These two rules are absolutely necessary to a successful application, and, if not already incorporated, should be included by special resolution of the library authority before application is made. It is best to send printed copies of the rules, and it should be noted that three identical copies, all signed, must be sent. On these the registrar endorses his certificate, and sends one to the Clerk of the Peace for the district, one to the library authority, and retains one. The form of certificate usually attached is as follows:
It is hereby certified that this society is entitled to the benefit of the Act 6 & 7 Vict., c. 36, intituled “An Act to exempt from County, Borough, Parochial and other Local Rates, Lands and Buildings occupied by Scientific or Literary Societies.”
Date.
Seal of
Registry of
Friendly
Societies.
The application should show that annual voluntary contributions of money, books and periodicals are received, but there is no direction laid down as to the amount of voluntary contributions which will pass muster. The point is somewhat vague, but it may be assumed that the amount received from gifts, subscriptions, sales, books, periodicals, etc., need not form a substantial proportion of the income. As the English Registrar accepts donations in kind as annual voluntary contributions, it is only necessary to value these to make up a respectable sum.
39.
39. Certificates are not granted as a rule in cases where a charge for admission is made. Furthermore, it is doubtful if the exemption from local rates would be allowed by hostile local authorities for any occupied portions of library buildings. A caretaker’s or librarian’s residence would in all probability be separately assessed, if the certificate were otherwise recognized. By a decision of a Court of Quarter Sessions at Liverpool in 1905, it has been decided that the Corporation of Liverpool is liable for local rates on a library building; but it is not possible to say how far this may affect libraries holding these certificates. Legislation is pending, and till something is definitely settled, the question must remain open.
40.
40. The House of Lords’ [decision] already noticed also freed public library buildings from income tax, but it should be distinctly understood that inhabited house duty can be charged for the whole of a building, even if only partly occupied as a residence, when included under one roof, unless it can be shown that the library and residence do not communicate directly with each other.