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stock-taking of 1902 three extra clerks were employed for some months. This year the work has been done without any outside assistance. Mr. Thomson reports as follows : —■ " Sot,— " 28th May, 1913. " I have the honour to report that the stock-taking which I have carried oui under your instructions has now practically been completed. The Accession Books, which are a record of all books that has been received into the Library since its initiation, were taken as the basis for the work. This work has been a long and arduous one. All care has been taken to search for books that appeared as missing; the circulating-cards containing the names of books now in circulation have also been consulted, and books appearing in these have been recorded as in the library for the purposes of stock-taking. The fiction section has not yet been completed, as I wish to have a final search for missing books in this section, but I will furnish you with an additional report upon this section a little later on. The same may be said of the American and New Zealand sections. These sections are under the immediate control of the Assistant Librarian (Mr. James). I have furnished him with a list of apparently missing books in these two sections, and upon the receipt of his report, after a final search, I will communicate the results to you. " The Library was divided into four classes, as follows : (i) Books in request generally— that is, literature generally; (ii) official publications; (iii) American publications and New Zealand case; (iv) newspapers and bound periodicals. In addition, fiction has been considered as a separate class. "I find that in Class i 594 volumes are missing; in Class ii 21 volumes are missing; in Class iv 23 volumes are missing (being newspapers 12, magazines 11). Also, in addition, miscellaneous official papers, 39. American and New Zealand and fiction will be reported on in a short time. " The main part of the Library comes under Class i. It does not follow that all books reported as missing are lost; in fact, these books are appearing weekly, returned from Com-mittee-rooms, private houses, &c, so that the number returned as missing, 594, is the maximum of loss in this large and important part of the Library. This represents the missing books for a period of at least twenty-five years. With an open Library like ours this is but a very small percentage of loss. " For your information I have classified the missing volumes into their various classes. The following table gives the approximate result: — Dewey Classification. 0-099 General works ... ... ... ... ... 13 100-199 Philosophy .... ... ... ... ... ... 20 200-299 Religion ... "... ... ... ... ... 15 300-399 Sociology ... ... ... ... ... ... 152 400-499 Philology ... ... ... ... ... ... 8 500-599 Natural science ... ..." . ... ... ... 21 600-699 Useful arts ... ... ... ... 48 700-799 Fine arts ... ... ... ... ... ... 28 800-899 General literature ... ... ... ... ... 106 History (900-909—Class i) ... ... ... ... ... ... 1 Voyages and travels ... ... ... ... ... ... 63 Biography ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 55 History (930-999—Class ii) ... ... ... ... ... 64 Total ... ... ... .... ... ... 594 " I hand to you all lists, records, and memoranda connected with The amount of clerical work alone in these is conclusive evidence of the exhaustive and searching nature of the search that has been made, which I trust will meet with your approval. I may state that during the whole period I have found the assistance rendered by Mr. P. McColl, who has been associated with me in this work, most valuable, and his industry has been most commendable. " I have, &c, "Arch. B. Thomson, Assistant." Other Sections. There remained to be dealt with the New Zealand and Polynesian books, the American official section, and the fiction. The Assistant Librarian checked the stock-sheets of the two first sections, and Mr. McColl those referring to fiction. The losses reported were as follows : The New Zealand and Polynesian section, 52; American official section, 40; fiction, 354. With regard to the American section Mr. James reports as follows : Errors in the Accession Registers or on the book plates, made years ago by extra clerks temporarily employed in the Library, are responsible for the most of the at-first-sight missing books that I have since found; it is possible that a few of those I have not found may be for the same reason only apparently missing. Several of the books still recorded as missing are of no value whatever, and cannot be regarded as real losses. In the fiction department Mr. McColl reports that a large proportion of the missing volumes are very old novels, and the loss of books of comparatively recent acquisition is very small.