I hear the Tauranga City Council advertising for people to join the ‘free' library. As one of the long-suffering ratepayers and a former councillor the library is anything but ‘free'. It is funded, compulsorily, by your rates. And only a small percentage of that is spent on books. About 10 per cent. The library is an expensive, not free, operation.

Bill Faulkner, Otumoetai.