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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 85

Invercargill

Invercargill.

Capital of the District of Southland, population, 4,596. Daily Papers.—"The Southland Times," and "The Southland Daily News."

The Atiienæum.

W. E. Hallam, Librarian.

A handsome building, situated in the main street, dating from 1876, and comprising a subscription circulating library, reading-rooms, and a museum. The subscription is £1 per annum, or for ladies and youths under 16, 10s. Strangers visiting Invercargill are granted admission free to the reading-room, which is open on week days, from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., and on Sundays from 2 to 6 p.m.

One word as to the reading-room; it is without doubt the most commodious in New Zealand; it is admirably stocked with papers, and the privilege of using it will be warmly embraced by any person compelled to stay in Invercargill, which I am forced to admit is a town of exceeding dullness page 40 and ennui. A separate room is reserved for ladies with duplicate copies of the chief papers, and so far as buildings and arrangements go, the Athenaeum has evidently been built with a view to meeting the wants of Invercargill twenty years hence, when her population may be five times as great as it is now.

The buildings are good throughout, and the property is a valuable one, and is likely to become increasingly so. During 1884, the subscriptions of members amounted to £293, and the rents, &c., swelled the total receipts to £1,234, a sum of about £420 was spent on books, binding, and newspapers, and the Athenaeum had certainly something to show for it.

The library now contains over 5,000 volumes, about 800 of which are works of fiction; biography, and history are fairly represented, the works are throughout, so far as I could judge, in good order and very well bound. A catalogue was published in 1876, and a new edition in 1882, 12mo., pp. ix. 73, this last, which is a handy little book, gives besides a classified catalogue, a list of members, rules, bylaws, and the Ordinance of Incorporation, which was passed 20th July, 1871; there is also an appendix with an index of authors.

Besides the library of the Athenaeum there is also a small library of legal works in the buildings of the Supreme Court at Invercargill.

With Invercargill I come to an end of my account of the libraries in the South Island, and in New Zealand. There are, however, in the South Island in the following places, viz. Akaroa, Alexandra, Blenheim, Clyde, Cromwell, Grey-mouth, Naseby, Port Chalmers, and Timaru, libraries of growing importance, which will demand the attention of a later writer. In 1884, 207 libraries in the South Island shared in the Government grant, their total income from subscriptions being £5,577 7s. 9d., and the subsidy they received in addition being £3,484 19s. 9d.

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EDUCATION DISTRICTS.No. of Libraries. 1883 1884 Income of Libraries. 1883 1884 Amount of Subsidy. 1883 1884 £s.d.£s.d.£S.d.£.S.d.Auckland ... ...91882,359I12,052391,2121591,35481Taranaki ... ...66106211521766701169191Wanganui ... ...811829515552112697525619Wellington ... ...17161,711176465705598228816Hawke's Bay ... 21281,299122 8742547 7112526150Marlborough ...451906019012275196108163Nelson ... ...262564577463107339133651811North Canterbury ...71712,3551741,818881,081441,123188South Canterbury ...91060319540857216195196141Westland ... ...1516715410650972857236241Otago ... ...59562,2281811 1,548 08969103948159Southland ... ... 27241,000524980643892 378120Totals35435614,0451809,550145,9921465.98052 42 The Chief Libraries of New Zealand.

A Tabular Statement showing the Distribution of the Public Libraries Subsidies according to Education Board Districts.

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I think it is worth while to insert here before concluding, a tabular statement shewing the "Distribution of the Public Libraries Subsidies according to Education Board Districts," for the years 1883 and 1884, which I have put together from the returns in the New Zealand Parliamentary papers, kindly lent to me at the Agent-General's Office, Victoria Street.

The whole of the vote of £6,000 was apportioned in each year, but after a majority of the payments had been made, certain deductions had to be made owing to some mistake on the part of one of the libraries. It must be noted that in, and since 1884, the maximum subsidy to any library was limited to £50; and the only income recognised as entitling a library to share in the subsidy, was that derived from subscriptions and voluntary contributions for the ordinary current expenditure. It must also be noted, that, if in 1884 the vote had been distributed in strict proportion to the incomes of the several libraries, eleven would have received over £50. Of these Canterbury Public Library would have received £150; Auckland Public Library, £148; Oamaru Athenaeum, £105; Timaru Mechanics' Institute, £75; and Wanganui Public Library, £75; the other places being Masterton, Nelson, Cromwell, Turanganui, Christ Church Y.M.C.A., and Thames.

Lastly, I may mention that the Education Department in New Zealand, has for some time past recognised the value of libraries in the State Schools, as evidenced by the reports of Mr. O'Sullivan and Mr. Lee, Inspectors of Schools, in the report of the Minister of Education in 1883, and by the report of Mr. H. Hill, B.A., Inspector for the Hawke's Bay district, in 1884. This last gentleman writes thus:—"It would seem teachers are beginning to realise that a library is a necessary part of every well equipped school," and to this I think I may add, that the people of New Zealand have long since realised that a library is a necessary part of every well equipped town, and that they have done, and arc doing their best to make their libraries worthy of their towns.