Note 37 — V A NATIONAL LIBRARY SERVICE.
Reading edition
“The amount produced by the penny rate varies from borough to borough within very wide limits. The wealthy City of Westminster receives nearly £23,000 for every penny of its imposed rate; Kensington comes next with £9,500, and the others fall gradually till we find that Stoke Newington receives only £1,400. But to estimate the burden it is necessary to consider the produce of the penny rate in relation to the number of inhabitants, and in doing this we find that while every 1,000 inhabitants in Westminster can raise for library purposes £128, in the over-burdened east and south-east, Poplar and Camberwell can only raise £20, while Stepney comes lowest on the list with £19 per 1,000 inhabitants. But this does not express the whole of the burden, for while 1,000 inhabitants of wealthy Westminster have the power to spend £128, they find that their five libraries, well stocked with books and liberally staffed, cost them only £65, while Poplar, which finds six [actually four] establishments too little for its needs, must perforce expend the whole of the £19 per 1,000 citizens that it is enabled to raise.” J. McKillop: The Present Position of London Municipal Libraries. These figures were put down in 1907; the present situation may be understood from later statistics. The areas and populations are similar.
From L.C.C. London Statistics, 1913-4.
Charge falling
on Rates. Amount
Poplar 4 Libraries .99 £3,080
Kensington 3 ” .61 £5,905
Westminster 4 ” .43 £11,784
From L.C.C. Statistical Abstract, 1920.
Assessable Value. 1d. produces
Poplar £835,583 £3,482
Kensington £2,451,335 £10,214
Westminster £7,011,845 £29,216
Current estimate at Poplar, £8,318 to 2.17d. in £.
Poplar, it should be noted, has one of the most efficient library systems in London, though the buildings are not pretentious and the furniture is for use and not ornament. To provide and work this admirable system something like an economic miracle had to be worked, for so narrow was the financial margin that as the borough librarian picturesquely put it, if a few slates fell off the roof the cost of replacing them had to come out of the book fund.