the only
collection of the minor nineteenth century classics that exists in the
Dominion. These books are frequently in demand by students of
nineteenth century English literature.

_Inter-library Loan_

In keeping with the policy of allowing the widest possible use of the
Library, while at the same time retaining all books necessary for
Parliament, the Committee in 1909 drew up rules which would have
permitted university