commended: 100 possihle marks, class 1— ' Henry Nicholson, 80 ; Francis Lejownie, 70. ' 80 possible marks, class 2— Helen Rooke, 04; • Sylvia Morgan, 55; William Jones, 50. ' Jabez Lyons, 49; Leonard Rooke, 43. James ' Nicholson, 45 ; Elizabeth Lyons, 43 ; Annie ' McKinnon, 43. ' Timaru Mechanics' Institute. — Tho \ annual general mooting of the above Institute * was held m tho reading room on Tnc?dny ' evening last. Thoro was a good attendance." Mr Mcc ocoupied the obair. Tho Secretary read tho annual report as follows : — j " Your Committee' in presenting their report for the past year, have great pleasure m l>«in:; j able to congratulate the members on thi very flourishing Btate of the Institute, aud, as will ' be setn by tho accompanying balance-sheet, ! the receipts both fi >m members subscriptions ' and rent of hall have been very largely m- ' creased, indeed, almost doubled. The insti- ' tute now number 108 members, 101 of whom ' are annual subscribers, and 7 life members. ' On the allotment of the provincial grant of £5000 this year for district libraries, your ' committeo applied for a portion of this sura, ! I which they intended to apply to enlarging and improving fche premises, but the small amount voted hy the Govern ment, viz. — £100— has for the time prevented thorn from carrying out suoh object. Your committeo would, however, recommend to their successors tho importance of urging the Govornmont to supplement tho sum by a more libernl grant to meet auch a vory neces sary requirement. As will be soen, your committee hnre altered tho reading room and library at a cost of £191 10s 2d, which im provement will greatly tend to the comfort of tbo members. New works of a standard character hnve been roceived from England, making tho total of books vow m lho library 1,047 — a further carefully nsioi'tcd seleotion is now closo to hand. Tlie reading-room tnble has beon liberally supplied with periodicals and papers, with a view to suit the tastes of all readers. 