Page:Municipal Handbook of Auckland 1922.djvu/85

 number of boys on the roll is 288, including 66 Boy Scouts. The attendance averages about 40. This is probably the largest boys' institute in the Dominion. Mr. T. W. Leys, LL.D., has been president of the Institute since its inception, and the success which it has attained has been due in great measure to his personal interest in and benefactions to it.

Cricket, football, and swimming clubs are affiliated to the Institute.

Other branch libraries were established in Grafton at Mount Eden Road (1913); in Parnell, Manukau and St. George's Bay Roads (1913); in Remuera, near Victoria Avenue (1915); and in Epsom (1918), the fine premises formerly belonging to the Manukau Water Supply Board being acquired for the purpose. Each of these libraries consists of a Reading Room, Lending Department, and Children's Section, Epsom and Remuera having a separate room for boys and girls.

A feature of the work of the libraries is the course of lectures and entertainments arranged each winter at the Leys Institute, Grafton, and Epsom libraries, each of which has a hall attached, with a seating capacity for over 300 persons.

Mr. Edward Shillington was the first librarian, and he occupied the position until 1913, when the present Chief Librarian was appointed.

The following statistics give in tabular form the principal facts of the present position and activities of the libraries:—