GAS COMMISSION.

Upon the recommendation of Hon. Samuel C. Cobb, Mayor, the City Council, in orders passed January 30 and April 2, 1875, authorized the appointment of three Commissioners to investigate the whole subject of the modes of manufacture, and the quality and price, of illuminating gas used in this city, and to suggest any improvements or plans for improving the quality or reducing the cost of gas. . The sum of $5,000 was appropriated to meet the expense of this investigation. The Commissioners appointed by the Mayor are Charles F. Choate, John Felt Osgood and Edward S. Wood. No report has yet been received from this Commission.

PUBLIC BUILDINGS.

The Public Buildings of the city and county comprise the City Hall, the Registry of Deeds, the Court House, Faneuil Hall and Faneuil Hall Market House, the Jail and Dead House, the Institutions at South Boston and Deer Island, the old State House, the Public Library, the City Hospital, the City Building (so called), all the Grammar and Primary School-houses, and all the Engine, Hydrant, and Hook and Ladder Houses in the city, including Roxbury, Dorchester, West Roxbury, Brighton and Charlestown, besides other buildings used for public purposes.

JAMES C. TUCKER, Superintendent of Public Buildings. Salary, $3,600. [Chosen by concurrent vote. Ord. p. 88.]

GEORGE A. CLOUGH, City Architect. Salary, $3,000. [Chosen by concurrent vote. Ord. Dec. 24, 1875.] CHARLES B. RICE, Superintendent of Faneuil Hall. Salary, $500. [Appointed by Mayor and Aldermen. Ord. p. 179.]

PUBLIC LANDS.

ROBERT W. HALL, Superintendent of Public Lands. Salary, $1,800. [Chosen by concurrent vote. Ord. p. 424.] The Superintendent has the care and custody of all the public lands belonging to the city, "except the Common, the Public Garden, the Public Squares, the lands connected with the Public Institutions at South Boston, or any other lands purchased or held for specific purposes," unless by special vote of the City Council.

General Officers: Justin Winsor, Superintendent, and Secretary of the Trustees. Salary, $3,600. James L. Whitney, Assistant Superintendent. James M. Hubbard, Principal Assistant. Frederic B. Perkins, Office Secretary. Charles A. Wilson, Despatch Clerk. Miss A. A. Nichols, Auditor. William E. Ford, Chief Janitor.

Departmental Officers: Henry Ware, Keeper, Bates Hall. Elbridge Bradshaw, Keeper, Lower Hall. Cornelius S. Cartée, Librarian, Charlestown. Miss Alice J. Bragdon, Librarian, South Boston. Miss Sarah C. Godbold, Librarian, East Boston. Miss H. C. Price, Librarian, Roxbury. Miss Mary E. Brock, Librarian, Brighton. Miss Mary G. Coffin, Librarian, Dorchester.

Delivery Agent: Miss M. A. Hill, Lower Mills.

From 1841 to 1847 various preliminary movements were made towards a City Library. In 1843 and 1847 books (some of considerable value) were received by the city, from the City of Paris, through M. VATTEMARE.

In 1847 a Joint Committee of the City Council on a Library was first appointed. The Hon. JOSIAH QUINCY, Jr., while Mayor, offered to give $5,000 for a Public Library, on condition that the citizens should add $10,000. The offer was not met.

On the 12th of March, 1848, an act of the State Legislature authorized the City of Boston to establish and maintain a Public Library, and it was accepted by the city April 3d. Meanwhile efforts to procure a union with the Athenæum Library had been unsuccessfully made.

In 1849 the Hon. R. C. WINTHROP, J. D. W. WILLIAMS, Esq., Hon. S. A. ELIOT, Dr. J. MASON WARREN, Dr. J. B. MCMAHON, and EZRA WESTON, Esq., presented books for a Library.

In 1850, August 5,the Hon. JOHN P.BIGELOW,while Mayor, presented $1,000, which was funded, and two days later the Hon. EDWARD EVERETT presented his set of Public Doc

uments and State Papers of the United States, with other works, numbering upwards of 1,000 vols.

JOSHUA BATES, ESQ., of London, whose early life was passed in Boston, having offered to this city the munificent sum of fifty thousand dollars, towards the purchase of books for the Public Library of the city, if the city would erect a suitable building for that purpose, on the 24th of February, 1853, an order was passed by the City Council, authorizing the Committee on the Library, in.conference with the Board of Trustees, to purchase a suitable site for the erection of a building, which should be fully adapted for the purpose of the Library, including Mr. Bates' donation. Accordingly, said committee purchased 23,380 feet of land on Boylston street, opposite the Common, upon which an edifice was erected, at a cost to the city, for land and building, of about $365,000.

This building was finished and delivered into the custody of the City Council, and by the City Council was transmitted to the care of the Trustees of the Public Library, with appropriate ceremonies, on January 1, 1858.

During 1871–2 extensive changes were made in the building, thereby increasing its capacity by nearly one hundred and fifty thousand volumes. In 1874-5, an addition was erected in the rear, giving increased accommodations for the official quarters, for the Patent Room, and the bindery, with rooms for the Barton and Prince Libraries. At the same time the Bates Hall was redecorated. In 1876 an exterior gallery was built between the rear towers.

Besides the above-mentioned donations in money, the sum of ten thousand dollars was subsequently given by Hon. JONATHAN PHILLIPS, who, by his will, bequeathed an additional sum of twenty thousand dollars. Another sum of ten thousand dollars was bequeathed by the late Hon. ABBOTT LAWRENCE. The executors under the will of the late MARY P. TOWNSEND devoted to the library four thousand dollars

of a sum to be appropriated at their discretion. The FRANKLIN CLUB, at its dissolution, gave one thousand dollars. The late GEORGE TICKNOR bequeathed four thousand dollars. The Hon. HENRY L. PIERCE, Mayor of the city in 1873, on retiring from the office, gave his salary for the year, five thousand dollars.

All of these sums have been funded by the City Council, and the annual proceeds are expended for the purchase of books of permanent value, in accordance with the special directions of the donors.

The sum of one thousand dollars was given by the late SAMUEL APPLETON, Esq., and the same amount by Mrs. SALLY I. K. SHEPARD, for the purpose of procuring books for the immediate use of the public.

Very valuable donations of books have been made by the late JOSHUA BATES (in addition to his gift of money), the late Rev. THEODORE PARKER, the heirs of the Hon. NATHANIEL BOWDITCH, GEORGE TICKNOR, Hon. HENRY L. PIERCE, and others.

The rich antiquarian Library collected by the Rev. THOMAS PRINCE, during the first half of the last century, was placed, in 1866, in the custody of the library, by the deacons of the Old South Church.

By the munificence of THOMAS G. APPLETON, Esq., of Boston, the very rich and valuable collection of engravings formerly belonging to Cardinal Tosti, of Rome, now deceased, was purchased and presented to the Public Library in 1869. The collection contains nearly eight.thousand prints, six hundred of which are framed.

The very valuable general and Shakespearian Library of the late THOMAS P. BARTON, of New York, together with his engravings, autographs, etc., was purchased in 1873, numbering about 12,000 volumes.