Quarterly exchanges are
allowed, but the twenty or thirty books in a box usually last a society
for a year. It is a remarkable fact that although boxes are lent freely
to such slight organisations as reading classes, and are sent even to
remote mining villages in Wales or Scotland, not a single box has ever
been lost. Delays are frequent: books of course are often missing, but
sooner or later every box sent out has been returned to the Society.
Another method of securing the circulation of good books on social
subjects has been frequently used. We prepare a list of recent and
important publications treating of social problems and request each
member to report how many of them are in the Public Library of his
district, and further to apply for the purchase of such as are absent.
* * * * *
The Local Government Act of 1894, commonly called the Parish Councils
Act, which constituted out of chaos a system of local government for
rural England, gave the Society an opportunity for practising that part
of its policy which includes the making the best use of all forms of
existing legislation. Mr. Herbert Samuel was at that time a friend,
though he was never a member, of the Society, and the first step in his
successful political career was his candidature for the typically rural
Southern Division of Oxfordshire. He was good enough to prepare for us
not only an admirable explanation of the Act, but also Questions for
Parish Councillors, for Rural District Councillors, and for Urban
District Councillors.
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