Publicly accessible
URL: http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/collections.html
Copyright 2008, by Victoria University of Wellington
All unambiguous end-of-line hyphens have been removed, and the trailing part of a word has been joined to the preceding line.
Some keywords in the header are a local Electronic Text Centre scheme to aid in establishing analytical groupings.
Geoffrey Alley, Librarian
Copyright ©
First published 2006
Printed by Astra Print, Wellington
After page 224:
When
[He was] arguably the greatest librarian that New Zealand has yet produced, and the greatest servant that our library profession and the
New Zealand Library Association have had …. his stature, at a time when one person could influence, and in fact determine, the direction of events in many important ways was so overwhelming that it is unlikely to be matched again. There was a small band of very able, very enthusiastic, and very determined people who created the library system of New Zealand as we know it now, and he was without question its leader. He was the one who made it happen.1
That, and the rest of the tribute, were not too bad in the light of the ephemeral occasion in which they were presented. But then, a couple of years later, I decided to write what, at first, was to be a biography of Alley, but which turned, of necessity, into a study of his life, his times, his work, and the environment in which he operated, and that was a different ball-game altogether. Seventeen years later, it has been closed off, a more interesting story, I think, because of all the other people whose roles have been discovered, the interplay between them, and the forces which determined how they worked together.
New Zealand Books in 1999, 2 wrote, 'Biographies bring the past to life in an accessible way. The rise and fall of individuals, their childhood
No society is without problems which need to be tackled. New Zealand certainly had them in the 1930s, but it was essentially a cohesive society whose members cared for and respected each other, and it had people who were capable of working together to find solutions to their problems and work out how to begin to handle them. Peter Fraser's famous educational objective, 'that every person, whatever his level of academic ability, whether he be rich or poor, whether he live in town or country, has a right, as a citizen, to a free education of the kind for which he is best fitted and to the fullest extent of his powers', was typical of the best of New Zealand in his time, and it was very relevant to the New Zealand library community, which had embarked on what was to be a thirty-year programme in which the library system was to be transformed.
Alley was not involved in the earliest stages of the process of library reform, which had been begun by a small number of librarians with the crucial support of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, but at a critical stage, when the improvement of rural library service was being considered, he was recruited by
Alley's story is therefore very largely the story of the development of the New Zealand library system from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s, but the way in which it unfolds depends on his background as a member of a notable family which was deeply concerned about education, as one with farming and sporting experience and with a respect for those people
Decades later, many of the problems are different, and the ways of handling them must naturally take account of different circumstances, but the ideal of working together co-operatively for the good of society as a whole, which was basic in the Alley era, will never be inappropriate. The aberration of the period in which massive inefficiencies resulted from a competitive model, imposed for ideological reasons by people who knew everything about Management except what it was for, will pass and be consigned to history, but as the library world recovers from its effects an account of Alley's time and the example of how he and his fellows thought and worked will have lessons for the future.
So, this is a biography up to a point but not a straight biography, a history but a history from a particular angle, an administrative study but not a theoretical one. It is a bit of a hybrid, but in the circumstances perhaps more interesting than a pure-bred. It has taken a good deal of research and a lot more thought. If it throws useful light on a corner of the past, that will make the effort worth while.
In writing this work I have been immensely grateful for the help I have had from many people and institutions. To begin with, I must acknowledge with gratitude the support I have had from members of Alley's family. Judith (Tait), Roderic, and Patrick have provided much information, suggestions, and ideas, and Ruth, living in London, has allowed me to quote from her book, Carrie Hepple's Garden. In places I have been fairly critical of their father's actions, but never once has any of them suggested that I should tone my comments down. I was able to interview Alley's sister
Another group of people has patiently read and commented on each part of the work as I have produced it, and at many times the comments they have made have enabled me to improve what they have read. I am truly grateful to them. They have included (and unfortunately I have to note that several have died before they could see the end result)
A most important addition to this list is my old friend and colleague par excellence, with a deep understanding of the professional principles involved, she has been indispensable, and she has also, in the later stages, done sterling work in checking the manuscript, in making sure that the bibliography stands up scrutiny, and in checking and verifying all the notes.
Among others who have helped in many ways have been
The staffs of a number of libraries and other organisations have been very helpful (as they normally are) in providing access to documentary information. First, of course, the National Library and the Alexander Turnbull Library, and the
Material on various topics was found in the
The Trustees of the National Library in 1989 made me a grant of $1,500 to prepare a full project proposal, but then they lost interest. This was a pity, but it meant that from then on the work was done without my feeling any financial obligation to anyone. However, ten years later, when the work was well advanced, the Trustees of the G.T. Alley Fellowship Trust, set up by the National Library Society (i.e. the 'Friends' organisation associated with the
Finally, it is a pleasure to acknowledge the sympathetic work of
John Alley arrived in Canterbury in 1857 at the age of 22, with his brother Henry, his sister Matilda, and a cousin, George.1 John, Henry, and George went to 2 In various records he is described as 'labourer', 'farmer', and 'horse dealer'.
The Alleys were Protestant Irish, members of the Church of Ireland in the Anglican communion and of the Irish establishment since Cromwell's day. They farmed in County Laois near Dublin. An earlier member of the family, William, had been bishop of Exeter during the reign of Elizabeth I; of him it was said that 'he was well stored, and his library well replenished, with all the best sort of writers, which most gladlie he would impart and make open to everie good scholar and student, whose companie he did desire and embrace; he seemed to the first appearance to be a rough and an austere man, but in verie truth, a verie courteous, gentle, and an affable man … only he was somewhat credulous, and of a hasty beleefe, and of light credit, which he did oftentimes mislike, and blame in himselfe'.3
One can see parallels between the character of Bishop Alley and the later New Zealand branch of the family, but between them lie also two centuries of life in a minority Irish community notable for its independence, uprightness, stubbornness, and success in literary, administrative and military fields. Just as New Zealanders of European origin have evolved a character and a nationalism of their own alongside their Polynesian compatriots in somewhat less than two centuries, so the Alleys from Ireland were distinctively Irish.
On 20 September 1864 John Alley, aged 29, married Sarah Ward, four years his junior, who had been in New Zealand since 1850, having come out with her brothers. Sarah's family was another Protestant one. Their home was in County Down, south of Belfast, but they had known and intermarried with the Alleys in Ireland, to the extent that they were apt to 4 True to form, Sarah's brother James married John's sister Matilda in New Zealand.
Three children were born to John and Sarah. Henry John arrived on 9 July 1865; 5 When Amy was baptised on 16 February, her father was recorded as 'John, deceased, cattle dealer'.6
So Sarah was left, at the age of 30, with three small children and a tiny farm on which she lived in a cob house with a thatched roof, doing the heavy work herself.7 She was indomitable. She has also been described as a charming Irishwoman who was much ahead of her time and keen on the education of women, a committed Anglican, and devoted to the Queen and all she stood for.8 Later, when a grandchild asked her why she had not married again, she drew herself up and replied with dignity, 'What was good enough for the dear Queen was good enough for me.'9
Of her three children, Frederick was the one on whom Sarah placed her ambitious hopes. He was to be an Anglican parson, and to that end he had to walk not only to school in Papanui and back during the week, but also to Sunday school, choir practice, and church.10 Given his Irish ancestry, it is not surprising that he was not submissive enough to follow the path that had been laid out for him. In any case, his later reading of Darwin and other writers caused him to have severe doubts about Anglican orthodoxy. Although he did not become irreligious, he adopted the Unitarian position, which was later interpreted by his son Rewi in this way: 'I believe there is a universal god that orders life and evolution, but I do not believe in Christ as a physical son of God, only as a great leader of mankind. I love to go to church to sing and listen to the beautiful poetry of the service but cannot say the creed, although I believe in Christ's teachings.'11
Instead of the church, Frederick chose teaching as a career. He was appointed to a pupil-teacher position at 12
It was when he was teaching at Irwell that Frederick met 13
The Buckinghams were of solid English yeoman stock of the kind who, in Trollope's novels, were highly regarded and treated with respect by the squire but did not expect to be invited to dine. They were Methodists, and teetotallers, and their family had provided mayors and aldermen in Suffolk and Norfolk. Thomas, Clara's father, had a farm at Hethersett, a pleasant village six miles from Norwich, and in his prime was known as 'the strongest man in Norfolk'. Clara and her older sister,
Like many other English arable farmers, the Buckinghams fell on hard times in the late 1870s. The corn laws, which were designed to protect British farmers from overseas competition, were repealed about 1850, but the effect of this move was not seriously felt until the mid-1870s, when improved transport, both within North America and across the Atlantic, enabled vast quantities of prairie wheat to flood the English market. And then there was, from 1875, a series of wet summers which ruined English crops.
Waitangi on 5 January 1882, arriving 105 days later at Lyttelton on 21 April. They stayed for a while at Sudeley Farm, Irwell, which was being managed by Philip Goldsmith, and then Thomas decided to go south with
Thomas and Lucy Buckingham, Clara's parents, were hard-working farmers; they were also great readers, active in community affairs, and fond parents. Of Thomas it was said that he never spoke a cross word. They felt their separation from their two daughters keenly, and in 1888 Thomas made a trip to Canterbury to stay at Sudeley Farm. There he died suddenly on 13 March, aged only 58 and only six years after making the huge move 14
Frederick and Clara were both aged 25 when they married, Clara having been born six weeks before her husband, on 25 October 1866. Frederick had just been appointed headmaster of Kowai Pass School 15 at Springfield, at the start of the hills on the road from Canterbury to the West Coast. While they lived in Springfield the first three of their seven children were born: 16
Frederick was by this time forming his own educational philosophy, which was strongly influenced by 17 was also involved in women's causes and in the temperance movement, which was at that time an important element of those causes. She contributed signature no.185 to the Springfield sheet of the 1893 women's suffrage petition which led to the extension of the parliamentary suffrage to women in that year.18 She was an active member of the Malvern Women's Institute and in April 1896, as its president, attended the first meeting of the National Council of Women of New Zealand, which had been convened by a group of Christchurch women and was presided over by 19 The meeting was reported widely in newspapers and was called the Hen Convention by some who were not ready to change with the times; Clara, as one of the youngest participants, thought of herself as 'the gay young chicken'.20
Of the resolutions adopted by the 1896 meeting, this one, which was proposed by Clara, was typical of her interests at the time: 'That this Council is of opinion that the marriage laws of New Zealand should be rendered remedial, not merely palliative, of disabilities at present grievously affecting married women, and to this end the whole law relating to marriage founded on the exploded doctrine of "possession" or "coverture" should be repealed.'21
In 1898 Frederick was appointed headmaster at Amberley, a thriving rural town some 30 miles north of Christchurch. At 120 in that year, the school's roll was double that of Kowai Pass, and the salary was also somewhat higher, at £208 instead of £158. The Alleys stayed there until 22 Three more children were born in the Amberley years: Philip John (Pip) on 22 May 1901,
Gwen and Rewi were both old enough in their Amberley days to remember them when they wrote their autobiographies. In Rewi's memory they did not include winters: 'It always seemed to be summer.'23 Gwen remembered the little creek which crossed Church Street three times as it meandered through the school playground, the Alleys' garden, then the vicarage and the doctor's grounds;24 for the headmaster, the vicar, and the doctor lived in the same street and their children played with each other exclusively. Clara's radicalism did not allow her to contemplate the threat that her children might learn vulgar colonial ways from others.
The two-storeyed Amberley schoolhouse (which is no longer standing) had four bedrooms and four living rooms. There was no bathroom, and there was only one cold tap for water. Cooking and water heating were done on a shining black coal stove. And yet, by the standards of those days, it was a comfortable home. Above the mantelpiece in the dining room there was a big photograph of the first 25
Frederick's final move as a teacher was to Wharenui in Christchurch, where he became the first headmaster on 1 March 1907,26 with very little increase in salary. He remained there until 1921. This school had four acres of land on Cutler's Road (now Matipo Street), which ran south from Riccarton Road not far but over the railway line from South Hagley Park. Its roll reached over 400 in Frederick's last years, and peaked at over 900 before the establishment of new schools and demographic changes reduced the number of available pupils. In the early 1990s it was below 200, but by then the school was notable for its association with one of its first pupils, Rewi Alley, and was visited regularly by Chinese pilgrims, particularly from Gansu province.
This, of course, is looking into the future, but it is appropriate at this point to look ahead to see what was to become of the family that Frederick and Clara had started on its way, even though some of the events that are mentioned here will be dealt with in more detail later, as they impinge on Geoff 's life and work. Eric, who was 14 when the move to Wharenui took place, died in the First World War, but all the others were involved in education of one kind or another. Gwen became an innovative infant teacher and later developed a community centre with her husband, 27 Kath, who represented Canterbury at hockey while she was still at school, was also a gifted teacher. The last of the family,
Frederick's sister Amy (the redoubtable Aunt Amy to her nephews and nieces) was another teacher, remembered by a former pupil in her infant class at Sydenham as gruff but kindly. It was a joke in the family that even Henry, Frederick's brother, who followed their father's interest in horses, was an educationalist. His book, Education of the Horse, published in 1913 and 'especially dedicated to all true lovers of the Horse, and to all young farmers who wish to better the conditions of "Breaking-in" and to increase the ease of training the Horse to both saddle and harness', could be (and possibly is) used to advantage today. 'Yarding the colt should be done in as quiet a manner as possible,' he says. 'The great point is not to frighten the colt into the stable, but to edge him in quietly. In this simple operation a horse trainer will test his patience, that indispensable quality of a horse trainer – Patience.'
As well as being educators of one kind or another, Frederick's and Clara's children were all, in varying degrees, achievers. They were upright and honest, they were workers, their minds were well stocked, and whatever they set out to do they did. In some cases, what they did was innovative and important for society. In the eyes of their acquaintances (and indeed of themselves, to a large extent) Clara deserved most of the credit for their success. Frederick was a more shadowy figure, and much of the picture of him that has survived is pretty negative. And yet, it takes two to produce such a brood, and Frederick's influence on his children was so strong, in ways both positive and negative, affecting each of them in a different way from the way it affected the others, that it is desirable to consider his role also. Much that is puzzling, or even just interesting, about each member of the family can be traced back to Frederick's impact, and this is especially important in Geoff 's case.
First, though, a word or two about Clara. She was universally loved, and her children adored her. She was the kingpin of the family, according to one very old friend;28 one 'who for more than sixty years helped me by her example and wisdom', in the words of another.29 30 Oliver Duff ('Sundowner' in the New Zealand Listener), writing after her death, remembered her from way back as 'a perfect mother, neither a Martha nor a Mary, but a blend of both, competent and assiduous in all material ways, and at the same time unruffled by the stresses of mind and spirit that rack every parent whose children are originals and not patterns'.31 Rewi said, 'She loved ducks, bees, roses, cats, tramps and all kids', 32 and when 33 She impressed herself on people's minds.
Clara was very well-read and, as her activities in the 34 She was, on the other hand, something of an élitist, and hankered for the English life she had left behind, and she found it hard to express affection physically. In build she took after her father, on a small scale, with a long back and short legs; this build she passed on to some of her children, including Geoff (on a large scale). Clara will appear at a number of points throughout this story, but now Frederick needs to be considered in some detail.
Frederick shared many of Clara's pluses, as well as having some of his own. He also had a greater share of minuses, and it was the combination of the two that made such an impact on his children. He was, as Clara had said in her pre-marital comment, 'a man with a few ideas'. His rejection of a comfortable career in the church was not untypical of the kind of high seriousness which he imbibed partly from his mother, partly no doubt from his own temperament, and partly from the kind of stiff-necked independence of the Irish Protestant, whether Presbyterian or Anglican. The rejection did not imply any kind of hedonism. In fact, in the view of one younger associate of the family, he lost his faith but not his zeal; in the eyes of another, he was a victim of circumstances, who desperately tried to do something to improve the world around him. In a way, he tried to use his children as instruments in furthering his ideals. His own stern sense of duty, which had positive effects outside the family, was in many ways a burden to those within it.
Frederick's causes included the improvement of educational theory and practice, extending into the promotion of reading and the arts, and the Maoriland Worker, which was connected with the Federation of Labour.
Like many serious people with liberal views, he did not allow his liberalism to extend to interested consideration of opposing views. There are stories of his sitting at the breakfast table giving his opinions on current events without allowing any opportunity for other contributions to be made, but this was, of course, consistent with his ideas, fairly typical of the time, on the role of the head of the family, another matter on which he held very serious views.
'His real friends were his books,' his daughter Gwen wrote, 'Carlyle, Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Dickens, 35 Joy remembered
As a teacher Frederick was strict, innovative, and inspiring. He used corporal punishment a good deal – who did not in those days? – but he was genuinely concerned to help his pupils and to ensure that the brighter ones won scholarships to secondary schools. In his pamphlet Something Wrong Somewhere, published in 1911, he wrote of the contrast between the first five years of life, when 'the child can form a sentence in a language that has taken tens of thousands of years to evolve', and the deadliness of the next five years at school,36 and said, 'Let us "begin young" with the subject that harmonises most with the child's mind, and delete from the early part of the school syllabus all that violates the law of economy of effort, i.e. part (only) of arithmetic, writing with a pen at too early a stage, the useless parts of drawing and premature handwork, the unnatural teaching of language apart from its context.'37 He was drawing on Pestalozzi's ideas on how education was intended to develop children's powers, to draw out what they possessed already at birth, and to develop a love of nature and of music. Following these principles, his method of teaching natural history was to take children outside, to consider the lilies of the field, as it were, when many teachers relied mainly on text books.
The importance of true language teaching, the teaching of language in context, was, he wrote, that 'the more words and ideas a child acquires, the faster becomes his progress. Every word added to his vocabulary brings others in its train, but with a constantly increasing speed.'38
In the same pamphlet, Frederick gave his rather candid views of school 39
Frederick clearly did not overdo the tactical pleasing of inspectors, but whether because they were innately tactful or merely shrewd, those who inspected his schools do not seem to have been unduly affected by his published remarks. 'Work directed with ability and energy, and the methods aim at developing intelligence' (1909); 'Impression of capable control combined with vigorous teaching. Methods employed are stimulating and calculated to develop intelligence' (1911): these are typical pre-pamphlet remarks.40 Later reports varied from year to year, some being more critical than others, but in 1912, after the publication of the pamphlet, the inspector said, 'The results of the inspection give proof that earnest and unremitting attention is being given not only to the educational interests of the children as expressed in the requirements of the syllabus of instruction, but, also, in that higher field of work which has for its object the training and development of the character of the children.'41 The 1916 and 1917 reports were critical, the 1918, 1919, and 1920 ones complimentary.42 On the whole, the inspectors seem to have been pleased with Frederick.
The Wharenui school history says that 'Mr Alley, of a shy, retiring nature, was possessed of a sound judgement, was just and fair, and had a good sense of humour. He was a splendid headmaster'.43 Old pupils of his have confirmed this description, but have added that they felt sorry for his own children, who, they thought, were treated very roughly by him, and there is no doubt that terms such as 'tyrant', which have been applied to him by family members, had some justification. He was not, however, a bad parent in the sociological sense. Everything that he did in relation to his family was intended to be for their benefit, and in many cases what were seen to be his faults could also be seen as virtues carried to excess. It is also very likely that he wished to ensure that his own children got the kind of start in life that had been made difficult for him by his father's early death. His intentions were good, but good intentions unalloyed sometimes produce unfortunate results.
Frederick's treatment of Sundays illustrates his way of managing his family. He would not allow his children to attend Sunday school because he did not want them to have beliefs forced on them before they were able
The learning of texts was only part of the régime that Frederick imposed on his family. There was a constant pressure to learn, to achieve physical fitness, to carry out numerous jobs, all under the stern watchfulness of father. 'He could produce thick blue tension all through the house,' according to Gwen.44 He often made arbitrary decisions affecting members of the family without considering whether they wished to be moved like pawns on his chessboard. Above all, he insisted not only that Alleys should do their best, but that they should be the best, and that a good runner-up was not good enough. This undoubtedly indicated some kind of anxiety in Frederick's make-up, but it was a terrible burden to place on any child, particularly a sensitive one, and it certainly harmed more than one of the family. And yet – they did emerge as individuals, as workers and as achievers. Who knows how they might have developed under a different kind of régime?
Eric was assessed by his father as 'a good all-rounder'. Gwen, Pip and Geoff seem to have borne the brunt of his attention because he regarded them as especially promising material, though Gwen got off more lightly because he treated the boys more seriously than the girls. Rewi, who was fairly laid back and would look into the distance and think before answering a question, when his father expected a quick response, was written off as 'a Norfolk dumb-bell' and managed to evade attention,45 and this could account for Airey's comment that 'there is a vast difference between Rewi Alley's inability to be idle when there is something to be done and his father's deification of work'.46
Gwen's reaction to her father's régime was to become dogmatic and forthright; in later years 'she was in no doubt at all that she had influenced the world for the better'.47 Geoff, on the other hand, who had an Alley temperament in a Buckingham body, was badly affected by his father's expectations, and also, as time went on, developed the same kinds of anxieties. His very close friend Jim Burrows gives a rather poignant picture of him as an immensely strong man, 'a giant of a man', seldom willing to speak about anything in his father's presence.48
Joy, the youngest daughter, has said that, 'If my father has been described as a formidable person he was never seen in that light by me, I was never afraid of him',49 and Geoff told a friend, in his later years, that he thought the family all forgave his father in the end.50 This might have been true of most of them but Kath, in letters and discussions, described him as a 'monster' to the end of her life. The most affectionate account of him is New Zealand Monthly Review,51 which can be accepted as a dispassionate account by one who had ducked from under.
Frederick was also what Geoff recalled as 'a victim of the land-hunger that so many of the new settlers and their progeny seem to have had in their make-up'.52 He needed to have a patch of soil to feel that he belonged to mother earth. He helped his mother, when possible, on her farm, and he and his sister Amy each bought a block at North Beach when that area was a wasteland: sandhills, no roads or paths, and little sign of human habitation. It was a marvellous place for family holidays, as was the Southland farm which he bought subsequently and to which we must pay some attention later.
The North Beach block was eventually broken up into six or more sections, each of which sold for more than the cost of the original block,53 but on the whole Frederick, as a landowner, was not a worldly success. His name does not stand alongside those of Rutherford, Robinson, or Rhodes in the annals of Canterbury; nor did he accumulate acres to arouse envy in the breasts of others, to be broken up or hung on to.
Perhaps because he was not entrepreneurially very successful, Frederick developed ideas on land policies which he pursued with determination but without having a marked effect on public opinion. He was one of the Press's regular correspondents and between 1918 and 1935 published three pamphlets on the subject, in the second of which54 he promoted the interests of (a) men with little money, to be a new class of state leaseholders with long, renewable leases, and (b) the industrialised large farm, 'the main hope of agriculture', and argued for an 'advances to settlers system, a state monopoly in all land sales, urban and rural, and a heavy tax on unearned increment aimed at speculators in land'. Rewi, writing in 1967 from a Beijing perspective, found these arguments beguiling.55
Frederick's main investment in land was a farm near Lumsden in Southland, which he bought in sections in 1905 and 1906 after some shuffling of purchases made in the immediately preceding years, and which he held until his death in 1936.56 It comprised some 460 acres on the south side of a road, now known as Keown Road, running off the present
The land in the crook of the Elbow is very stony, with hard pans which prevent natural drainage. Most of it has now been drained, but in Frederick's day the thin layer of soil was boggy in winter and too dry in summer. He ran sheep on it, with some cattle, but seldom had more than 400 of the former, the maximum being 1092 in 1924, compared with 221 in 1923 and 130 in 1925.57 Even in the 1990s, after draining, fencing, top-dressing, and tree planting, it supported only some 1500 sheep and 20 cattle. This is somewhat below the level expected of a prosperous Southland farm.58
The farm was, in fact, an awful one. Frederick did not have enough capital to make it economically viable, and he had great difficulty in finding managers for it. But it was very important to him personally and he loved it. Even though the winters are harsh, the area, on the road to
Frederick was something of a crank, and the crankiness became more marked in his retirement years, when Clara blossomed as the kingpin of the family,59 but he was basically a good man. He was short on tact, but tact can be overdone, as we can see in the synthetic sincerity that is offered by so many public figures. It is perhaps best to let Rewi sum him up: 'Of wild Irish stock, born a New Zealander, he left, like all good teachers do, his imprint on many a youthful mind. As kids, we were scared enough of the "Old Man", for he was always strict though not always just. But yet none of us, throughout our lives, ever forgot him.'60
1 He remained the apple of his mother's eye for the rest of her life.
He was enrolled at Wharenui School, joining Gwen and Pip there, on his fifth birthday, 4 February 1908.2 He was a bright pupil, being dux of the school when he completed his primary education and being awarded an Education Board scholarship for secondary education at the end of 1914, before he was 12. In 1912 he was awarded a first prize by the Christchurch Literary and Musical Competitions Society in class no.20, Recitation Boys (under 11 years).3
Geoff was also the hero of an incident which caught the eye of the school's historian: 'The boys held their own at football. Every year they played Fendalton and West Christchurch. In one match against West Christchurch about 1912 the match stood at 3 to nil in our favour. There was one very small boy who was too small to be put in front, so they put him fullback. One of the opposing forwards broke away and had a clear run to our goal line. Everyone thought the game was up, but this small boy threw himself at the forward and brought him down, and the game was saved … That small boy was Geoff Alley.'4 This was not a flash in the pan. Frederick had played rugby for 5 and, with his passion for physical fitness, undoubtedly pointed his sons in the same direction.
All the boys went on to
Eric went to Boys' High in 1909, having presumably spent some time at 6 despite his father's opinion of him, in 1912. In 1911 Eric was sent to manage the Lumsden farm, and he seems to have taken enthusiastically to the life there. Judging by the photographs of him printed in Gwen's autobiography, he was a handsome young man, with a prominent nose, a strong jaw, and a severe expression.7 He was tall, as Geoff later became, but slighter in build, more like his father. He had spent six years in the school cadets, one of them as an officer, and at Lumsden he joined the Territorials, being granted a commission as lieutenant from 8 July 1912.8
As a matter of interest, Rewi and Pip were much shorter than their brothers: Rewi stood at 5 ft 6 in. (168 cm),9 Pip a little more. Of the girls, Gwen and Joy were small, Kath taller.
Geoff was sent to help Eric for a while in 1913. It was not a happy experience for him, since Eric did not understand the limited capabilities of a 10-year-old, but Eric was a great success with the locals. In uniform, on his horse Percy, he cut a dashing figure. He taught in Sunday school, having been baptised in the Lumsden Anglican church on 25 August 1912,10 and one Lumsden resident who was a young pupil of his at the time still, in 1991, treasured a card he sent her from Cairo when he was in the army.11 He enlisted in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (Nzef) on 16 August 1914 and embarked, with Percy, on 16 October, as a lieutenant in the
Geoff and Pip both entered
By the time Geoff had won his prize, Eric's military career had run its course. He served on Gallipoli, leaving Percy behind in Egypt. The horse 12 and then Eric was shot through both legs on 8 August 1915,13 in the action on Chunuk Bair. He recuperated in the Royal Free Hospital in London, returning to his unit in Egypt in February 1916. In March 1916 he was promoted to captain and transferred to the 2nd Brigade Otago Infantry Regiment in France. There, on the night of 16/17 June, he led the first New Zealand raid in the period before the Somme battle, undertaken by a party of volunteers whom he had trained beforehand, its purpose being to investigate a new German system of trenches. Of the 83 other ranks taking part, one was killed and five wounded; of the five officers, four were wounded, one of whom, Eric, died the next day.14 A chaplain, writing to Frederick, called the action 'a highly successful raid';15 the official historian said that it revealed nothing of particular consequence.16 Both statements were probably correct.
Eric was mentioned in despatches some months later. The original wooden cross placed on his grave in Bailleul was later returned to New Zealand and is now housed in the old Anglican church in Lumsden. His name was one of 62 read out at an Anzac Day service at 17 and it is also inscribed on the war memorial in Lumsden. But one of the best tributes to him lies in a box in the Rewi Alley Collection in the University of Canterbury Library. Written on 6 June 1916, in indelible pencil on an army message form by a corporal whose signature is illegible, it reads: 'Captain Alley, I would like to ask if there is any position attached to you that I could fulfill as I would willingly follow you through anything that might happen.'18
Gwen was one who had a mind of her own. When she left school she said that she wanted to teach. Frederick's response was that he did not want a bluestocking for a daughter, but while he was away at the farm she went ahead and got herself a pupil-teacher job at Elmwood School. This was in 1913; two years later she enrolled at the teachers' training college. She weathered spectacular storms on both occasions, but stuck to her guns.19
In September 1915 Rewi sat and failed an examination for entry to the Royal Military College of Australia in Duntroon.20 Writing much later, he said that 'from my earliest days soldiering has been my passion', but that, 'as the time for examination came along, it became clear to me that if I went to Duntroon and spent four years there, I should miss the war where, being fit and in my estimation old enough, I thought I should be'.21 Accordingly, Rewi changed his month of birth back from December to May and enlisted in the NZEF as a private on 30 March 1917. Like Eric before him, he got himself baptised on 26 April.22 He was wounded twice in France, in April and September 1918, and was awarded the Military Medal.23 His second wound was quite serious, but typically, when Edna 24
At the end of 1917, Frederick decided to deal with his current staffing problems by taking Geoff away from school for a year and sending him, at the age of nearly 15, to manage the farm. Rewi approved; in a letter to his father from France he said: 'A bit of the roughing will teach him how to look after himself as it taught me, while he can learn many things, a great many valuable things.'25
When Geoff returned to school in 1919 he had probably gained a great deal in maturity, and he had certainly gained in size and strength. It was from this stage that he began to stand out among his fellows, especially in shot-putting and other field sports and in rugby. He was a member of the rugby team which in 1920 won the Moascar Cup, brought back from Egypt by the New Zealand Division, for the first year in which it was put up by the 26
The school's first XV won the Moascar Cup again in 1921, but Geoff was not a member of the team. He left school in May 1921 to go to manage the Lumsden farm for an indefinite period. Pip had left at the end of 1919 to take an engineering course at
Geoff was a pupil at mens sana in corpore sano. 27 The future educationalist 28
Geoff, who was a natural sceptic, probably saw in
So Geoff left school at the age of 18, having passed the matriculation examination and qualified for the higher leaving certificate, to become a farm manager for an absentee owner who was not only his father but was also inclined to want to make arbitrary management decisions of his own.
Before Geoff took up his farming career the family made another move. For 10 years after Frederick's appointment to Wharenui they lived in Division Street, not far from the school, but Frederick then had a house built in Cutler's Road, even closer. Clara put a lot of effort into helping to design it, and she was delighted with it. But Frederick was due to retire at the end of 1921, after 40 years' service as a teacher but still only 55 years old, and the opportunity to acquire more land than was contained in a suburban section, when it was presented to him, was too alluring to resist.
One Sunday early in 1920, as Frederick was biking along Russley Road, on the outskirts of upper Riccarton, he was hailed by 29 The house was somewhat decrepit, but the Lovell-Smiths had created what they proudly believed was a rustic paradise on the land. They had decided, though, to move to an easier property and Westcote was on the market for £2250. Before he remounted his bicycle, Frederick had agreed to buy it.30 Clara was devastated, but the decision had been made.
Geoff was in charge of the Lumsden farm for nearly five years, until early in 1926. It was a formative part of his life. Edgar Snow, in writing of Rewi, described the area as 'the harsh New Zealand frontier' and quoted Rewi (who had embellished his tale, one would suspect) on the subject of 'a wild hard country with sweeping cold winds that blow through the tussocks and the wild Irishmen among them. Gorse in a blaze of yellow, rabbits by the million, and the swift Oreti river – where as a boy I more than once nearly lost my life'.31 Well, it was not quite like that. The Oreti, in fishing terms, is usually wadeable, though, like most New Zealand rivers, it is treacherous when in flood, when only a fool would try to cross it; and the wild Irishman is the humble matagouri. Nevertheless, although there were neighbouring farms and the lights of Lumsden town (population approximately 500) shone on the other side of the river, it was a lonely existence for most of the 32 and one of the neighbours remembered his living conditions as being primitive – he was rough in clothing, she said, but a nice chap, gentle, happy-go-lucky, and studious.33 He had visitors from time to time, including his father and other members of the family, Jim Burrows, 34 He was also regular in attendance at the Anglican church and occasionally read the lesson.
As a farmer Geoff was hampered by the lack of capital to make improvements, but he did experiment with the use of superphosphate, which was something of an innovation then and which still needs to be applied very regularly to the land in order to maintain production.35 He was helped by his own physical strength. 'He was the strongest man I ever knew,' said one of his neighbours. 'When he first came to the farm he had a Model T Ford and one day he wanted to jack up the right hind wheel. He put his fingers between the spokes of the wheel and lifted it off the ground and held it there while he reached round with his left hand and pushed a petrol case under the axle.'36 The last big job he did before leaving the farm was to remove an old gorse hedge with the help of a crowbar, a chain, and a horse: he held the crowbar under the roots while the horse pulled the chain, which was attached to the crowbar.37
Geoff played rugby for the Lumsden senior team, of which he became the captain. The team won the Bedford Compton Shield, which was the symbol of rugby supremacy in northern Southland, in 1924 and 1925, and also in later years after Geoff 's departure.38Another member of the team was Lance Johnson, a 'swift and elusive' five-eighth who was also later one of the 1928
In 1925 and 1926 Geoff represented Southland in rugby. He was a member of the 39 the other, slightly less tremendous, being
On 14 December 1925 Geoff was baptised in the Anglican church 40 He was thus the third of the three sons of Frederick who spent time at the Lumsden farm to take this step: Eric at the age of 19, Rewi at 19, and Geoff at 22 after mature consideration. They made their decisions for themselves, as Frederick had wished. In Geoff 's case, baptism was preliminary to his resolve to leave the farm and enter university. There were several reasons for this decision, one of them being that Frederick had not allowed Geoff the freedom of action that a manager should have. According to Gwen, the last straw was Frederick's sending off and selling some sheep that Geoff had sorted out for breeding.41 Whether this is true or not, constant interference over five years must have been unsettling. But the main, or ostensible, reason for Geoff 's move was that he wanted to train for the Anglican ministry. There is no doubt that this reason, which has been confirmed by various members of the family as well as by his close friends, was uppermost in his mind at the time, but Jim Burrows, who probably understood him better than most, said that the intention lasted six months at the outside,42 and there is no evidence of his being registered as a theological student.43 Some members of the family thought that he found a point of doctrine unacceptable, and that would have been in character, but it is more likely that he was really not sure what he wanted to do. Temperamentally, he was more inclined towards agnosticism than towards the wholehearted acceptance of doctrine of any kind. Burrows said that during this period his mind seemed often in a real turmoil, and 'Strangely enough I don't ever remember that we discussed religion.'44
It is clear, particularly from Burrows's account of him, that Geoff was severely affected by his father's dominating influence, which other members of the family were able, in varying degrees, to shrug off but which, in his case, created quite a sense of insecurity. This was at odds with his strength and commanding presence and it was not, as a rule, overt, but it led to a touchiness which his associates found hard to understand in later years. The years at Lumsden did little to help him overcome this problem, and it does seem that, for the first years after his return to Christchurch, he found it difficult to focus his energies except in areas, such as rugby, in which he was already notably successful. His initial academic record, for instance, was somewhat unnoteworthy. In 1926, after 45 He was, however, together with Burrows, on the committees of both the Football Club and the Christian Union in 1927.46
The recruitment to the Christian Union, which at that time was the most influential club at 47 of two such muscular Christians
From the time of his return to Christchurch Geoff lived at Westcote, which by then had become the symbol of the Alley lifestyle as it has been remembered by successive generations of the family. There, Frederick found fulfilment with his cows and his pigs and his crops while he thought about the problems of land tenure that faced the country, while Clara, now entering the long period when she would be known as 'Mother Alley', presided over the family, the house, and all that was made in it from the produce of the estate. It was a rich form of subsistence living, deliberately cultivated for its own sake, but it was also much more than that. Books, ideas, and music were in the very air, and Clara, who had by now become the ruling spirit of the family, had begun to make Westcote a mecca for many of the interesting people who, throughout the 1920s and 30s, made Christchurch the intellectual centre of New Zealand, in its own estimation at least. 48
Geoff and Jim Burrows fitted well into this environment, and not only because Clara regularly bound up their rugby wounds and made quite the best apple pies in Canterbury.49 Neither of them could foresee how their careers would develop, but both responded to the combination of semirural normality and intellectual stimulation. They sang a great deal, and Geoff, who had a fine bass voice, became fond of Schubert lieder (one of his favourites being 'Du bist die Ruh') and other German songs. The peace and tranquillity of this period must have had a strong healing effect; it certainly marked on Geoff 's mind the 'Westcote' image of the perfect life. It must have seemed that life like this could go on for ever when, one Christmas day, Geoff elected to have his dinner in the Jung with his friend Oliver Duff – at peace with the world, with plum duff and Oliver Duff.50
By this time Gwen was teaching infants at Oxford in North Canterbury – 'I had at last achieved what I had always wished – to teach the beginners.'51 Pip, who had not been interested in any kind of farming activity, had graduated in civil engineering in 1925. Kath and Joy were still 52
Rewi still had a hankering for the permanent army life, but was unsuccessful, because he was by now too old, in a renewed attempt to enter Duntroon. He also tried for a commission in the Indian army, but in the period after the end of the war none were available. In 1926 he was able to join the Territorials, in the 1st Battalion, Wellington West Coast Regiment, and he was gazetted 2nd lieutenant on 29 April of that year.53 Before this he had been an officer in the Legion of Frontiersmen, in which he was in 1926 a member of its headquarters staff.54 The Imperial Legion of Frontiersmen had been inaugurated in 1905 by 55 It was born of the time when German naval rearmament was causing tremors in Britain and when The Riddle of the Sands was affecting British attitudes. An Empire-wide organisation, its members wore a uniform modelled on that of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and they were prepared to help the official military authorities in whatever ways were acceptable to them. They joined up in droves in August 1914, 18,000 of them throughout the Empire, of whom 9000 were killed.56 It was an organisation that appealed to quite a number of returned soldiers after the First World War, and there are memorials in New Zealand to 'the nine thousand' in Ashburton and at National Park.57
When Rewi decided at the end of 1926 to abandon his share of the Taranaki farm and go to China, without any clear idea of what he would do there, he was therefore a rather militaristic and imperialistic young man. His first job in Shanghai was obtained through the good offices of the deputy chief of the Fire Department, whose English regiment was allied to the Wellington West Coast Regiment; and he quickly joined the Shanghai Defence Force,58 membership of which counted towards his Territorial training obligations until he was retired from the Territorials in 1933.59 He was also, however, a member in 1928–29 of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, a Christian Pacifist group with which Donald Grant was associated;60 obviously, whatever conservative views he may have held were tempered by Kiwi pragmatism.
During these early years Geoff had a number of romantic encounters, one of which culminated in a temporary engagement, but towards the end of 1927 he met his future wife. On Thursday 1 December he went with the Grants to the Christchurch Cathedral to hear a performance of 61 Among the assembled audience was Euphan Jamieson, who, finding herself behind a woman with a very large hat, moved to sit with her friends the Grants and was introduced to their other friend.62
63 Euphan set out to be a teacher. She did the required year as a pupil-teacher in preparation for entry to the teachers' training college, but then, in January 1923, her father died suddenly and it was necessary for her to find a paying job. When Geoff met her she was working as a secretary-receptionist at radio station 3YA, where 64 There was no glamour attached to being on the staff of a radio station except in historical retrospect.
Geoff was at this time at the peak of his rugby career. He played regularly for the university club, another of whose members remembered him as a 'heady' player, not very fast but with the knack of being in the right place at the right time.65 In 1927 he was in the Canterbury team which won the Ranfurly Shield for the first time since its first challenge On the Ball, calls 'one of the greatest matches of the entire series' and 'one of the most exciting interisland matches ever played'.66 After trial games in the week following the inter-island match he was selected for the All Black team to tour South Africa in 1928, sharing the top statistics with Marama on 13 April 1928 and travelled from Sydney to South Africa on the Euripides, arriving in Durban on 23 May. From that date until the beginning of September it engaged in 22 titanic struggles, of which it won 16 (including two of the four tests), drew one, and lost five.67 Geoff played in 14 of the matches, 10 of them consecutively without a break, and had a personal tally of three points, scoring the single try expected of a tight forward against Western Transvaal. Unlike most, he scored between the uprights.
Rugby encounters between New Zealand and South Africa have become so important to rugby psyches that one has to remind oneself that the 1928 tour was only the second occasion on which they met. The first was in 1921, when South Africa toured New Zealand, winning one test, drawing one, and losing the third. The 1928 tour was therefore the second leg of an ongoing contest in which the giants have met to strive for what they, at least, have considered to be the rugby crown; a rivalry, moreover, which as time has passed has been spiced by great controversies. Most of these lay in the future then, but in 1928 there were two particular sources of dispute.
The first of these, which caused some disquiet at the time but did not assume major importance until much later, was over the question of whether Maori players should be included in All Black teams selected for South African tours. The most notable omission from the 1928 team was 68 It was only seven years since South African newspaper reporters had been outraged by the sight of white spectators in New Zealand applauding Maori players who treated white
More immediately, problems and controversy were caused by differences in the playing styles of the two teams, and particularly by differences in the interpretation of rules relating to the scrum. In New Zealand the standard scrum formation was 2–3–2, with a front row consisting of two hookers, a middle row with one lock and two flankers, and a two-man back row, together with a wing forward who had a roving commission and detached himself from the scrum at will. The South Africans, on the other hand, used a three-fronted scrum, with one hooker in the middle and (usually) a four-man middle row which included two locks, with the eighth man at the back.
The New Zealand formation was regarded with great affection by its supporters, and even in 1970 69 But it had two defects. One was that a two-fronted scrum tended to gain less ball than a three-fronted one. The other was that the wing forward was anathema to the International Rugby Board, on which New Zealand was not represented at that time. In the eyes of the board, and of overseas referees, a wing forward who detached himself after the ball had been hooked by his own team was offside, because he was in front of the halfback. The wing forward was therefore legislated out of existence in the early '30s ('our birthright was sold for a mess of scrummage,' says Slatter),70 and it took some time for New Zealand rugby to adjust to a different, less open, style of play. Quite apart from sentiment, though, the fact of the matter in 1928 was that the
Geoff 's position was at lock. When he locked the two-fronted, singlelock scrum he was therefore solely responsible for holding the scrum together, and he enjoyed this role. In a brief contribution to the published account of the tour he wrote that the most important point about the 2–3–2 scrum was 'that it is controlled by one man, the lock, "and one bad general is better than two good ones"'.71 World War One experience might have suggested that the best bad general was a dead one (this was not one of the best quotations in Geoff 's armoury), but the point he was making had some validity in his own case. His strength and his build made it possible for him to play the role of the one general, good or bad, and to control the impact and the direction of the scrum unimpeded. Nevertheless, he was promoting a lost cause.
The tour was enormously important in Geoff 's development. Because of the conditions of the time, when it was not possible to fly to and from a distant country, it was a very long one, and friendships which he formed and consolidated with other members of a high-performing group lasted throughout his life. They also probably did a lot for his morale at the time. It is significant that after South Africa his examination results showed that he was a good student as well as a successful rugby player. After his disastrous academic performance in 1927, he passed in all the subjects he presented himself for at the end of 1928: education II, economics, and political science, despite his other preoccupations during the year.72
In later years Geoff retained nostalgic memories of the long sea voyage from Sydney to Durban, when he and Burrows read and studied and listened to music up on deck,73 and on the rare occasions when he went overseas in his later years he preferred to travel by sea. While in South Africa he formed strong opinions about conditions in that country which give the lie to the view of those later activists who thought that an All Black going to South Africa must necessarily become tainted. Burrows tells the story of the team's visit to a predominantly Afrikaner town called Burghersdorp where, following a common South African custom, the name of the town was displayed in painted boulders spread across a neighbouring hill, or 'dorp'. Some time during the morning of their departure Geoff disappeared, and later, from a train window, he pointed out where he had been. The first letter R had been replaced by another G, and the H had been removed. 'I don't like this place,' he said.74 He also made a point of going to see a diamond mine and, as a result of what he saw of conditions there, declined to provide a diamond engagement ring when he finalised arrangements with Euphan on his return.75
Geoff continued to play rugby for the university club until 1930, and in 1929 he was noted by the Canterbury College Review as 'a much-needed leader in the forwards, who occasionally took the ball the length of the field in fine dribbling rushes';76 but there are more references in the student publications of the time to his prowess in putting the shot, for which he was awarded a blue in 1928, and (less successfully) in throwing the hammer. As he became more heavily involved in other things he withdrew from active participation in team sports, but he continued to contribute to student life in physical as well as intellectual ways. One of his contemporaries remembered an incident at the end of a college ball, when one student and his partner were departing in a Baby Austin. 'As they entered the car, Geoff and another of similar massive build stood towards the back of the small car and, putting their fingers under the rear mudguards, very gently lifted the rear wheels clear of the ground. The driver started the car, and with a final "good night" put it into low gear. It didn't move. He tried all his gears, 77
Geoff 's mana as an All Black, in the days when rugby held the winter stage almost on its own, was high, and years later people spoke in awe of his having locked the scrum for 10 South African matches in a row. He was not one of the all-time greats like his fellow tourist 78
The All Black experience was important to Geoff, and it retained its importance in his private life. From most quarters it brought well-merited respect, but unfortunately Geoff was too sensitive to the kinds of sneers which come from those who cannot abide the spectacle of excellence in physical achievement (and who, in other contexts, are only too willing to hold forth about the 'tall poppy syndrome'). Since he tended to perceive this kind of attitude in some types of academics and in marginal intellectuals, and since he found it difficult to let the dogs bark while the caravan moved on, his relations with institutions like universities were never as easy as they should have been in his later career. His daughter Judith thought that, in his heart of hearts, he loved the life of the university, 'the community of fellows, students, thinkers, planners',79 and with more inner self-confidence this major experience of his early life could have given him much more unalloyed pleasure than it did.
As a full-time student in 1929, Geoff came increasingly under the influence, and the notice, of
Geoff passed French I, history I, philosophy II, and education III in the 1929 examinations and was the University of New Zealand senior scholar in education. He also qualified for the diploma in social science.80 He graduated BA in May 1930, together with 81 Geoff accepted the offer and was appointed by 82
To this appointment Geoff brought the background and achievements of his first 27 years. Shelley had made a good choice for his own immediate purposes, but he could not have foreseen its long-term consequences for New Zealand society.
Shelley was strongly influenced by an older man in the education department at Manchester, Joseph John Findlay. Findlay, in turn, had been influenced by such thinkers as Dewey, Pestalozzi, Froebel, and Rein, and by unusually (for the time) close contacts with European educationalists. In particular, Findlay considered that teaching should be child-centred and that teachers should be professionally trained after first acquiring a liberal education, which in the conditions of the time meant attendance at a secondary school until at least the age of 16. He disapproved of the pupilteacher or apprenticeship way of entering the profession, which depended too much on the gamble that the supervising teacher was capable of guiding a young and immature mind. And he laid great stress on the importance of the personal qualities that teachers acquired or developed during their learning and training years. 'The teacher is, above all,' he said, 'a personal influence, and it is through that influence, far more than by the indirect results of school lessons, that he achieves his supreme success.'1
This was the background to the man who burst upon the Canterbury scene in 1920, but an additional factor which caused him to make such an impact there (and which until the publication of Ian Carter's biography 2
Taken on their own, Shelley's lectures were by no means perfect, according to Beeby, but he was the kind of teacher who could help students to see unity and pattern in the scattered fragments of their learning. 'The shadows in Plato's cave came alive. The adolescent "savages" undergoing initiation ceremonies in Fraser's [i.e. Frazer's] Golden Bough became people like ourselves, with our problems and their solutions.'3
Geoff Alley's memories of Shelley were similar to Beeby's, but he added that 'There was a great deal more to 4 And again: 'He wasn't just a talker, a reader, an actor. He was a doer. His craftsmanship – his ability to work with his hands was quite notable.'5 Beeby's and Alley's comments are those of admirers; others, who did not like Shelley's flamboyant style, were equally vehement.
When Shelley was appointed to his chair, the 6
Among other things, Shelley became involved in the work of the Workers' Educational Association. A branch of the WEA had been established in Christchurch in 1915, with 7
In October 1920 the 8
So Shelley, a very urban man with no taste for the rural, decided to devote himself to working for rural people. Condliffe had in fact started on work in this area, which had been a requirement of the Carnegie Corporation when it made its grant in 1918, but he was undoubtedly pleased to hand it over to his uneasy partner. Shelley, in his turn, quickly became aware of what Beeby has called 'the barren intellectual life led by many intelligent men and women in rural areas, where books were scarce, libraries were few and of poor quality, and contact with the whole world of the arts was negligible for all but the wealthy'.9
Shelley wanted especially to bring to country folk the high culture of literature and the arts which he was enthusiastically promoting in lectures and dramatic performances in Christchurch, but there were serious logistical problems in getting materials for study and enjoyment to widely scattered small rural groups. The first solution to these problems to spring from his fertile brain was the box scheme, which became in due course 'the famous Box Scheme' and was copied in other centres. Put into operation after Shelley took over the direction of tutorial classes when Condliffe left Canterbury in 1925, it was described by him in the 1925–26 annual report of the Christchurch WEA as follows:
Each week a box, containing lecture notes, text books, prints and gramophone records is despatched from the Centre to a study group. The group retains the box for one week, then forwards it to the next group, and so on until the box has done the round of seven groups. In order that the scheme should be a success, the size of the study group should not be larger than twenty students. The students must appoint their own leader
and secretary, and should meet in a private residence or small public room. A gramophone is essential as the subject studied in the first year was 'The 19th century in Art, Music and Literature.' The lecture notes must be distributed by the leader to the students; who should read them at home and come to the meeting prepared to ask questions or discuss any part of the lecture. 10
In making this report, Shelley was in fact telling the district council what he had already done in its name, and it is worth noting that the organisation and administration of the box scheme was centred at the college, taking up an increasing proportion of the time of the WEA's tutororganiser, John Johnson, who was appointed in 1926, and not at Trades Hall. Even so early in his régime Shelley was rather high-handed in his dealings with the district council. All the same, the scheme was a great success, and it continued to be used and admired for many years to come. It did, however, have weaknesses. While it overcame the problems of transport and the shortage of tutors, it also, as Carter has pointed out, tended to be captured by people who were not the workers of the WEA's title: 'its principal beneficiaries rural schoolteachers marooned in remote districts'.11 And D.O.W. Hall, in his history of New Zealand adult education, said that 'it never occurred to anybody that it could be destructive of educational standards in the hands of groups ill-equipped to make a subject come alive for themselves'.12
Hall's comment ignores the fact that Shelley himself seems to have taken the point. Shelley's next move was to think up a way of transporting both study materials and a tutor to the classes in a specially equipped vehicle. Unlike the box scheme, this would require a difficult amount of additional finance, but it would enable the WEA, or Shelley himself, to keep closer tabs on the way classes were conducted.
Shelley outlined his new scheme to the tutorial class committee in February 1928.13 Taking advantage of the recent resignation of the South Canterbury tutor, H.G. (Harold) Miller, who had been appointed Librarian of Victoria University College, he proposed that Miller should be replaced by a travelling tutor who would visit classes, using a motor car adapted for the purpose of carrying library books and a lantern and for providing sleeping accommodation. A gramophone and reproductions of paintings were also fitted into the plans. 'By these means,' he said, 'he would be able to visit a larger number of classes, organise classes in small townships, take an occasional lecture at the classes, deliver library books, and give advice on general educational matters.' Rather unfortunately he added, 'He need not be highly qualified academically', but this was probably intended to justify the attractively low salary he suggested, £300 to £350 per annum.
How did Shelley develop this idea? Carter points out that 14 The idea of a travelling library was by no means a new one,15 but Shelley was not particularly concerned about libraries as such. Neither of these proposals seems to have led directly to his new proposal. Some other spark was necessary, and this seems to have been provided by a book which 16 This was Parnassus on Wheels, published in the
Parnassus on Wheels is a story of R. Mifflin, once a schoolteacher down in Maryland but now a bookseller travelling around rural New England in a horse-drawn wagon, 'a queer wagon, shaped like a van'. It is told by a woman who joined his enterprise and, very satisfactorily, ended up marrying him. Mifflin's philosophy is that 'the man that's got a few good books on his shelf is making his wife happy, giving his children a square deal, and he's likely to be a better citizen himself '. 'The mandarins of culture,' he says, 'what do they do to teach the common folk to read? It's no good writing down lists of books for farmers and compiling five-foot shelves; you've got to go out and visit the people yourself – take the books to them, talk to the teachers and bully the editors of country newspapers and tell the children stories – and then little by little you begin to get good books circulating in the veins of the nation.' The sides of the van could be raised like flaps, revealing shelves standing above shelves, all of them full of books both old and new, and inside there were cooking, sleeping, and storage facilities, a table, and even a wicker chair – and more bookshelves. It was drawn by Peg, 'one of the fattest white horses I ever saw'. Who could not be enthused by Mifflin's Travelling Parnassus?
A deputation from the WEA put its proposal to the Progress League and reported in May 1928 that it had been received sympathetically, and that its request had been referred to the league's agricultural committee for a report.17 This was a dead end, though; the Progress League did not play. But meantime, another player had appeared on the scene. The Carnegie Corporation of New York was about to increase its support to what it called 'the southern Dominions'.
After its creation in 1911, the Carnegie Corporation (to be distinguished from the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust), which was dedicated to helping the British dominions and colonies, provided funding for library buildings, 18 In 1917 this form of grant was discontinued after an adviser recommended that the corporation would do better to assist in the building up of educational infrastructures and local expertise. As we have seen, it helped the New Zealand WEA from 1918, but further applications of the change of policy had to await the appointment as president of the corporation of 19 Keppel was the son of a successful art dealer and was closely associated with
In 1927 the corporation decided to investigate the situation in the dominions in order to establish a programme of assistance which might produce lasting benefits. As a starter, as far as New Zealand was concerned, it granted $5000 to the University of New Zealand for WEA tutorial classes, but its most important initial action was to send a high-ranking emissary to New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa to assess the situation on the ground and recommend a plan of action. This was
Russell was in New Zealand from the end of February until the end of March 1928, when he departed for Australia. He spent two days, 8 and 9 March, in Christchurch. The importance with which his visit was regarded is indicated by a letter which the rector of 20 Hight subsequently met Russell, together with Shelley and J.E. Purchase, principal of the training college, and reported to the chairman of the board of governors on 12 March that he believed the Carnegie Corporation would be prepared to consider applications in respect of one or more of six matters: books and journals on topics in which it was especially interested; libraries; occasional fellowships to persons with outstanding qualities; extension work; a loan fund to subsidise students, especially from country areas; and a subsidy to the Students' Union.21 He suggested that moves should be made to convene an inter-collegiate conference in order to co-ordinate requests, and various meetings and discussions were held between the colleges and the University of New Zealand, but in fact none of those taking part quite
In his letter to the chairman of the board of governors, Hight said this of extension work: 'Extension Work. Especially in the country, to bring to the rural districts more of the advantages of higher education in Home Science, cultural subjects, and subjects fundamental to their activities. Dr Russell was very keenly interested in, and impressed by,
Russell pulled no punches in his confidential report on his observations in New Zealand and Australia. His comment on
Good plant on ample ground in a little bit of Old England. Arts College, Engineering School, and Forestry School with two high schools, secondary art school, museum and public library as adjuncts – these latter supported by old endowments or special Government grants. The only University College with permanent head – now
Professor James Hight , who has been in England for a year as exchange professor. Visited Columbia on way home in November last. Engineering equipment apparently exceptionally good for small resources. College library very poor – greatly in need of reference and standard works. Public library fairly good, but badly worn. Each College department gets £5 a year for books.Students about 1200 – two-thirds on part time in classes after 4 p.m.22
This was somewhat more favourable than his comment on
Russell met a gathering of school inspectors in Wellington and was impressed by them, and he was particularly interested in the WEA in each centre, giving details of Shelley's box scheme ('Without Shelley, such results could not be expected') and mentioning Shelley's plans for 'a circulating library' and visits to study groups. In his general observations he said: 'The University of New Zealand is a paper organization designed to keep the Colleges in line … Its sole educational function is to hold examinations and grant degrees … All papers for honors (M.A. degree) are sent to England and read by English examiners, apparently because the Colleges 23
Russell's final suggestion in his written report was 'that any grants to New Zealand and Australia for 1928–29 be for travel, books, journals, etc, but that thereafter a new policy be instituted with a view to meeting permanent needs. These needs I shall be prepared to discuss at length when I return.'24
After his return to New York, Russell discussed his ideas with Keppel on 30 October 1928. In addition to Shelley's plans for a travelling tutor, he had been impressed by the plans of Otago's Professor Ann G. Strong for home science extension work in rural areas, and he recommended that Shelley's and Strong's projects both be supported. It is not clear whether, at this stage, he thought they should be administered as a single, joint operation, but in accepting the recommendation the corporation established a local advisory committee to oversee both. This committee was convened by
The corporation's decision was that over a five-year period £1500 a year should be paid to Otago and £500 a year to Canterbury for what it called 'The Travelling Library and Home Science Project'.25 It was hoped that these amounts would attract a government subsidy. The decision was conveyed to Allen by Keppel in April 1929,26 though Allen had had prior information of the likely outcome. The northern colleges and the University of New Zealand, which were about to join with Canterbury and Otago in preparing a joint application, were infuriated and made some rather intemperate statements about their southern colleagues' conduct, but in fact none of them, northern or southern, had understood how the Carnegie Corporation, under Keppel's guidance, set about allocating the large sums of money at its disposal. It did not run a lolly-scramble.
In the initial stages of its involvement in any of the communities it became interested in, the corporation's policy was to send someone of some standing to spy out the land and discuss various projects and long-term programmes which might be worthy of support. In choosing Russell to visit the southern dominions, it had picked a man with very high standing, and one, moreover, who was a good friend of Keppel's and in whose judgement 27 In September 1928 28 Studholme was then invited to visit Keppel in New York, and it was he who recommended the amounts of the grants to Otago and Canterbury.29
The corporation's next step was to form a local group, independently of institutional hierarchies, and to use that group for advice and as a link with bodies to which grants might be made; in the present case, the group was the one which was convened by Allen. Grants would then be made for a limited period, and it was expected that efforts would be made by local interests to take over full control after the period of pump-priming. Expert advisers would be sent to help when necessary, and suitable local people would be given assistance to gain experience and training in the 30 In 1929 the initial stages of a programme of this kind for New Zealand were set in place with respect to rural adult education, but Russell had also mapped out, in his own mind and in Keppel's, a wider programme of which this was a beginning. The Carnegie Corporation had arrived in New Zealand.
If the Carnegie Corporation's modus operandi was not fully understood in New Zealand, there was also confusion in Christchurch over the terms and conditions governing the grant for the travelling library, which was not simply a library project but was an extension of an existing scheme for taking the WEA to rural areas.
When Allen informed Otago and Canterbury of the special Carnegie grants he referred to the Canterbury one as being 'to 31 Intonation and stress would no doubt have decided which element was given priority in a reading of his letter. Five months elapsed before the college informed the WEA of the grant, when Hight, as chairman of the tutorial class committee, reported to the committee 'that the Carnegie Corporation had granted the College £500 per annum for five years for special W.E.A. work'. Shelley then 'stated that he intended to use these funds for his scheme without the necessity of consulting the Committee. He would however consult the chairman.'32
This did not satisfy the secretary of the district council, George Manning, who said 'that the W.E.A. District Council as the parent body of W.E.A. work should be informed on all W.E.A. work in the Province'. Shelley was asked to report on his scheme, 'so that the W.E.A. delegates may report to the District Council'. After a reminder on 12 December33 he produced a memorandum, 'Proposals re University Extension for Submission to the Carnegie Corporation', which was endorsed by the district council on 19 December, 'after a good discussion on the need of the District Council being acquainted with all proposals for extending W.E.A. work'.34
In this memorandum, which was originally written shortly after Russell's visit,35 Shelley expanded the proposal that he had put up in February 1928:
The Scheme is briefly:- the extension of the Box Scheme which I inaugurated two and a half years ago – to develop study groups in small country places, working from notes, gramophone records, portfolios of prints, plays, and books – this scheme has proved very successful indeed, and courses dealing with 'Nineteenth Century Music, Art & Literature', 'Eighteenth Century Music, etc', 'Contemporary Music, etc' and 'Experimental Psychology' are at present being circulated – each course consisting of about 24 weeks' work. This scheme needs developing by the circles being visited by a tutor, who will organise further circles in more remote places. The proposal is to fit up a motor car as a travelling library, lanterns, gramophone, wireless – to be in charge of the tutor who will visit each place in his circuit regularly (say once a fortnight) and generally be a connecting link between the main centre and the countryside.
Shelley had discussed his plans with Strong and put it forward as his half of a joint proposal under which the Canterbury car (and 'Man Tutor')
Because of Shelley's aversion to keeping records, and because, within the Carnegie Corporation, so much was decided in conversations between trusting associates, there is no way of telling whether Shelley had been made aware of the corporation's emphasis on the importance of supporting promising individuals rather than formal institutions, but there is no doubt that he was determined not to lose control of what was going to be his crowning achievement in the field of rural adult education. Among other things, he would have seen the appointment of a suitable tutor as being crucial to its success.
In July 1929 John Johnson, who probably knew something of what was going on because of his proximity to Shelley's office, reported on his workload, which had been exacerbated by there being no replacement for Miller in South Canterbury, and suggested separating tutorial class work from the box work in 1930, using the Carnegie £500 to put someone in charge of the box scheme so that he could concentrate on tutorial work. 'From my knowledge of the country districts,' he said, 'I do not think that the time is ripe yet for an extended move forward on new lines; but if we continued quietly what we are at present doing … we are laying a good foundation for something bigger eventually in the years to come, when we shall know just what to give the people and just how to present it'.36 Johnson probably put himself out of the running by making this comment, but in any case his personality was more suited to the sterling work he was doing with the box scheme. Nevertheless, as the new scheme unfolded there were those on the district council who thought that he should have the job.
37 Maybe. Perhaps Shelley was looking at all possibilities and perhaps several others were approached too. What is certain is that Shelley made up his mind rather late in the year. His recommendation that Alley be appointed went to the college committee of 38 the same day that two members of the district council tried unsuccessfully to promote a recommendation in favour of Johnson.39
In November 1929, when matters were coming to a head, Johnson, quite reasonably, reported again to the tutorial class committee on the amount of work he was trying to cope with and said, 'I should also like to know my position and duties in relation to the new Carnegie scheme.'40 His immediate problems were finally sorted out on 19 December, when 41
The chronology of these events in 1929 is worth contemplating:
|
11 April | Keppel informed Allen of funding being granted by the Carnegie Corporation. | |
31 May | Allen informed Canterbury and Otago registrars of grants. | |
22 July | Johnson's proposals for use of funds. | |
29 October | Hight informed tutorial class committee; Shelley said he would go it alone. | |
November | Johnson asked about his role. | |
12 December | Tutorial class committee asked for copy of scheme. | |
17 December | Copy of scheme to district council of WEA. | |
17 December | Shelley recommended Alley's appointment as tutor, to college committee. | |
19 December | Tutorial class committee settled Johnson's role. | |
20 December | Alley's appointment approved by college board of governors. | 42
There are many methods of getting one's way. This was Shelley's method.
Alley was a young, but not too young, man, handsome and with a commanding presence. He had had farming experience and was a recent All Black; many a country lad would have had his portrait in his cigarette card collection. He had a good general education and was about to complete his BA and be named senior scholar in education. Shelley had several outstanding students in his entourage and could no doubt have entrusted his scheme to any of them, but it is difficult to think of another who would so well have fitted the criteria for working with country people.
Alley's letter of appointment, signed by his obedient servant the Registrar of Canterbury College, said: 'You will be required to act under the Director of Extension Work, 1 At the same time the registrar wrote to Shelley saying that the appointment would date from 1 January 1930, and adding that approval had been given for the purchase and adaptation of a car at an approximate cost of £116.2
Even as far back as 1930, nothing very state-of-the-art could be got for £116, but the stark fact was that, after allowing for what was then a good salary for a recent graduate, the initial book stock and equipment, and annual running expenses, very little was left from a budget of £1000 (including the government's matching subsidy). A Ford delivery van was bought for £30, and £90 was spent on its adaptation. This included the installation of shelving and the provision of a hinged opening on one side, much like Mifflin's Travelling Parnassus. The Ford was not a good buy – it was underpowered and it cost a lot to maintain – but at least it was ready for the road by 25 March 1930. It was replaced in 1933 by a new van built on a Morris commercial chassis, still underpowered but better than the Ford. As Alley said, a great deal of valuable information was learned from the experience of using these vehicles, but it was learned the hard way.3
The other major item of expenditure in 1930 was £236 for 1004 books. Materials such as gramophone records were borrowed from the box scheme, as were box scheme programmes for those groups which wished to have
Alley reported on the first two years of his work in his MA thesis, which he called 'An Experiment in Rural Adult Education'.4 It is important to remember that it was not originally conceived as a library operation, but as an exploration of ways in which adult education could be taken to rural areas. Twenty-six centres were selected for attention, of which only 13 had libraries – and of these only three, according to Alley, 'could be said to be alive and serving any cultural purpose'.5 Some were visited for evening meetings held by the tutor, who used all the kinds of material at his disposal, including books, reproductions, original paintings, and lecture notes. In other centres there were groups which met regularly under a local leader using box scheme material, and which were visited by the car library; and a third lot had only the car library visits. As the experiment proceeded, attempts were also made to reach participants through radio talks, under the watchful eye of the New Zealand Broadcasting Board, which insisted that controversial matters be avoided.6
Nevertheless, the library element of the experiment was crucial to its operation. The Carnegie Corporation, in a review of its grants for library interests, 1911–35, included it under this heading as well as pointing out that the home science project had many library implications.7 Alley himself, who had not previously been involved in library work, found that the lending of books from his small stock, which included a supplementary loan from the
In his thesis Alley commented on his experience with his group in Hororata. 'There were definitely two types of borrower here,' he wrote, 'one the villager who read lighter travel or novels, and the other the bookhungry sheep-farmer who read anything and everything, from biology to the philosophy of art. It would be a mistake to focus the Car Scheme on either of the two, but that course is not necessary, for both have been served from the same library.'8 Elsewhere in the thesis he wrote: 'Just how difficult and complex the calling of librarian can be has been realised by the writer in the last two years. To discover the book needs and wishes, and stimulate them if they were dormant, of nearly 500 people, is for one person an impossible task in sixteen months, even under favourable conditions. To have the right books on the shelves of the library, to be continually looking for additional books of the kind needed, to know something of the 1600 books in stock, all these taken together are tasks that can never be finished, and never done well enough.'9
In his report on his work in 1932, Alley said that he hoped that in 1933 the car scheme would, in addition to continuing the work of previous 10 In 1933 he suggested that 'Perhaps the most important need in our time is a re-orientation of the common view of education, which looks upon that process as a matter of a year or two spent at school, instead of as a process of life itself. When the concept of education has become widened and deepened according to the latter view, the place in the rural community of institutions like the C.A.R. scheme will be permanent, and not until then.'11 And again, in the following year: 'The library work of the Car Scheme has developed to a point where a valuable service has been given to many bookless communities. The knowledge of the reading tastes and habits of hundreds of people, this too, must be counted as something of great value in any future work.'12
These were the thoughts of one who was imbued with the 1930s beliefs in the value of the education, in the most appropriate form, of every individual in producing what would now be called a public good, and in the importance of thriving rural communities, supported by society as a whole for its own good. On a personal and practical level, Alley also made a lasting impact: even half a century later the librarian in charge of the Christchurch office of the 13
Alley's thesis was sent for assessment to Shelley's old mentor, 14 Having completed study for philosophy III as a prerequisite, Alley graduated MA with first-class honours in May 1932.
Another who graduated MA with first-class honours at the same time was 15 dealt with work he had done in Oxford, North Canterbury, 'to find out what subjects could be taken in a typical rural community and how they could best be taught with a view to enhancing country life'. Somerset's teaching career had paralleled Gwen Alley's, except that after a crippling attack of ankylosing spondylitis (a rheumatic condition of the spine) he had had to fight his way back on to a career path. He and Gwen both taught in Oxford in the 1920s, and they married on 15 January 1930.
Later in the same year, on 11 December, Geoffrey Alley and Euphan Jamieson were married in the Church of the Epiphany, Gebbies Valley (parish of St Andrews, Little River).16 The ceremony was conducted by 17 After a break in Akaroa, the young couple took up residence in the Jung at Westcote, and on 22 December 1931 a daughter, 18
Alley still played rugby for the university club in 1930,19 but he was by then phasing himself out and taking up golf with enthusiasm. He did, however, write a 180-page account of the British rugby tour of New Zealand which took place that year, an unusually literate and somewhat quirky contribution to the literature of the game.20 In an historical introduction he suggested that New Zealand had won her peculiar greatness in rugby because of a coincidence, which was that her development as a country took place along with her adoption of a national game, which, he implied, made our players liable to experiment. In dealing with the 1905 tour of Britain he referred, of course, to 'the match with Wales, forever to appear in the official records as Wales 3, New Zealand 0, in spite of that try by Deans, [which] will always be remembered in New Zealand, but, we hope, with the best feeling possible for an honest mistake by the referee'.
In his general comments on the tour Alley wrote: 'What struck anybody with experience of the qualities of South African forward play was the gentler methods of the British packmen, that is generally speaking … Had there been more genuine forward play on the tour, we should have had another demonstration of the failings and excellencies of the two-three-two scrum, but as it was, the New Zealand scrum was consistently able to prove itself better than the three-two-three of the tourists.' And there is a paragraph on 'The Charm of Golf ': 'There is probably much more in golf than in Rugby, but there is so much in it that it may drain enthusiasm for less imaginative but more stern tasks such as keeping a pack of New Zealand forwards out of mischief.' For the record, New Zealand won three of the four tests on this tour, scoring 87 points to 40.21
Alley was introduced to the royal and ancient game of golf by his Scottish friend Donald Grant, and for several years devoted himself to it with the intensity required to place an Alley at the top of any endeavour. Stories are told of his taking out his clubs in spare moments to practice 22 He formalised his golfing status on 17 March 1933 when he was accepted as a Russley member of the Hagley Golf Club, playing at the Russley course which had been laid out in 1928 to take the overflow from the popular Hagley course, and was still, until the end of 1934, under Hagley control. He achieved a handicap of four and in 1934 was the Russley senior champion. He then disappeared from the club's records.23
Rewi returned to New Zealand for a short trip in 1932 with his adopted Chinese son, Alan, and stayed at Westcote. Geoff was at that time a member of the New Zealand branch of the Institute of Pacific Relations, and the two of them prepared a proposal for a study of the Chinese in New Zealand, which they submitted to the institute's national council. The council turned it down because of lack of funds,24 but it surfaced in 1938 as an article in the China Journal, consisting of a brief account of the gold-rush immigrants and (it must be said) a fairly complacent report on the situation of Chinese in New Zealand in the 1930s.25
In 1934 the New Zealand Council for Educational Research was established with an initial grant from the Carnegie Corporation of $US70,000 for five years for a programme of research, plus $US3000 per annum for administration.26 Alley applied for its post of executive officer, supported by a testimonial from 27 Those who have had experience of dealing with testimonials and referees' reports will recognise the slight warning underlying the warmth; the job went to
While the car scheme was proceeding according to plan, Shelley's problems with the WEA, or the WEA's with him, did not go away so easily. In the introduction to his thesis Alley said: 'This scheme was to embody new features, new conceptions, and was to operate independently of any existing institution for adult education, so that it might discover for itself the best form of organisation in every community that was visited.' And again, he said that the director of the WEA sought to put into operation not an extension of the WEA, or an extension of the university college in which he held a position, but a scheme which considered first the rural community and the individual in the community. And again: 'The attitude of the W.E.A. is definitely a narrower one, seeing society from inside its own institution, and seeking to extend itself … It appears to the writer 28
Ian Carter, in quoting these passages, calls Alley 'Shelley's mouthpiece',29 which is a bit unfair, since Alley was not a party to the negotiations which led to the establishment of the car scheme, and probably was not fully aware of the passions that had been aroused. All the same, the fact that he wrote in this way is a pretty clear indication of the way in which Shelley was talking, not always to those who would be discreet enough not to pass his comments on. Shelley might well have been right in his view of how best to achieve success with the car scheme, but it was a fact that the WEA had been named by the Carnegie Corporation in such a way as to expect to be treated as, at least, a partner in it. And Shelley's attitude was not a good example to a young graduate.
It is not surprising, therefore, that ruffled feathers stayed ruffled, or that George Manning, the secretary of the WEA, had periodic attacks of apoplexy when the car scheme came up for discussion. In the course of a series of meetings of the tutorial class committee and the district council of the WEA early in 1930, Manning told the latter on 26 February30 that the tutorial class committee had not been consulted on the appointment, or on the use of the Carnegie fund. The registrar of 31 three of the six members present at this meeting expressed regret that the committee had not been informed earlier, and Shelley made the less than ingratiating comment that he was responsible, in this matter, to the board of governors of 32 Feelings escalated until a meeting of the district council on 27 March asked that Shelley explain himself and agree to the money being controlled by the tutorial class committee, or else resign as director.33
Damage control then swung into action and at a meeting of the tutorial class committee on 11 April the chairman (Hight) 'explained that 34 Manning had written a letter from the district council to the tutorial class committee conveying the council's resolution of 27 March, but the file copy is annotated, 'Withheld owing to Prof. Shelley agreeing to terms April 2nd 1930, G.M.'35
Things settled down to some extent after this, apart from a brief but intense tussle over the size of the letters 'WEA' on the side of the van.36 By the end of the year Shelley was making arrangements for a joint meeting of the tutorial class committee and the trustees of the Carnegie grant to 37 Alley ended his interim report for the year, presented at a meeting in November, by saying, 'In conclusion I wish to thank 38 and from then on regular reports were presented to the tutorial class committee.
The papering over of the cracks could not, however, conceal the fact that the cracks indicated some structural failure. Carter reckons that Shelley was deeply hurt by the controversies and that after 1930 he lost interest in the WEA.39 There is no doubt that Manning was equally hurt; it was the people less directly concerned who became reconciled, and Alley would have benefited from being more closely associated with the calm and diplomatic Hight, in the latter's capacity as chairman of the tutorial class committee.
Government subsidies to the WEA, nationwide, were abolished in 1931 as a Depression measure. The association was bailed out by an emergency grant of $US10,000 from the Carnegie Corporation, but it had to operate for several years under severe financial difficulties. The Strong/Shelley project may have been insulated after an approach by Allen to 40 as well as by economies and an improvement in the dollar exchange rate,41 but it is more likely that the Carnegie Corporation helped out. There is no record of any difficulty over the payment of Alley's salary, whereas for a time Johnson was unsure from month to month whether he would be paid.42 Alley was not affected in this way, but when the government imposed a 10 per cent wage and salary cut across the public service as a Depression measure (the first of two such cuts) he wrote to the registrar to draw his attention to 'an apparent injustice', in that it had been applied to his whole salary of £400 per annum, part of which was intended to cover personal expenses, which he reckoned at £50 per annum; he was rewarded by having his salary set at £350 per annum, 'subject to statutory reductions', plus £50 for travelling expenses which were not so subject (a saving, to him, of £5 per annum).43
After receiving reports on the first year's work on the Canterbury and Otago projects, Keppel wrote to Allen saying that he was delighted with the progress that had been made in so short a time: 'They give every evidence 44 This opinion was no doubt included in the briefing of the Carnegie Corporation's next emissary, who arrived in New Zealand towards the end of 1931 to follow up on the effects of Russell's visit and reports. This was Lotus D. Coffman, president of the University of Minnesota, who arrived on 1 November, stayed for two weeks, and dated his confidential report to the corporation 15 December (or, to be more precise, 'December 15, 1931').45
Coffman undertook what must have been a gruelling tour. In the fortnight at his disposal he covered much of the ground that Russell had in 1928, paying particular attention to the university colleges and their libraries, university extension, museums and art galleries, and special institutions like the Institute for the Blind. He even found time to form views on New Zealand's dental health (which admittedly was spectacularly poor at that time) and the
The most immediately effective parts of Coffman's report concerned the need for an educational research institute, and what he called 'the Strong–Shelley project', together with the latter's connection with the WEA.46 In the former case, his comments led to Carnegie funding for the establishment of the New Zealand Council for Educational Research. What we now focus on are the Strong–Shelley project and the WEA.
Coffman was less impressed by the WEA than Russell had been. He observed that it limited its offerings almost entirely to the liberal studies, that it had no interest in vocational branches, and that the term 'workers' in its name was anathema to many farmers. 'There is no disposition, however,' he said, 'on the part of the leaders in the Workers' Education Association to change the name or to extend the offerings. They are satisfied with what they have done and with what they are doing. It appears to me that they were entirely too much satisfied.' One wonders how he could have formed such a definite conclusion in so short a time. Nevertheless, he recommended additional funding while a survey of the situation regarding the WEA and kindred organisations like the 47
'The Strong–Shelley project,' Coffman wrote, 'is succeeding admirably. Dean A.G. Strong and 48
Coffman, naturally, met the Carnegie advisory committee headed by
Keppel wrote to Allen over a year later, on 14 March 1933, to ask for a plan along the lines suggested by Coffman. Allen consulted Studholme, Francis, Strong and Shelley, and in August sent a request for a new fiveyear grant, on the following terms: (a) that the present trustees, together with Strong, and Shelley, be an advisory committee to recommend to the corporation how any money grants should be allocated between the two university colleges and the work to be undertaken; (b) that if any additional grant was made, power to handle it should be placed in the hands of the committee; and (c) that all appointments to staff should be made by the university college council concerned on the recommendation of the committee.49
Keppel wrote to Allen on 20 April 1934, endorsing the plan that had been set out in Allen's letter and announcing that the Carnegie board of trustees had appropriated the sum of $US52,000 'in support of the travelling library and home science project in New Zealand being conducted in connection with 50
Allen informed the two colleges of the renewed grant and the terms on which it had been made,51 and 52 Thus was born the Association for Country Education which would take the project into 1935 and beyond.
All of this had been done without any consultation with the WEA. Manning was naturally outraged. When he asked the registrar of
that the organisation of this new scheme has been going on since August 23rd, 1933. In order that the Carnegie Advisory Committee should be able to perform its new function of controlling the scheme it was advisable to secure some persons with educational qualifications on the Committee and, if possible, someone in touch with Adult Education, therefore Dr. Hight was suggested and a member from
Otago University … The correspondence indicates that the Carnegie Advisory Committee is the final authority for the new scheme, and that all appointments, methods of work, new activities, must be also submitted to it before being put into operation. All reports must be submitted to it…. Prof. Strong and Prof. Shelley are both appointed advisors which may be an indication that they have been advising all along…. In all this development the W.E.A., or the Tutorial Class Committee which directs the Adult Education Movement in this Province were not consulted, asked for advice or for their co-operation.
The Carnegie advisory committee had been rather naïvely hoping that the WEA would co-operate in the new scheme, but at this meeting the Executive Committee of the WEA resolved: 'That the Executive disassociate itself from any scheme which has been drawn up by an outside body and we demand that the designation of the letters W.E.A. be removed from any such scheme.'53
This whole episode leaves an unfortunate impression, regardless of the advantages or disadvantages of the two ways of handling the Carnegie project. George Manning, the secretary of the Canterbury WEA, was a well-respected citizen who was later a popular mayor of Christchurch; he should have been treated with more respect. Shelley, whose hand can be seen in the sequence of events, might have been an inspirational leader of those who did his will, but he was obviously seriously deficient in basic
As far as one can tell, Alley was not involved in these shenanigans. He was out in the field, doing the work that Shelley had made it possible for him to do, and his later memories of Shelley were positive. 'It's Shelley as a sower of seeds that we must remember,' he said, looking back in old age; 'I don't think that he knew very much about the so-called mechanics of library service. I'm sure he didn't…. But Shelley's view about books and the idea of meaning through communication all helped him in the ideas that came to the surface when the scheme in Canterbury began.'54
Alley's increasing focus on the library side of his work has already been seen. As early as in his report for 1932 he noted that all three of his methods, the issue of good books of all kinds, the introduction of the WEA box scheme to groups, and the holding of fortnightly meetings in centres visited by the tutor, had given good results, but that the library work was the most satisfying.55 Alley was still working in a system that was apart from the institutional library field, but the logic of events was carrying him towards it.
European New Zealand was bookish from the start. Athenaeums and mechanics' institutes, with their library collections, were among the first focal points of the planned settlements, and the capitalists who were encouraged to bring their money with them also brought educational traditions and habits which supported those of the earnest Victorian working classes who were intended to be the solid and productive toilers of the transplanted society.
Several of the provincial governments, after they were established in 1852, provided varying degrees of financial aid to small libraries in scattered communities. The central government's Municipal Corporations Act 1867 empowered boroughs to establish public libraries to which admission should be free to the public, but was silent on the matter of the free lending of books which was an important feature of British legislation from 1850 on. It did not cover the matter of libraries outside municipal boundaries.1
The abolition of the provinces in 1876 was a disaster for many forms of public service, including libraries. There may well have been good reasons for doing away with their mini-parliaments and concentrating public works and other developments under central control, but the provinces, which could still have been suitable as administrative areas for local government and local services, were broken up, on the one hand into municipalities which were looked upon as big brothers by their country cousins, and on the other into a plethora of counties which were hardly strong enough financially to look after their roads, let alone any kind of educational function. The inevitable result was to centralise in Wellington many functions which should have been handled by strong local authorities, to foster the creation of numerous ad hoc bodies to handle such services as education and hospitals, and to create vested interests which discouraged the kind of co-operation which might have overcome the administrative problems of small, independent units. In 1940, by which time the original 63 counties had become 129, 2
Most boroughs, including those designated as cities, eventually took advantage of their ability to establish public libraries, but almost all of them required a subscription to be paid for borrowing privileges, which had the effect of restricting membership and therefore restricting the range of books which could justifiably be held in them; this in turn further restricted the advantages of membership. Counties were permitted by the Counties Act 1876 to establish or aid a number of cultural enterprises, including libraries, but their financial resources, in most cases, were not equal to the task. The central government, under the Public Libraries Subsidies Act 1877, took over the role of assistance to libraries in scattered communities and carried it out, with lapses when economic conditions were unfavourable, until 1929, in which year the vote of £3000 was split among 338 libraries. To qualify for the subsidy, libraries were required to charge members a subscription of at least five shillings a year for borrowing rights. The subscription system, which had no parallel in Britain, was therefore firmly entrenched. The subsidy, small though it was, was abolished in 1930 as a Depression measure.
In any case, the subsidy was a mere gesture in a situation which called for a more systematic approach. The libraries which received it were, in the main, small private or semi-private organisations which operated quite independently of each other. To be effective they needed to be units in larger systems, with a wide range of resources available to them which could be called upon by such mechanisms as the regular circulation of stock or the ready availability of books on request. Systems of this kind could have been developed by large local body units, but these did not exist in rural areas, and co-operation between municipalities and counties, based on goodwill without the backing of legislation, was always very hard to achieve. Much has been made at times of the quality of the books which survived from many of the small rural libraries, but their survival, in good condition, is an indication that they were not greatly used. As part of the stock of larger systems they would have been read by many more people, in many cases to destruction, and the distribution points, the small rural libraries, would have seen a much wider range of them.
By 1930 there were public libraries of a moderate but reasonable standard in most municipalities in New Zealand, all except a very few of them under-used and operating well below their potential because of the inhibitions of the subscription system. Of other types of libraries there were very few of any consequence. The General Assembly Library was well established and was used by others besides politicians; the Alexander Turnbull Library was the chief among a small group of libraries created by benefactors but yet to be developed; academic and research libraries were
For 20 years at least, however, the problems of New Zealand libraries had been attracting the attention of a few far-sighted people. In 1910 the 3 He took as his theme this introduction to a pamphlet on the working of the travelling library system in the American state of Iowa:
No thoughtful man can question that it is a supreme concern to provide for our people the best of the literature which inspires and builds character, and of the literature of knowledge which informs and builds up prosperity. This can be done effectively and economically only through free public libraries. A limited number of people can buy or hire their books, but experience has proved that unless knowledge is as free as air or water it is fearfully handicapped, and the State cannot afford to allow even the smallest obstacle to remain between any of its citizens and their desire for either inspiration or information.
Cohen then described the operation of travelling libraries which then operated in 25 American states, and those of South Australia, where the idea had been conceived nearly 50 years earlier. 'The underlying principle of the Travelling Library,' he said, 'is that the beneficent influence of wholesome literature shall extend to the four corners of the land – that it shall operate as does the national system of education – and shall be supported out of the funds of the State for exactly the same reason.' The government, which was urged to adopt Cohen's ideas, was unimpressed, but the paper is one which is as cogent and inspiring to this day as it was then; and other resolutions from the first three conferences of the Libraries Association, on children's libraries, on a library commission (to
The Libraries Association of New Zealand was revived in 1926, again on the initiative of the 4 but in matters of long-term planning, even scheming, on a national scale, Barr stood out head and shoulders above the others, as Alley has said5 – despite his physical stature (a little under five feet). The General Assembly Library was represented at the 1926 conference by its librarian,
In a far-ranging address at the 1926 conference of the Libraries Association, Barr drew attention to the virtual absence of library service to rural areas in New Zealand and described solutions which had been found to similar problems in various American states, in the 6 He enlarged on this suggestion, with details of ways and means, in another address at the 1930 conference, when he said: 'Everything that can be done to assist the people who live isolated lives to make their conditions better is a duty of the state; and the placing within their reach of good and useful books is one of the most immediate, most necessary and important duties which the state should undertake.'7
When the Carnegie Corporation came on the scene it was, as we have noted, concerned about rural education and rural library services, but its first actions were directed at academic libraries, probably because their problems were simpler. Russell was particularly critical of the state of the libraries in the university colleges and the teachers' training colleges. 'The independent status of College professors,' he said in his 1928 report, 'has led everywhere to the equal division of funds for books regardless of student needs or previous accessions. An allotment of £12 a year is the largest I have heard of, and usually it is less than half that amount.'8 Coffman, in commenting on the same point in 1931, said: 'The librarian buys the books 9
Following Russell's report, the Carnegie Corporation concluded that assistance to college libraries should have a high priority in its programme for New Zealand, but it was concerned that its money should not disappear into an administrative void. Russell had emphasised the need to get New Zealanders to the United States for study and observation in several educational fields and to encourage their employers to treat them thereafter as professionals. In June 1931 each of the university colleges was offered the chance to send a library fellow to the University of Michigan for training, on condition that on return each one became librarian of his or her college with the rank of lecturer. Other conditions concerning library accommodation and the provision of adequate library staffing would, if met, lead to financial assistance for the college libraries for a limited period.10 In making the formal offer, Keppel said that 'the Corporation has turned its attention to the improvement of professional training for librarianship and to aiding in the work of extension and improvement of libraries … to raise standards of library work and professional morale rather than to bestow grants on individual libraries'.11
Three of the colleges took immediate advantage of this offer. 12
These four very different characters brought a youthful exuberance and strong professional standards into the small New Zealand library community of the 1930s. The emphasis of the Michigan school was strongly oriented towards service to library users. Harris's exposure to the bibliographical orientation of the London school added another dimension.
To fill the temporary gap which arose from the delays at Otago, the corporation awarded another fellowship to 13 McIntosh studied at Michigan in 1932, but he also visited many libraries and talked to Carnegie officials in following up ideas which had been discussed at home both for the improvement of the existing services of the
The Carnegie Corporation's programme of assistance to the university college libraries had arisen from Russell's visit in 1928. When Coffman made his visit towards the end of 1931, part of his brief was to assess ways in which the corporation could help in the public library field, though this was not openly heralded; indeed, Norrie in Wellington formed the opinion that Coffman was more interested in the work of the university libraries.14 Nevertheless, the public librarians and the Libraries Association executive then engaged in a round-robin correspondence to decide who should be put forward to receive a library fellowship with a public library focus.
While this correspondence was going on, Barr was offered a Carnegie fellowship.15 He was granted six months' leave by the 16 Barr, for his part, had provided Coffman with copies of his 1926 conference papers,17 which of course indicated much wider interests, and these probably settled the matter in his favour. In any case, Norrie was not really as close to Barr in ability as Coffman thought. The others got their trips in due course – Bell in 1933, Norrie and
Fairly early in the 1930s, therefore, there were stirrings in the New Zealand library world. These were stimulated by well-thought-out Carnegie assistance, but the important factor was that that assistance was being targeted at a small number of talented individuals. Their talents, in
Highly significant also was the appointment as Clerk of the House of Representatives in 1930 of 18 As Clerk of the House, Hall was head of the Legislative Department, of which the
McIntosh was in the 19 which he had discussed in draft with W.W. Bishop, head of the Michigan library school, and 20 he recommended: (1) the amalgamation under one control of the
Milam, when he was asked to comment on an early draft of McIntosh's report, wrote: 'The national library must be made worthy to stand at the head of the system. That involves all those items which you have listed … and, in my opinion, some definite machinery for tying up the national library with the other libraries throughout the country, such as a central lending library department, for lending the unusual book; an advisory department, to aid in the development of regional libraries; and any other 21 The italicised words were underlined by McIntosh when he received Milam's letter.
On the question of rural library service within a national system, McIntosh pointed out in his report that although, in Great Britain and the United States, the county had been found to be the best unit to base it on, New Zealand's counties were not suitable units of government: 'A solution is more likely to be reached by a new loose form of organisation – library districts based upon the co-operation of municipal, county and education units within a certain area.'
While he was drafting his report, McIntosh wrote to Barr to outline his ideas and check that they did not conflict with Barr's. 'But,' he wrote, 'for Heaven's sake and mine, don't let it be known in New Zealand that I am doing it. Dr. Scholefield might suddenly feel insulted and refuse to take any notice of it – I think he will if it does not look as if I am presuming to give him advice.'22 Alas, McIntosh was not tactful enough: Scholefield did feel insulted, and refused to pass the report on to the Clerk of the House; McIntosh did, however, make sure that Barr got a copy of it.
After his return from overseas, McIntosh was offered the position of city librarian in Dunedin, for which he was one among about 50 candidates. He declined it because, as he told Bell (according to Bell), 'Cabinet desired his services in order to re-organize the G.A. Library.'23 Barr reckoned that McIntosh had had his salary increased by about 100 per cent24 – this may or may not be true, but it is certain that someone in Wellington was very anxious that he should stay there; perhaps Hall also got an unauthorised copy of his report.
Dunningham was then appointed to Dunedin. About the same age as McIntosh, he had also been on the staff of the 25 McIntosh remained the slightly cynical but very effective Wellington public servant, many of whose achievements remained strictly anonymous; Dunningham quickly took on the mantle of provincial and regional opposition to central power, a cause which he adopted with the eager enthusiasm of a convert to the faith.
When Barr visited the Carnegie offices in New York towards the end 26 It was now up to Barr to organise a request from the Libraries Association of New Zealand. He had to wait while the secretaryship of the association was transferred to Bell, who turned out not to be the most dynamic of secretaries, but in August 1933, after clearing the proposal with his executive, Bell got Barr to draft an application,27 which he presented to the corporation when he visited its offices in New York later in the year. Since the corporation had already, in May 1933, set aside $US5000 for a survey of New Zealand libraries,28 its agreement was given fairly swiftly. 29 The survey was done in April and May 1934 and its report was published by the Libraries Association, after being cleared by the corporation, in December.30
It is intriguing, sometimes, to compare a sequence of events as it emerges from the files with the way it is tidied up for public consumption. It is clear from the record that the survey was decided upon by the Carnegie Corporation itself and planned by it in consultation with Barr and McIntosh, but this is how the preliminaries were described in the foreword to the Munn–Barr report:
Through travel abroad and the study of foreign library reports, the members of the Libraries Association of New Zealand realized that library development in New Zealand has not kept pace with that in Great Britain, the
United States , and other parts of the world. The Association therefore requested the Carnegie Corporation of New York to make a survey of all types of libraries in New Zealand, appraising their present activities and suggesting lines of improvement. This request was granted by the Carnegie Corporation.31
Munn and Barr sent a questionnaire to all public libraries and visited all cities of over 10,000 inhabitants except Nelson, all four university libraries, and a representative group of borough, school, and special libraries. They made special acknowledgement in their foreword to 'Mr T.D.H. Hall, Clerk of the House of Representatives, who gave his time so generously' and with whom they discussed his ideas for a plan for a national system of libraries.
The scale of things in the 1930s is indicated by the fact that the largest public library, serving Auckland's population of 106,900, had a book stock of 171,321 volumes and a staff of 36. Christchurch (population 120,000) was served by 54,147 volumes and nine staff.32 The college libraries, the report said, 'do not even approach accepted overseas standards. … A staff of three, including the librarian, is the largest one found; at Canterbury the librarian has only student help.'33 One of the report's best-loved comments, remembered through the decades, was that 'The Canterbury College library building is a tiny architectural gem and an impossible library.'34
Although the report covered all kinds of libraries, its major recommendations concerned public library service, both municipal and rural, the need for a planned and integrated national library system, and the enhancement of the role and effectiveness of the Libraries Association.35
In the matter of public library service, the report focused on the inhibitions caused by the subscription system which operated in most boroughs (the most notable exception being Dunedin) and the inevitable inadequacy of libraries in small centres which could not afford to own a wide range of stock, as well as the plight of rural areas which were served, by and large, by small, independent or semi-independent local libraries or book groups.
The tone of the sections on public library service was set by a statement that 'More consideration should be given to the threefold function of libraries, namely the cultural, vocational and recreational.' The need for public libraries to provide service free of charge in all departments, including the lending divisions, was stressed; the consequence of the subscription system, with its inherent tendency to restrict membership, was that 'the public libraries do not fulfil the purpose for which they were originally formed, which was to provide every person with the means of self-development'.
That was a comment that applied particularly to municipalities, but there were additional problems in county areas, and even in the smaller municipalities. The surveyors had in mind the kind of local body organisation that existed in Britain and the United States, where counties were larger than in New Zealand and included county towns from which they were administered. It is fair to say that they were flummoxed by the New Zealand system, and their recommendations for making the best of it were confused and impractical. They included suggestions that the area of metropolitan systems should in some way be enlarged by co-operation between adjacent local authorities, and that for truly rural areas counties should join together to form larger library districts. Such districts might have library headquarters in appropriate towns, but these headquarters should be separate from the towns' own libraries. It was all to be achieved
On the question of the separation of county libraries from urban services, Munn told Dunningham, who was then in the 36 But there was in fact no possible sensible solution to be found along British or American lines. As a separate matter, the surveyors recommended that the subsidy for independent libraries in counties, which had been abolished a few years earlier, should be restored in the form of a service to such libraries, including a circulating book stock, organised from Wellington.
There was also a recommendation that regional groupings of libraries of all kinds should be formed for the purpose of handling such matters as inter-library loans and the recording of bibiographical information. This was part of a series of recommendations on a national library plan, an essential part of which would be the conversion of the
The Libraries Association of New Zealand had not impressed Coffman, who had said, 'There is, I find, a Dominion Library Association but it is very ineffective.'37 The Munn–Barr report urged the association 'to undertake a programme of work whereby the objects for which it was formed may be more speedily and effectively achieved', and suggested that such a programme should include the promotion of plans for improvements in library service, the establishment of professional education for librarians, and the enhancement of standards of librarianship.
In dealing with the WEA, the surveyors wrote: 'The Canterbury branch operates a bookmobile, or travelling library, which carries book supplies throughout its territory. This is an interesting experiment in rural library service which may provide valuable data in connection with a more general library service to country residents.'38
When the Munn–Barr report was about to be published, McIntosh wrote to Bell, saying: 'I cannot see how the Library Assoc at present can have a programme for conferences of a technical nature. These local body committee men who seem to constitute a full 50% of conference membership are a hopeless crowd – they treat it as a jaunt. Honestly, I can't 39 McIntosh was probably justified in being critical of the Munn–Barr effort, in the light of his own contemplation of how the library system should develop, but it was at least a major event at the beginning of a major period of development.
At the beginning of 1935 McIntosh was transferred from the General Assembly Library to the Prime Minister's Department, where he became a sort of mini-brains trust for the prime minister, 40 This move coincided with a visit to New Zealand by the president of the Carnegie Corporation, 41 and in his new position he hoped to be able to work more closely with Hall in following up the Munn–Barr recommendations.
In his confidential report to the trustees of the Carnegie Corporation, Keppel said: 'With regard to the public library movement, it is my belief that it would be wise to let the Munn reports be digested for a time in each Dominion before the Corporation follows them by any specific grants. Meanwhile, we should concentrate upon the training of promising people and support by modest grants the professional interests of a few competent leaders.'42 After discussing post-Munn–Barr needs with McIntosh, he invited Barr to convene an ad hoc group to follow up the Munn–Barr report generally, but with the specific task of preparing a detailed plan for a district rural library demonstration similar to the one which had been carried out in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia. The essence of the scheme would be to demonstrate an ideal country library service for which the corporation would provide initial finance, and he hoped that, if the demonstration proved successful, the government would provide the financial support necessary to start similar district libraries elsewhere in New Zealand.43
In addition to Barr, the membership of the Carnegie Library Group, as it came to be known, consisted of the other three main city librarians (Norrie, Bell, and Dunningham), Hall, and McIntosh. The corporation provided funds to cover its expenses, and its meetings were held in Hall's office. The membership was chosen with some degree of political acumen, but Dunningham maintained, looking back later, that the two who had the trust of the Carnegie Corporation were Hall and McIntosh.44
In March 1935 the Libraries Association held its first conference since 1930. It had before it a revised constitution which had been drafted by Hall at the request of a committee set up in June 1934, and which provided for individuals to be admitted to full membership with voting powers and the right to hold office. This change in the constitution, which was approved in principle by the conference and approved by the association's council later in the year, was very important because it turned the association into an organisation which could reflect the views of those librarians who had been gaining experience and developing ideas during the previous few years, many of whom were in the full flush of youthful exuberance. In order to reflect the association's new character, its name was changed to
One of McIntosh's responsibilities in the Prime Minister's Department was to prepare statements of government policy which lay in the twilight zone between informing the public and preparing for the election which was due, after two postponements, in November 1935. In writing to 45
Hall raised the matter of a National Library Service with Forbes, whom he found very sympathetic to the idea of including it in the government's programme,46 and in consultation with Dunningham, who was working out schemes for the implementation of the Munn–Barr recommendations, he and McIntosh prepared proposals for the prime minister's endorsement. Forbes also asked Scholefield, who had departed on a Carnegie fellowship in March 1935, to report on the question of rural library service and to put forward proposals which would be appropriate for New Zealand.
The result of this work was that the government issued, in October 1935, its memorandum no.34, 'The Government's National Library Service', a four-page statement which began by saying: 'It is the Government's intention to organise a National Library Service with a view to assisting small country libraries and to provide facilities for districts which have no libraries.' Features of the proposal included a national central lending library for the distribution of books on a nationwide scale; loans of books of about 50 volumes, changed several times a year, to each library qualified 47
Memorandum no.34, slight as it was, capped a pretty good year for the New Zealand library world following the publication of the Munn–Barr report. But it did not save the government, which was swept out of office on 27 November 1935. The people had had enough of the failed policies of the past and the prospect of a fairly minimal National Library Service in the future was not enough to stay their hands.
The years 1935 to 1938 were crucial ones for the development of the New Zealand library system, and also for settling the direction of Alley's career. The effect of the various Carnegie initiatives was to produce a small number of enthusiastic young librarians who were anxious to continue the efforts of those like Barr who had been promoting the need for improvements in library services for several years; the Munn–Barr report, for all its weaknesses, provided a standard to rally around; there was a hunger for post-Depression planning, to make New Zealand a better place to live in, which affected even the tired old Depression government which was still in office in 1935. Added to which, the talented young librarians whose eyes had seen the glory in the
This period is also a difficult one to write about, because at the beginning every individual had his or her (mostly his) strong ideas about what should be done, so that several different lines of development were being promoted, not all of which could proceed side by side. Hard facts of politics and personalities sorted them out in the end, but it would be impossible to present a clear progression leading from point A in 1935 to point B in 1938 without oversimplifying what actually happened or ignoring the factors which caused one group of results to happen rather than another. It will therefore be necessary, in this chapter, to deal somewhat separately with a number of themes which had lives of their own although they were also intertwined, and to hope that the resolution they ended in will seem to be logical.
At the beginning of the period the Munn–Barr report had highlighted the general inadequacy of library services in New Zealand and, concerning public library service, had proposed a system of district libraries which had not been thought out clearly in relation to the facts of local body government. Ideas put forward earlier by Barr, for the conversion of the
The Libraries Association changed its constitution to allow for individual membership, but the effect of this change was not yet obvious in 1935, and the Carnegie Corporation, which was not yet prepared to rely on it for action, had set up its own group to prepare for a Carnegiefunded demonstration of good library service in a selected district. The university libraries had been treated separately by the corporation, which had ensured that each of their librarians had been exposed to overseas study and experience. Further development of the library profession through training depended at this time on the courses of the (British) Library Association.
The key people, those upon whom hopes for the future lay, were very few. In naming them, it is instructive to note their ages in 1935. In the public library field there were Barr (aged 48) and to a lesser extent Norrie (55), together with Dunningham (28) and Norrie's deputy, Perry (27). The General Assembly Library, upon which so many plans depended, was headed by Scholefield (58), but the push for a national library came, within the government service, from his departmental head, Hall (50), and from McIntosh (29). Among the university librarians, those who were most significant in the wider sphere were Collins (26) and Harris (32). That was the lot, though they had an increasing band of followers. Their temperaments varied markedly, from the pragmatic to the visionary. What they had in common, besides membership of a small, close-knit group, was a determination to transform the library system. Alley (32) was not yet one of their number, though he was beginning to identify himself with the library world.
The new grant from the Carnegie Corporation for the Canterbury and Otago experiments in rural adult education became available from the beginning of 1935. It was, as we have seen, made directly to the two colleges through the corporation's special advisory committee, without involving the WEA. The corporation had indicated that it wished the
For the purpose of carrying out the corporation's wishes the two colleges, together with the advisory committee, established an umbrella organisation which they called the Association for Country Education (ACE). This was not blessed with a formal constitution, but it was a vehicle for co-operation between the colleges and for the collection of monies received from individuals and groups who took advantage of the services it provided. Arrangements were made for the home science extension work, provided from Otago, to be extended into Canterbury, and for what the Otago people called 'the cultural extension work', provided from Canterbury, to be extended into the Otago district.1 In contrast to the previous arrangements for co-operation, which were never put into effect, the two experiments now operated throughout the two districts, but independently.
To hold this structure together the ACE appointed an organiser, who was based at Otago but whose salary was shared between Otago and Canterbury. This was 2 All the tutors employed under both schemes reported to her on their work, though the conditions of employment of each tutor were controlled by his or her employing college. Alley was appointed by 3 In honour of the new organisation he had a bookplate produced which showed a reader in a book-lined room and a view of the Westcote fields through a window.
The ACE's life expectancy was clearly very limited, since its financial situation was such that, if the two experiments were to bear permanent fruit, their work would have to be taken over by established organisations before very long. The Carnegie Corporation had hoped, when it agreed to the new grant, that the New Zealand government would find it possible, as conditions improved, to honour its original agreement to provide matching finance, but there was no sign that the government intended to do so. The fee which the ACE was charging each of its clients amounted to only two shillings and sixpence a year, which would not be likely to take up the financial burden.
In these circumstances it would have been very difficult to provide additional transport for the extension of Canterbury's travelling tutorial work into the Otago district. In a report to the tutorial class committee of the WEA on the five years of the car scheme it had been suggested that, instead of a bookmobile, travelling box libraries should be used, plus coordinated monthly visits by the tutor,4 and this method was adopted for the 5 The contents of the hampers were carefully selected to match the requirements of the study groups, and they were passed on from one group to another. Alley was then able to plan visits to the groups without the distraction of issuing books on the spot. Fifty-one groups were formed during 1935, receiving an average of six and a half hampers each.6 They were spread over an area from Tuatapere in Southland to Hanmer Springs in North Canterbury.
Alley, by this time, was thinking of his work in terms which were more oriented towards library service than the adult-education origins of Shelley's experiment. In a contribution to a newsletter issued by the ACE in July 1935, he set out some points about the ACE library service that needed emphasising:
- The A.C.E Library is
notintended to be a cheap circulating library, by which is meant a book-club with any number of members, town and country, run purely for profit on the one hand and pleasure on the other. There is nothing wrong with either profit or pleasure, in their place, but those responsible for the A.C.E. Library have a wider viewpoint. They consider, and I think rightly, that these times of ours are anxious ones for all thinking people, that one great menace to world peace and the future happiness of mankind is ignorance – the 'don't care, don't know' attitude, and that any library worth its salt must aim to supply food for thought about urgent modern problems. A glance through the Contents List of the A.C.E Hampers will show thatall kindsof books are included, Fiction, Adventure, Travel,plusthe books that will not usually be found in country libraries.- The A.C.E. Library Service
is an experiment.Nobody pretends that it is going to give immediate and complete satisfaction to all who join in with it, and in any case there can never be one hundred per cent of people satisfied with any library service, but the majority of reasonable folk in the country districts are liking the Hampers that have reached them.- The A.C.E. Library Service will pave the way for a wider and fuller library service that should come in time. Everybody realises that the day of the small country or local library is nearly, if not quite, over. The withdrawal of the Government subsidy has left many of these in a very weak position, and modern transport and roads have improved so much that it would be a simple matter for County and Branch Libraries to
operate in New Zealand. Under this system the choice of books available to each person is increased enormously, by instituting a central library that keeps its branches supplied with changes of books. 7
Towards the end of 1936 Alley was dealing with some 70 groups and was drawing conclusions from his experiences with them. He had found that, although the ACE library privileges were theoretically open to any member of a rural community, groups tended to remain somewhat 'close corporations': 'It is difficult to get even an intelligent labouring man interested in a Library Group that has been sponsored by a local W.I. or a similar group. The bookmobile used in 1930–34 overcame this drawback.' The hampers, he had decided, were too small to provide sufficient choice, and the location of the books, often in private houses, inhibited their use; schools were better.8
A couple of months later he wrote:
It will be freely admitted that the A.C.E. Hamper Service cannot possibly be regarded as a final solution of the rural library problem in the area being served. In the first place it has no guarantee of permanence, no funds to enable it to do more than it has done, [or] point to a pressing need, and indicate some ways of meeting that need. The funds from the Carnegie Corporation that have been used for rural library purposes in the
South Island haveenabled a good deal of valuable experience to be gained about the possibilities of book distribution to rural areas, but these funds will shortly cease to be available, and rightly so, for they will have served their purpose, and the problem of giving financial and administrative support for the permanent carrying on of rural library services will inevitably be a domestic one – for the general Government or for the Local Authorities concerned.9
One result of the change from the book van travelling around Canterbury to the hamper service covering a wider area was that Alley was able to make more visits to established libraries, and in Dunedin he was able to observe the transformation which Dunningham had made in the few years since his appointment as city librarian. In reflecting later on Dunningham's influence, he wrote: 'I think 10 And again: 'when I had seen the 11
When F.P. Keppel, the president of the Carnegie Corporation, visited Wellington in January 1935, McIntosh gave him a document in which he had set out his ideas on a demonstration, based on the Munn–Barr recommendations, of rural library service.12 He thought that a preliminary stage should occupy 1936–37 and the actual demonstration 1938–43, the ultimate aim being to achieve an efficient National Library Service. Such a service should be free of the constraint of subscriptions; it would need better funding than was possible under existing rating limitations; it should provide equal facilities for town and country; and the government should provide sufficient money over and above local funds to make the system efficient. 'Best means of achieving this – by a demonstration – with the Carnegie Corporation temporarily acting in place of Government.' McIntosh also urged the need for the Library Association to be reorganised to become a professional body with a two-fold educational function: (a) to educate librarians in their own technical sphere, and (b) to educate public opinion in all matters of library interest.
It was on the basis of this document that Keppel asked Barr to convene the Carnegie Library Group, with the task of preparing plans for a rural library demonstration. At the first meeting of the group, which was held on 16 April 1935, it was agreed that the Taranaki district would be a suitable one. Barr wanted to press right on with the demonstration, but Hall and McIntosh thought that a preliminary survey of the demonstration area should be undertaken, followed by the drafting of a scheme suitable to New Zealand conditions, one which it would be possible for local bodies to accept and which would also be within the scope of the government to finance. Munn and Barr, wrote McIntosh, 'expect to achieve this objective by an amalgamation of counties and the institution of a scheme similar to the English County system, but for local reasons this is not practicable. The English County system was taken over by the administrative county which has a long tradition of social service, an existing fabric of administrative machinery, and large sums of revenue. New Zealand counties are entirely different and very puny in comparison. … They have only one real function – that of tending the secondary roads.'13
The group agreed that a preliminary survey of the Taranaki district should be undertaken, but progress beyond that point was slow, since the next necessary step was to clarify various issues relating to the ultimate objective of the proposed demonstration itself. This was the time when McIntosh and Hall were helping the prime minister (Forbes) to prepare the government's proposals for a National Library Service which would start with a service to rural libraries. It was also a year which started with
Once the decision to make a preliminary survey was reached, it was assumed that McIntosh would do it, but he became increasingly busy in the Prime Minister's Department, and when a by-election became necessary in the Lyttelton electorate he told Barr that he would not be available. To replace himself he suggested 14 Barr doubted whether McCormick could work with hard-headed cockies in Taranaki; in Alley's case, he had been impressed by his thesis, 'but Bell told me when we met in Wellington that he is not suitable for library work'.15
So matters rested while preliminary discussions on the preliminary survey dragged on, though in October 1935, after Forbes had announced his government's plans, 16
On 1 December 1935 a meeting of the group agreed to a set of proposals for the objectives to be achieved by a library demonstration, of which these were the main points:
- The group accepted generally the recommendations of the Munn-Barr report (which had the effect of excluding New Plymouth, the main centre, a fatal flaw).
- It was desirable for library service to remain the function of local bodies, but it would be essential for the government to give financial assistance.
- 'Until larger units of local administration are formed, local bodies should, for library purposes, form voluntary groups on a co-operative basis. In the present state of public opinion alone it would be unwise to create a special library district with the necessary rating and other powers or to combine existing local authorities compulsorily.'
- A district depository containing books for loan to local authorities would act as the co-ordinating centre.
- 'Government control and direction should come through the
National Library .'- The co-operative area would be directed by a central depository under a trained librarian appointed by and responsible to the national library.
- Stocks would be distributed through existing libraries and through various voluntary organisations, as well as by bookmobile, cartage services, and mail.
- Books provided to the libraries and groups should be lent to the public free.
The objects of the demonstration would be to show people in the country districts what library service was; to show the government the advantages of such a system; and to work out in detail the problems connected with a service which it was hoped would ultimately cover all rural districts of New Zealand.17
The election of 27 November 1935, which brought a new Labour administration into power, was not such a shock to those who had worked for the Forbes administration as it might have been. The new ministers were well known to their public servants, and
Moreover, the attitude of Forbes and his colleagues towards library matters had been liberal and forward-looking, so that what the Carnegie Library Group could reasonably expect would be an intensification rather than a change of policy. Fraser was one of those Labour people who had used libraries to educate themselves, and he was the one who later adopted a general statement on educational policy, drafted for him by 18
Fraser was, however, a canny and honest politician who was not prepared to make promises before he was sure that he could carry them out. Even in 1937, speaking at the conference of the NZLA, he declined to announce a policy on libraries. 'The Government will announce its policy in due course,' he said, 'but again, for very obvious reasons, the question of the extension of libraries, of the national library scheme, of circulating libraries – all that has had to be postponed because of more urgent matters. … It would be almost cynical, when people asked for bread, to present them with books.'19
What most of those who attended that conference did not know was that Fraser had been considering library matters very carefully, and was
In his accompanying comments McIntosh said:
But Mr. Forbes's scheme was only to be a transition stage, and we regarded it as a 'stop-gap' until the demonstration, which we were endeavouring to persuade the Carnegie Corporation to undertake, should have been tried, and would have shown the ultimate scheme which should be adopted for the whole of the Dominion. Briefly, under Mr. Forbes's scheme the
General Assembly Library was to have attached to it a lending section for small rural libraries and for isolated individuals in the country. The Carnegie Corporation demonstration area was to serve a particular district on model lines and was to work out all the problems connected with such a service. Both schemes were to be undertaken simultaneously but by the time the five-year demonstration period had finished it was anticipated that the central scheme would be getting too big and would have to be decentralised on the lines that the demonstration would have indicated.
In dealing with more specific issues, McIntosh said that there were 'still a number of topics which have not yet been considered. For example, the question of school libraries and the Canterbury travelling library, to mention only two.'20
Scholefield's report (requested by Forbes) endorsed the general thrust of the Munn–Barr recommendations on rural and district libraries and on the development of a service attached to the 21 In writing to Barr, McIntosh said that, in saying that nothing could be done until boroughs got power to raise their library rates in order to make their libraries free and until the counties were 22
Scholefield's report was printed as an official paper23 and has been referred to often as a landmark document, but in fact it had very little influence on the course of events except in helping to make the topic respectable. Scholefield himself deferred to the ideas which were being developed by the Carnegie Library Group,24 and he was added to the group in February 1936.
Meanwhile, attempts to find a Taranaki surveyor to replace McIntosh continued. Bell offered his services, to the consternation of other members of the group; Barr said he would not be able to do it, and no one tried to persuade him to give it a go.25 Finally, McIntosh, Norrie, and Scholefield all suggested that Alley should be invited to attend a meeting of the group that had been scheduled for 1 August 1936 in order to give his views on rural library service (and so that he could be looked over for possible longer-term use).26 Immediately after this meeting the group invited Alley to undertake the Taranaki survey,27 which he did in a period of six weeks from the beginning of October after being briefed by Barr, McIntosh, and Dunningham.
Alley's task was to explain the advantages of a modern rural library system to as many interested persons, groups, and local authorities in Taranaki as possible, basing his approach on the Munn–Barr recommendations and on the policy document which the group had agreed upon on 1 December 1935; to gather the kind of information that would be needed in planning a demonstration; and to try to get from the local authorities an assurance of financial support if a demonstration were arranged. The proposal that he put to the local authorities was that service to borrowers should be free, and that the authorities should pay nothing in the first year, 10 per cent of an estimated cost of one shilling per head of population in the second, third and fourth years, and 50 per cent in the fifth year of the demonstration. He did not have to spell out what would happen after the fifth year, since that would depend on the success of the demonstration, as well as on moves which might be made by the government in the future. It was a very intensive programme for Alley, and by 8 November he was writing to Barr about the onset of 'complete exhaustion',28 but his personality and impressive presence ensured that his approaches were taken very seriously by the Taranaki people. He returned to Christchurch on 22 November, and his report,29 dated 21 January 1937, was made public before the conference of the NZLA which was held the next month.
In his report Alley described the library situation in each local authority area and set out the reaction of each authority to his proposals. In the case of Egmont county and its independent town district, Opunake, for 30
A summary of the reactions of the local authorities showed that about onethird approved of the proposals, a slightly higher number were undecided or doubtful, and the rest (including Egmont/Opunake) rejected them. To an optimist, hope would have come from two-thirds of the respondents; but a pessimist could also have found confirmation of his fears from two-thirds. A table in which Alley set out the density of population and the number of dairy cows per 100 acres in 11 counties, compared with their reception of the proposals, was quite inconclusive, which was probably a useful piece of information in itself.31
To round out the report, Alley outlined a possible Taranaki rural library scheme, including the location of the district headquarters, the means of distribution of the district book supply, the type of book to be supplied, and the special needs of children and of Maori readers.32 He concluded this section by saying that the project would be feasible 'on the mechanical side', but he added a final comment which could have been taken as a warning: 'The only difficulties are administrative – who shall be responsible? It would be a melancholy reflection that no administrative framework can be found for so desirable a building.'33 This warning, which was a crucial one, was added almost as an afterthought, but it highlighted major flaws in the Munn–Barr approach: the vain hope that small, independent counties could be persuaded to co-operate for what they saw as a minor project and to stay co-operating through thick and thin; and, in addition, the absence from the whole scheme of the major library authority in the district, in this case New Plymouth.
To Barr, who looked forward to overseeing a demonstration on behalf of the Carnegie Corporation, the report was a signal to go ahead with plans and with the preparation of a case for financial support from the corporation. Scholefield was benignly disposed towards the possible eventual involvement of the
Hall and McIntosh had a very clear vision of a library system which, they assumed, would be part of a national library developed on the foundations of the
After Alley returned to Christchurch he wrote that 'the Survey has produced, on my part, fresh understanding of the rural library problem in New Zealand, and I hope that some of the many things I have learned may be used for the benefit of the A.C.E. Library Service in the future. I hope … that there will be an opportunity for me to submit plans for the improvement of the existing A.C.E. Library Service, along lines that would make the ultimate goal of a nation-wide scheme in New Zealand more readily attainable.'34
It was at about this time that Alley formally associated himself with the newly reconstituted 35 The council of the association from 1935 included Barr, Bell, Dunningham, Norrie, Perry, and Scholefield, who were joined in 1937 by Collins, Hall, and Harris, and by C.R.H. (Clyde) Taylor of the Alexander Turnbull Library. Between 1935 and 1937 societies of librarians were formed in the four main centres and then became branches of the NZLA. Alley was elected deputy chairman of the Canterbury branch on 5 April 1937.36
The conference of the NZLA which was held in Wellington in February 1937 was the first of its post-reform era. The association's official history says that it was at this conference that 'the Association came right',37 and it was from this point that it entered a period in which major issues in librarianship were debated at its meetings by those who were in a position to formulate policies and then either implement them themselves or try to persuade their employers to put them into effect. The list of the association's members was still predominantly made up of library institutions, librarians 38 Alley was appointed to the committee on inter-library loans, convened by Collins, which recommended in May 1937 that the NZLA sponsor a scheme, pioneered in 1936 by the university libraries,39 for lending between libraries which could meet criteria of reciprocal advantage – initially, libraries would send requests directly to each other, but 'When there is a national library and regional headquarters, with regional and national union catalogues, these centres should assume responsibility for inter-library loans.'40
The theme of the 1937 conference was 'A National Library System for New Zealand'. When Hall spoke to it he gave some thoughts on a national scheme in general; Scholefield spoke on the place of the 41 which, as we see it now in print, was more practical and more focused than any of the others. He identified three main types of country library: '(1) the library serving a borough, (2) the library serving a town district, and (3) the small isolated country library which is generally an independent concern with a handful of subscribers'. All three types, he said, must inevitably suffer from a chronic shortage of books due to the smallness of the administrative unit, but in the case of the first two categories there was the possibility of demonstrating improvements in library service before the eyes of their local authorities. The case of the third category was very different because of the great difficulty of interesting a county authority in their doings.
'It is this derelict type of small country library,' Alley said, 'that is the most unsatisfactory feature of our rural library problem, for it attracts sympathy from the general government while it is considered hopeless by those who know its limitations. Even with grants of money or books it must remain unsatisfactory, often badly housed, inefficiently administered – a dead end in a wilderness. … Its salvation can only come from its participation in a planned district system, plus the direction and, I hope, the sympathetic understanding of a specialist district librarian. It must command respect, not only from the people who will use it liberally, but also from the responsible local authority … and the general government, who will then support it liberally, or rather the system of which it forms a part.'
Alley then went on to talk of the sociological environment in which Cymbeline:
Fear no more the heat o' the sun Nor the furious winter's rages; Thou thy worldly task hast done, Home art gone and ta'en thy wages. 42
'We who speak English can know and understand him,' said Alley, 'We feel the heat of the sun, and the furious winter's rages.' What was striking about this paper of Alley's was the combination of his appreciation of administrative realities with his sense of the purpose of library service. 'The rural library must be well equipped technically, and it must be soundly administered. … It must, however, so identify itself with every fruitful phase of human activity in its area that it will prove its absolute worth.'
After its conference the NZLA prepared a four-page leaflet, entitled 'National Library System for New Zealand', which was distributed to delegates at the annual conference of the
This was a critical time for decisions to be made which would determine the way in which the library system of the country would develop. From the time of Barr's early conference addresses, through the plans which McIntosh worked out while he was in the
Scholefield was obviously a key figure in the plans for the future as they stood in 1936 and early 1937, but Hall and McIntosh had begun to doubt whether he would put his heart into a major revision of the role of his library. The reasons for their doubts were mixed. Scholefield had made no secret of his own priorities, which could have had the effect of a wet blanket, smothering a flame which needed to be coaxed into life; and McIntosh deeply resented the way in which the report he wrote on his return from the
In his 1933 report McIntosh had, in effect, proposed a drastic revision of the role of the 43 McIntosh moved to the Prime
Scholefield, for his part, could be pardoned for finding his brash young staff member a little uncomfortable to live with, but his temperament was equable and he bore no grudges. In 1943, for instance, he regretted that McIntosh would not be available for the post of national librarian, if it were to be created then, 'but that was too good to happen. A man of his stature was bound to be used in a wider sphere.'44 Scholefield was prepared to take part in discussions on an enhanced role for the 45 – but there is no evidence that he set out to frustrate them, either.
Sometime in 1937 Hall and McIntosh decided to drop the idea of using the 46
It is very likely that the new approach to the overall problem of the development of a National Library Service, let alone a system which would include the creation of library districts, was not thought through at that time. The first priority was to replace the subsidies by a more effective system of government assistance to rural libraries, and Alley was asked, probably by Hall, to draft a proposal for this purpose for submission to the minister of education, 47
The draft was completed in June 1937 and was then presented to a meeting of the council of the NZLA, which was invited to submit it to the minister. After discussing it with a small NZLA committee, Alley sent a revised version to the honorary secretary of the NZLA (Norrie) on 10 July ('this seems to be very good indeed,' minuted Perry), and on 20 July
The document, entitled 'Assistance for Country Libraries',48 set out various ways in which country people were currently able to gain access to books – by belonging to a city book club, to a small borough library, or to a small isolated country library financed by subscriptions and able to buy only a few pounds worth of novels yearly. It estimated that at least 80 per cent of country people were without any kind of library service. It then proposed that the government should adopt a policy of assistance to country libraries, of which the two basic features would be (a) skilled assistance to these libraries by a specialist staff in the field and at headquarters, and (b) loan services of books which had been carefully chosen; and it commented that 'Without the services of a capable staff this service of books should not be undertaken.' It recommended that a free service should be given to boroughs and town districts, but that they in return should be required to offer a free service to their inhabitants. A contract service for a small charge should be offered to independent libraries and groups in county districts, which would be required to open their membership to all comers. The mechanics of implementing the proposals were set out in some detail, and the cost for the 1937–38 year was estimated at £3000; for 1938–39, £5500, including £600 for two service vans; and for 1939–40, £4130. A reference and information service would be allowed to grow 'as the need for it became evident'.
The emphasis, in the proposal, on free library service in boroughs and town districts, which followed a major recommendation of the Munn– Barr report, was of particular importance. Equally important, for its longterm implications, was the acceptance in the document of the inability of most counties to provide any kind of library service at all. Although it said that 'ultimately it is hoped that groupings of local authorities for library purposes will make possible a sound "district depository" system by which each contributing unit will be served efficiently from the larger source', this can only be read as a pious hope.
The presentation of the proposal to the minister by the NZLA was a landmark of a kind, too. This was one of the earliest occasions on which the name of the NZLA was attached to a major policy proposal, and the fact that it had been prepared outside the association did not diminish the importance of the occasion. Fraser, who had no doubt been well prepared in advance, accepted it as coming from the NZLA – the first of many such proposals over the years to come. After Cabinet approval, an item appeared in the Estimates for 1937–38 which were laid before the committee of supply on 28 September 1937: Department of Education Subdivision XIV (Miscellaneous Services), Assistance to country libraries, £3000.49 In his
Assistance for country libraries. A scheme is being inaugurated for assisting small libraries in country districts. This will take the form of a regular supply of books from a central source, and will constitute the beginning of a comprehensive national library system. This service will be ready for operation early next year. A sum of £3,000 is to be provided as an initial grant.
50
It is not clear when it was decided to attach the new service to the 51
Alley kept the ACE and its three governing bodies informed of the discussions with the NZLA and the government through his contributions to 52
Writing in November 1937 on the ACE's programme for 1938, after more details of the government's decision had been released, Macmillan said, 'It would appear … that there is every likelihood that those responsible for the National Library Service will enter into negotiations with the N.Z. Carnegie Advisory Committee with a view to taking over the A.C.E. Library and with it Mr. Alley whose services, I understand, are desired either in the capacity of Librarian in the national scheme, or as Librarian in charge of the proposed Carnegie Library Experiment in Taranaki, should the latter be put into effect.' She speculated on whether the government would take over the whole service and its commitments, and on what terms its books, hampers, and other property should be made over to the new service. Her opinion was that 'although these represent a very considerable outlay, it would be inadvisable to set a price on them, but rather to offer them to the Minister as a nucleus for the new National Library Service, in anticipation of favourable treatment in the future in regard to other activities carried out by the A.C.E.'.53
After some delays which were no doubt due to operational requirements, Fraser convened a meeting to discuss the appointment of an officer-in 54 In saying 'no option', McIntosh would have been referring to the fact that time was running out for getting the 55 Alley was informed of his appointment on 29 November;56 the starting date was 1 December 1937, but this did not raise eyebrows either at
In recommending the appointment, Lambourne said: 'It is proposed that Mr. Alley should be on the establishment of the
Those who were present at the meeting which decided on the recommendation were the minister of education, the secretary of the Treasury, the director of education, Scholefield, Hall, McIntosh, and Norrie.57 In writing his memoirs later Scholefield said, 'I always regarded the meeting at which Fraser approved Alley's appointment to take the key post as a red-letter day for New Zealand.'58 The question of the ACE's library assets was satisfactorily resolved when Fraser assured the ACE that its library programme in the 59 Another ACE staff member, N.A.J. Barker, who had carried on the ACE work after Alley's departure, was also, at the end of January 1938, appointed to the CLS.60 From the point of view of the ACE, the experiment that had started with the CAR scheme in 1930 had been successful, and success had come before the Carnegie money ran out.
In the second half of November 1937, before his appointment had been legitimised, Alley went on a familiarisation tour of libraries in the northern reaches of the 61 and reflect the experience he had gained in his years in Canterbury. Among the more pungent are, of two of the libraries, 'A poor library and a rather complacent attitude', and 'A pathetic survival', but there were rays of light as well. Turua was 'One of the best small libraries I have seen. Run by an independent committee which is jealous of linking up with the County Council'; in Hinuera there was 'Good book selection. Condition of books good. Every effort made to circulate the books. Librarian is wife of local dairy factory manager and she arranges deliveries of books by cream cart.' Tauranga had 'a good library' and at Morrinsville there was 'a progressive library spirit in evidence'. Kaikohe was the jewel in the crown: 'The most interesting library visited on tour. Librarian (Mrs. Moore) and Committee member (Mrs. Orr) in attendance. Library small but administered on good lines. Re-organized 1937 on free library principles. Result is a decided improvement on anything seen. … Munn–Barr report taken as basis of re-organization and quoted as authority for new plan.'
A tour of the southern half of the 62
The most urgent task at the start was to prepare an initial order for books. To do this Alley went to Dunedin from 13 to 18 December 1937, where he was able, with Dunningham's help, to make a list from the actual use, by readers, of a lively book collection. He sent the first part of the list to Hall on 18 December, and Hall referred it to Fraser, who commented: 'The list seems to me to be on the whole a fair one, to meet the tastes of all sorts of readers.'63 It comprised 1138 titles, estimated to cost £468 3s. 8d. sterling, and was sent to the high commissioner in London on 20 December. One can imagine the scramble which must have occurred when the books trickled in, to get them ready for early operations.
The accommodation that was provided for the new service was in the basement of the Parliament building, next to the boilers and below the Maori Affairs Committee Room. Alley later remembered 'walking into the smaller of the two rooms of the basement which had been allotted to this curious new service which Mr Fraser, Mr Hall, and others had brought into being. There was a chair and a table, a little black table, nothing else. The larger room had been used by a committee on fisheries 64 This accommodation could hardly be called high profile, but then the real impact of the CLS was to be in small communities throughout the country, not in Wellington. Its advantages included proximity to the centre of government, to the minister, and to Hall, to whom Alley had been seconded for a probationary period. The minister, in this case, was one who had the new service close to his heart, and the tradition of direct access by the head of the CLS to him and to his successor, H.G.R. Mason, became firmly entrenched.
Secondment to Hall was a master stroke for the induction of one who knew little of the ways of the public service. Hall had to teach Alley much about the day-to-day things that were done in government, and he taught him well; Alley was always meticulous in his observance of procedures and in maintaining the standards of integrity which were a mark of the public service in Hall's day. More than that, though, Hall and Alley had similar philosophies and were able, in those early days, to discuss the basis of the CLS and the objectives it should seek to achieve. Hall 'wasn't a librarian,' Alley has said, 'but he had very deeply rooted some of the philosophy of librarianship: the idea of access to information, the freedom of the individual to choose … Hall was an older type of civil servant, a person quite literate, quite articulate, a very cultured person in terms of the day … He believed that the strength of a nation lay not in great developments but in the hundreds and hundreds of smaller units and groupings.'65
The Country Library Service was formally inaugurated and declared operational on 30 May 1938 in the presence of members of the Cabinet and representatives of the NZLA, educational institutions, and farmers' and women's organisations. Fraser was there, Hall was there, and Shelley was there. Also present were two book vans which had been built in the Government Railway Workshops.66 67 Fraser, who by now was patron of the NZLA, and Hall, who by now was its president, spoke in their official governmental capacities, Hall paying tribute to the help which had been given by the Carnegie Corporation. Prime Minister M.J. Savage and
The CLS began on a small scale, consistent with its origin as a replacement for the old subsidies to small country libraries. By the end of 1938 the book vans were visiting 16 public libraries controlled by borough councils or 68
Remember those letters, A to D – derived from the planning document of June 1937, they were, and remained as long as the CLS continued, a convenient shorthand for the different types of service.
In his report on the service's first half-year Alley wrote: 'A determined effort has been made to get libraries interested in the many kinds of books to which they have not been accustomed – books on social questions, child study, health, diet and nutrition, games and outdoor sports, music, art, gardening, and many other topics.'69 Fraser's view, given to Parliament in August 1938, was that '70 By the end of 1938 the number of books held by the CLS was 16,533.71 This seems very low by later standards, but at the time it suggested rapid growth.
Before Alley's appointment to establish the CLS his home had been in Christchurch, and it was by no means clear, at the end of 1937, whether the national library plans which were still being developed would involve a Wellington-based organisation, though that did seem likely. Nevertheless, it was prudent not to take any precipitate steps in relocating. For a short time in the mid-1930s Geoff and Euphan had been living in Clyde Road, where, on 30 August 1935, a second daughter, 72 until her own death, though much of the estate was, in due course, sold to a neighbour,
The Alleys' third child, Roderic Martin (known as Rod or Roc), was born on 4 December 1937, in the midst of the excitement of his father's appointment. For the greater part of 1938 Euphan and the children stayed at Westcote with Clara, while Geoff boarded in Wellington, in Thorndon, near 73 So the lives of the Alleys proceeded more or less as they had done, and the CLS began to take on a life of its own, though there still
Rewi made another visit to New Zealand early in 1937 before making a round-the-world trip to inspect factory security systems of relevance to his work in Shanghai. While travelling by rail in the 74 He was disturbed by the possibility that they might turn into the kind of uniformed thugs who were so familiar in the '30s in other countries, even in Britain,75 but it must have been then that the New Zealand branch established a Rewi Alley Fund to help his work in China, to which the 1200 members contributed one shilling each with their subscriptions; these levies continued until 1949.76 Rewi and Geoff paid Joy's subscription to the Left Book Club during Rewi's 1937 trip, after visiting her in Pipiriki, where she was working as a district nurse.77
By the time the
E.J. Bell, who had preceded Hall as president, said in his presidential address: 'I would remind the younger generation that they cannot expect to achieve results all at once. Library development in this land is the result of many years of patient effort, and it is folly to undertake too many schemes until such have been thoroughly investigated and well thought out.'78 But the good keen men and women who made up the younger generation were of a mind to achieve as many results as possible all at once and to work unselfishly to do so. Committees which had been set up in 1937 were working to produce practical solutions to a number of problems, supported by the four branches, in which questions of national policy were debated by members whose seniority in the admittedly tiny profession enabled them to regard the association's concerns as theirs and theirs as the association's. A request to the Carnegie Corporation for financial assistance to establish an office and to help with the promotion of causes such as library training was prepared in 1937 and sent to the corporation early in February 1938,79 and moves were being made to have the association incorporated, so that it could more easily handle an increased level of activity and the funds that would be involved.
The Carnegie Corporation had continued to award travel grants for library purposes during this period. Scholefield and Hall were both chosen once the question of rural library services had come under consideration, and in 1936 Keppel, urged by 80 Hall, with McIntosh and Scholefield, selected 81
Another important person who was offered a Carnegie fellowship, but was unable to take it up, was 82
While the moves which led to the establishment of the CLS at the end of 1937 were going ahead, and the NZLA was quickly coming into its own as a body to be taken seriously (and one that might be able to secure Carnegie money), Barr, acting as convener of the Carnegie Library Group, was pressing on with plans for the Taranaki demonstration. In May 1937 Barr and Norrie, like two sea elephants, engaged in a brief territorial dispute. Barr started it by writing to Norrie saying that the association would have to be very careful in making requests to the Carnegie Corporation, since the corporation would have to be satisfied that the association was constituted 'in a manner likely to accomplish definite results … The plan of work for the Association, which the Group has been considering and will be submitted for the Group's approval at the next meeting, would suggest a cautious attitude on the part of the Council to the proposal of an immediate, direct appeal to the Carnegie Corporation for support.' He suggested that the group would carry more weight with the corporation than the association would.83
Norrie, in a four-page reply, said: 'I do not think it is – or ever was – 84 Barr responded in tones of injured innocence, but said that 'The Group, like the Association, is an independent body, and can please itself in the policy it adopts. Keppel insisted on an independent Group, and wouldn't be budged.'85
It was subsequently agreed that the two bodies should keep each other informed of their plans with regard to the Carnegie Corporation, the 86 The request from the NZLA for support for its expansive programme, which was sent to the corporation in February 1938, amounted to £8305.
There was a rather nice element of farce in the sparring between the association and the group. There had always been, since 1935, a considerable degree of cross-membership between the two bodies, and by 1938 six members of the group (Barr, Bell, Dunningham, Hall, Norrie, and Scholefield) were also members of the NZLA council. Alley, who at one stage was thought of as the one to run the demonstration, joined the NZLA council in 1938, while McIntosh, Keppel's trusted adviser, was a member of the group. The difficulty which no one was prepared to tackle was the determination of Barr, who was not a team man, to maintain his own honoured position, and at first it didn't matter all that much, but it did become a bit embarrassing later.
In November 1937 Munn wrote to Norrie saying:
At the moment I am endeavoring to reach a fair recommendation concerning the demonstration in the New Plymouth area in view of the more recent acceptance by the government of the plan for rural service through the
General Assembly Library . I am also told that theNew Zealand Library Association is meeting at about this time to make demands upon the Corporation's funds. I am inclined to recommend that a decision on the demonstration be postponed until we hear from theNew Zealand Library Association . I can see the hand of McIntosh in the government's favorable action. Certainly it is the most promising event in New Zealand librarianship, and you are fortunate in having McIntosh in his present position. I suspect that he is far more important to you in the Premier's Office than he could be in any library position.87
Then, in February 1938, the NZLA's request for assistance reached the corporation, and Keppel, who had been kept well-informed, especially by McIntosh, of the way things were developing in New Zealand, decided to make a move which would clarify the situation. He wrote to both Norrie and Barr on 22 April to say that the corporation was worried about the prospect of having to finance two large projects, and, after setting out a number of searching questions, suggested that the association and the group should consider them together and submit a joint application for assistance.88 He also arranged for his personal assistant,
At a combined meeting of the NZLA council and the Carnegie Library Group, held on 17 June 1938, Alley suggested that, in view of the rapid growth of the 89
At this point McIntosh and Russell, two buddies who were the real connecting link between the New Zealand library world and the Carnegie Corporation, came up with the idea of including, as part of a grant to the NZLA, the cost of appointing a liaison officer between the NZLA and the CLS,90 who would be attached to the staff of the CLS and would help to promote the rapid changes in library service which both organisations were engaged in. McIntosh also told Alley at this time that 'our retention of the demonstration is evidently calculated to surprise Keppel who considers that it is no longer necessary',91 but in the meantime this was treated as useful background information. The proposal for a liaison officer was included in the re-drafted request, but at the same time it was proposed that the demonstration should be organised and administered by the CLS and financed for three years by the corporation and the local authorities concerned, after which the government should assume financial responsibility in conjunction with the local authorities.
Because the CLS was now an integral part of the whole proposal, the draft request to the corporation was submitted to Fraser, through Alley, for his approval.92 Fraser's response was that the proposals relating to the NZLA application were in order so far as the government was concerned, but that the demonstration project was unnecessary: 'It was the Government's intention to undertake … the establishment of depositories as a normal step in the development of the 93
The application which was then sent to the corporation was therefore for assistance to the NZLA amounting to £7425 over a period of five years, of which a little less than half was for the employment of the liaison officer, whose duties would include visits to libraries to promote library policies and provide advice, the organisation of correspondence courses and summer schools for the library training committee of the association, the preparation of instructional material and bulletins, and the organisation of voluntary work (for instance, for the compilation of a union list of serials).94 It was signed by Hall, Norrie, and Barr. The Carnegie Corporation responded very quickly by approving a grant to the NZLA of $29,700, which translated into about £7750 at the rate of exchange then current.95
Fraser's pronouncement was a landmark in the development of the CLS and of the library system generally, and much has been made of it, especially in the emphasis which has been placed on Fraser's presumed dislike of the Carnegie name. 96 and Alley, in his reminiscences, said that in his mind Fraser could not separate the Carnegie Corporation from the 97 In the folk memory of the New Zealand library profession is the picture of Fraser being confronted by a scheme in which the CLS would be associated with the old enemy and responding by saying that the government would do it all by extending the scope of the CLS.
This is not how it happened. There is no reason to doubt the reservations Fraser had about the Carnegie name, but he was a shrewd and objective man and, as we have seen, he was in fact very well informed about the corporation's past involvement in New Zealand librarianship and about the plans for a Carnegie-funded demonstration in Taranaki. McIntosh's memorandum of 23 January 1936, compiled at Fraser's request, was very detached and held nothing back, and it is also inconceivable that Hall and McIntosh, whose relations with Fraser were friendly and trusting, would have failed to keep him informed about later developments. It is much more likely that all three, joined by Alley at a later stage, would have discussed the rather complicated moves involving the NZLA, the Carnegie Library Group, and the CLS as they evolved. Furthermore, an extension of the role of the CLS was not a sudden decision: it had been forecast in the announcement of the establishment of the CLS, and it was a more logical way of proceeding than having a developing CLS running in tandem with a separate demonstration.
The real problem was Barr's determination to maintain the role and standing of the Carnegie Library Group long after the reasons for its formation had been overtaken by the renaissance of the NZLA and the establishment of the CLS. This was understood by officials of the Carnegie Corporation, and probably by those members of the group who had become senior members of the NZLA, but they undoubtedly wanted to find a solution which would be acceptable to all parties. Extension of the role of the CLS was one part of the solution; a liaison officer between the CLS and the NZLA was another – and if Fraser's Carnegie-phobia was another which could be suggested as an intractable stumbling block, well, why not? Why deny it? By the time the draft for a joint request which included both
98 He was also, however, something of a loner, and apt to surprise everyone by making a sudden move which undercut discussions others thought were still proceeding, as when he accepted a Carnegie travel grant at the same time as he and his public library colleagues were discussing who should be nominated for the grant; or when he set out to tell the people of Taranaki that they were going to get a library demonstration before Taranaki had been finally decided upon by the full Carnegie Library Group, only to be restrained by McIntosh at the last minute.99 McIntosh's description of him as 'a slippery little bugger'100 was not without foundation, but it was by no means the whole story.
Barr, in effect, rejoined the mainstream from this point. He was elected president of the NZLA at its conference in February 1939 (nominated by Hall), and in 1944, when he wrote an article to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Munn–Barr survey and report, he called it 'N.Z. Libraries, 1934–44, or, Hasn't it been Fun?'101
The CLS, by the end of 1938, was still a very small organisation but the way to its future had come into view. Alley, whose qualities appealed to Fraser, had begun to establish himself as a major adviser to the government on library matters, taking over part of the role that had been played by Hall and McIntosh. The extension of the scope of the CLS to incorporate the drive towards a better rural library service for which the Taranaki demonstration had been designed was the step which set the lines of development for many years to come, for better or for worse.
Until Fraser made his decision, in August 1938, that the scope of the
Towards the end of 1938 Euphan moved to Wellington with the three children. Geoff had taken a lease, from his cousin Reuel Lochore, of one of two houses in Te Anau Road, Hataitai, which Reuel had inherited from his father; Reuel was living in the other. On the edge of the Hataitai ridge, overlooking Evans Bay and the Miramar peninsula, with the harbour entrance, the eastern bays, the Orongorongo hills, and the Rimutaka range beyond, Te Anau Road commands one of the most spectacular views in a spectacular city; and it is within comfortable distance of the city centre – an advantage, since the Alleys had no car.
Lochore had spent several years in Germany in the early 1930s, studying widely in linguistics and historical and philosophical subjects and gaining a doctorate from the University of Bonn. In 1938 he was hoping for a government appointment which would make use of his esoteric learning, but nothing had turned up yet and he was teaching at Scots College, which must have reminded him of his old school, 1
With the likelihood of another war starting, Euphan's dear friend
In February 1939 Alley prepared a lengthy report for Fraser on the work of the 2 He set out statistical information on the number of local authorities and county groups that had joined the service, and he went into some detail about its organisation and administration. Among other things, indulging his fascination for minor but possibly useful facts, he noted that the fuel consumption of the
Alley commented that the main difficulty over the Munn–Barr proposals for a system of library districts 'is that it is very unlikely that a sufficient number of local authorities in the same district could be persuaded to give enough support at the outset to any plan for free library service. But the scheme would depend on having all the counties and boroughs contributing from the beginning.' A more gradual approach, through the CLS, would be more likely to succeed. Nevertheless, Alley recommended a three-year plan which included the offer of free service to counties, the formation of library districts, the establishment of a service to schools in the district areas, and assistance to larger libraries by way of subsidies. Some of these recommendations did not really accord with the reservations he had already expressed, but it is not unusual for new appointees, in writing after one year in their new jobs, to be a little naïve in looking into the future – they are protected by the fact that very few people later remember what they said at that time.
In the peroration to his report Alley wrote: 'The process of bringing a unified system of library service into full operation will take longer than three years. The greater part of the task should, however, be done by the end of 1941. The ultimate cost to the Government of a full scheme can be estimated fairly accurately at £30,000 a year. This sum, although
It is as well to be cautiously optimistic when embarking on a new project, but in fact there was no hope of getting a substantial unified system of library service into operation as easily as all that. What the library movement as a whole was wanting to achieve was not simply a matter of providing more resources, but a change in community attitudes towards free access to the printed word – to regarding such access as a public good (to use later jargon). Alley's three-year plan, on its own and in existing conditions, was too optimistic, and yet, if the aims of the library movement and its supporters were to be achieved, it was necessary that substantial results should be achieved quickly, so that appreciation of the new approach to library service could be consolidated. This, it is clear, was the underlying reason for the proposal that a liaison officer should be appointed to work with the CLS and the NZLA.
Fraser agreed in January 1939 that the position of liaison officer should be advertised by the Public Service Commission in New Zealand, and that nominations should also be sought from the Library Association (London) and the 3 Munn advised that there was no point in advertising in the 4 who were interviewed in London by 5 Campbell said that the panel recommended 6
In case these procedures seem to have had an unusual potential for the crossing of booby-trapped wires, it should be noted that the central executive committee of the NZLA included such familiar names as Alley, Hall, Norrie, Perry, and Scholefield. Everything, in fact, went very smoothly, and 7
Carnell had gained the diploma of the Library Association (London) in 1931, and the same association's honours diploma in 1936 upon County Libraries: retrospect and forecast, had been published in 1938. Most of her experience had been in English county systems, and at the time of her appointment she was a branch librarian of the Lancashire County Library. She told 8
Carnell's background was ideal for her assignment. It was necessary for her to come to grips with the fundamental differences between the English and the New Zealand county systems, but she was vigorous, friendly, intellectually honest, and adaptable, and she was able to work not only with librarians but also with those representatives of the people upon whom librarians depend. Her brief (outlined in chapter 6) included assistance with a wide range of activities which the NZLA was engaged in, but her most immediate task was to win the support of local authorities for the two important changes in public library practice which the NZLA was promoting: the adoption of free library service and abolition of the subscription system, and the participation by libraries in the circulating stock provided by the CLS.9 Her formal appointment to the staff of the CLS, even though the money to pay her came from the Carnegie Corporation through the NZLA, was important in enabling her to carry out these tasks under a mantle of official approval.
Carnell made an immediate impact on members of the NZLA when she spoke to its conference in February 1940.10 In the cold light of print her address seems rather pedestrian, though her strong personality, together with the high expectations that had been aroused by the appointment of a liaison officer, must have caused a feeling of euphoria. She did, however, make some good points about the kind of collection a library needed to have, or have access to, to provide an adequate service. 'However highly it taxes itself,' she said, 'an independent library serving a small population cannot produce a book fund which totals more than a few hundred pounds, and that is far too small. This matter of what constitutes an adequate book supply ought to be gone into but it never is. … A successful library policy can be based only upon a type of organisation capable of producing an adequate book supply.' In the next few months, after a quick survey of conditions in public libraries, Carnell then threw herself into visits to local body councils and committees to explain and urge the changeover to rate-supported service and participation in the CLS. In this work she The Case for Free Library Service (1940), and she also complemented Alley's own work with local authorities.
'The library scene from the 1930s on … especially and fundamentally in the smaller places, was one of extreme poverty, neglect, and misery,' Alley later said in his taped memoir; 'I don't think there were many places – there were one or two, one thinks of Hawera which had an enterprising librarian and was doing a reasonable job under a subscription condition – but so many of them were cemeteries, as the Munn–Pitt Report remarked about Australian libraries, "cemeteries of old and forgotten books". And the local bodies couldn't have cared less.'11 Carnell picked that financial constraints coloured the reaction, in many towns, to proposals for improvements in library service, and suggested, in a report to the NZLA which was quoted in the annual report of the CLS to 31 March 1941,12 'a pay-collection solution, to hasten the abolition of subscriptions, to clarify ideas as to the purposes for which it is legitimate to spend public money, and to provide an efficient means of satisfying the public appetite for fiction'.
Alley and Carnell, in fact, made a formidable team: Alley with his deep concern for and understanding of heartland New Zealand – and his mana as an All Black; Carnell the kind of forthright Englishwoman who could bring people voluntarily to see reason. And they were helped by NZLA members who supported them locally and by the CLS field librarians, driving the vans, who were always keeping an eye on local trends and giving hints as to what places might be wanting to make a move. Carnell also noted another important factor: 'all the nice, sensible women who strayed into the library scene in the 20's and 30's in the small towns and got on with the work'.13
One of Alley's guiding principles was that 'everyone is interested in something', and throughout his career CLS staff were expected to go to a lot of trouble to find out the interests and hobbies of mayors and councillors, particularly those who were known to have no interest in library service, and to make sure that, in one way or another, appropriate books were on hand to catch the appropriate eye.14 As well, from an early stage the CLS issued lists of 'essential books for the small library', to encourage the development of good locally-owned collections which would be enhanced, rather than supplanted, by books available from the CLS. Around 1940 lists were compiled on philosophy, religion, sociology, natural science, useful arts, agriculture, fine arts, literature and philology, history, travel, and biography.15
In reporting on a visit to Gore in 1941, Carnell wrote: 'The Mayor is definitely in favour of joining the CLS, and I think the same can be said of the Town Clerk and the other members of the committee present. As 16
Not every visit went so smoothly. A field librarian who visited Palmerston in Otago in 1939 reported that it was 'hopeless to expect anything … Unfortunately in some quarters the local 17 but there were even harder nuts to crack elsewhere.
The population limit on boroughs and town boards which were offered service was gradually raised, and in her report for the March 1941 year Carnell recorded visiting 50 libraries serving populations of 10,000 or less. By March 1943, 'A' service was being provided to 43 libraries, and 'B' service to 368 libraries and groups in county areas.18
In September 1939 the NZLA was incorporated by the New Zealand Library Association Act 1939.19 Incorporation was desirable because of the increased amounts of money the association was handling, as well as to help formalise its structure and organisation as its activities increased and brought it into contact with other organisations. 'Who wants the Bill?' asked the Hon. Mr Hamilton in the brief second-reading debate; '20and that seems to have been the substance of the debate.
Alley was appointed convener of the NZLA's committee on library training in February 1939, and was also a member of the committees on library legislation and book buying (which dealt mainly with booksellers' discounts to libraries). The library training committee's brief was to formulate a working scheme for the training of library assistants, especially by means of correspondence courses and summer schools: that is, the apprenticeship type of training which was then favoured in Britain and with which Carnell was familiar. Carnell, as liaison officer, acted in an ex-officio and advisory capacity on all the NZLA's committees and on its council, but the library training committee was one in which she became especially closely involved.
Judith Alley tells of a large chart her father fixed to the wall of the washhouse in Te Anau Road. He had acquired a Beatty washing machine, a mechanical marvel which he adored, and while he was attending to the week's wash on a Saturday he would update the chart, which was a development plan for the CLS. Boxes for the bits that were working were coloured in; other boxes would be removed by a mammoth eraser and 21 Alas, no version of this chart has survived, but its very existence indicates that the CLS did not, as some have suggested, grow like Topsy; from the very first it was assumed that it would undertake responsibilities of national library importance and not remain a small service to small libraries.
The next major development was, however, quite unexpected; 'something different, something nobody counted on'.22 In 1938 and 1939 the New Zealand government suffered a serious exchange crisis, caused partly by reactions to social security legislation and the 'flight of frightened capital', and when the minister of finance, 23 In order to cope with this situation the government imposed strict controls on imports, and in October 1939 a 50 per cent restriction on the importation of books was announced.
Alley, Norrie (NZLA), and McIntosh (behind the scenes) immediately sought a way of exempting libraries from the cut, and on 22 October 1939 Alley and Norrie submitted to the comptroller of customs a 'Recommendation for the establishment of means for safeguarding essential imports of books and other publications for New Zealand libraries'. Defining 'libraries' as public, university, college, and school libraries, and libraries of scientific societies, this document proposed that a bureau, to be administered by the CLS, should act as a clearing-house for the granting of special licences for the import of essential publications to the extent of 50 per cent of each library's expenditure in the March 1938 year; the full amount spent in the 1938 period would then be available, 'provided the additional fifty per cent was spent on non-fiction books and periodicals'.
The reasons given for attaching the bureau to the CLS were that the CLS had the requisite bibliographical and trade publications giving full information about published material; it was a large enough purchaser of books on its own account to be interested in and familiar with current books; it was situated in Wellington and had recognition from the government; and it was in touch with a large number of smaller libraries.24 In the machinery clauses, procedures were outlined for libraries to submit to the bureau lists of books to be purchased under the special licences; the bureau would check them to ascertain whether the titles really were essential, and it would also note on them any titles which had already been ordered by other libraries, so that the applicants could decide whether to go ahead with their orders. This implied, of course, that the bureau would
With the comptroller's sympathetic encouragement, the NZLA council then, on 27 October, appointed a deputation, consisting of Alley, Collins, Dunningham, and Scholefield, to ask Nash to agree to the proposal. Nash, who had been briefed by McIntosh,25 agreed, and so the Central Bureau for Library Book Imports (CBLBI) was established as a new responsibility of the CLS, after the minister of education had agreed to this extension of its role.26 Nash directed that the procedures to be followed should be worked out by the CLS and the Customs Department, and the Customs staff member appointed to act as liaison officer between the two was 27 (to the Prime Minister's Department in 1941).
On the face of it this was a special solution for a special problem, but most of those who were involved in the discussions saw in it important spin-offs, in making possible the start of a national union catalogue (since the bureau would record titles for which special licences were requested) and in the encouragement of inter-library lending and other forms of cooperation. There were some, however, who saw in the machinery that had been created the potential for government censorship of library, and particularly of university library, purchasing. The main opponent within the library profession was H.G. Miller, librarian at Victoria University College, who was not a member of the NZLA council and had not been privy to the council's deliberations.
Alley wrote to libraries early in February 1940 informing them of the exemption that had been agreed to by the government and inviting applications for special licences. He then, on 21 February, made a statement to the annual conference of the NZLA on the negotiations and their outcome. The conference agreed to a motion, put forward by 28 but that was not the end of the matter.
Miller reported to his academic head, T.A. Hunter, in such a way as to make him unfurl the banner of academic freedom. Hunter wrote to the other academic heads; the university librarians outside Wellington defended the actions that had been taken; Alley spoke to Hunter, consulted with Scholefield (who was the new president of the NZLA), and asked for advice from the comptroller of customs. A lot of paper was generated, and some rather unfortunate statements were made. It is not possible to present the whole dossier here, but two examples will suffice to give the flavour of the discussion. The first is from a letter, dated 8 March 1940, from Collins to
However much I try to see through the eyes of Professor Hunter and Mr Miller, I fail to agree with them. I am afraid that either Professor Hunter has misunderstood Mr Miller, or Mr Miller has misinterpreted the facts even more than I had realized. In his letter, for instance, Professor Hunter states that 'the universities, without being consulted, were dragged in' to the scheme; this is quite untrue. Before any scheme for a Central Bureau was mentioned, we were compulsorily deprived of half our funds for direct overseas purchases. And now we have been invited, if we wish, to accept preferential treatment compared with other importers, on conditions which are slightly restrictive but likely to produce great advantages all round. Professor Hunter implies that the scheme will be unsatisfactory because the Director of the Country Library Service does not know our needs. … The point is that a Bureau for rationalizing purchases had to be in Wellington, and it had to be attached to some institution … A government department was the most suitable. Of the three possible ones, the
Country Library Service seemed best, for many reasons. If I remember right, it was I who suggested this, for I, like many librarians, look on the CLS as a potential lending division of a future real national library. Professor Hunter also states that Mr Alley 'is naturally anxious to aggrandize his department'; this is untrue. I can say definitely that Mr Alley was reluctant to accept the extra work and responsibility, but had to admit that, on the long view, the reasons were cogent.29
At about the same time, Collins suggested to Alley a modification under which special libraries would simply report acquisitions, 'trying, in a noncompulsory way, to arrange for the avoidance of unjustifiable duplication'.30 Alley followed this up with the NZLA and the comptroller of customs, but in the meantime a long (two foolscap pages) letter drafted by Hunter and
We feel a good deal of anxiety about the requirement that, so far as these additional licences are concerned, no book may be ordered until it has been approved by the Director of the Country Libraries Service. We are assured that it is not in fact intended by the Government to interfere with our right to decide what books shall come into our libraries; but it seems clear to us that, if we participate in the scheme, we shall be accepting a principle that will make it difficult for us to resist such an interference, if it should be continued in the future by another Government….
We are unable to see how the Director of the Country Libraries Service can be regarded as competent even to advise, much less decide, about the need of a university library for a particular book. Even if he is able to point out that a copy is already in a New Zealand library, how is he competent to decide whether a second copy is justified? …
Our objections to the scheme are … that, in the first place, it commits the university to a principle that would make it difficult in the future to resist interference with academic affairs; and second that, by general admission, the Director of the bureau is not competent to decide whether a book is needed by a university library, that he does not intend to try and that finally, it would not make any difference if he did, since libraries already have licences that are not under his control.
31
This letter was signed by 32
In June 1940 Alley recommended to the comptroller of customs that import licences to the extent of 100 per cent of 1938 figures be made available to the six university libraries (including the two agricultural colleges), 'provided that [they] will in return forward to the Central Bureau full lists of their orders (not waiting till the books are received), these lists to comprise the whole of the libraries' purchases'.33 In October Hunter had pleasure in advising his colleagues that Nash had approved a modified plan along these lines.34
The CBLBI then settled down to a long and useful life, being revived from time to time when governments suffered financial crises, until it was abolished in 1962 when New Zealand adhered to the UNESCO-sponsored Agreement on Importation of Educational, Scientific and Cultural Materials 35
Was all this controversy a storm in a teacup? In a sense it was. The overriding factor was that the government of the day was one which responded readily to a request that import restrictions on books should be softened to the extent that libraries, in which books would be accessible to the public, would be able to maintain their services, and everyone acknowledged this. Most of those who were directly involved failed to see any danger in the machinery that was set up to achieve this objective; indeed, for them, glittering not far off was the prospect of using the machinery for the start of bibliographic controls which were part of their agenda for a national library, and they saw the government's decision as a step in that direction. It is important to realise, too, that although the government of the day, like all governments, was imperfect, it was basically honest and open; we had not, at that time, had bitter experience of governments of a different type. Hunter was prescient when he wrote that 'if we participate in the scheme, we shall be accepting a principle that will make it difficult for us to resist such an interference, if it should be continued in the future by other Governments', but Carnell was more in tune with ordinary thinking of the period when she said, 'This is an excellent example of permanent good emerging from a temporary and rather fatuous evil.'36
Collins, who was often the one who found a way around a problem, proposed a simple solution which the civil servants and the government, to their credit, accepted, so that libraries got their relief and the way was still open to the glittering future. Miller's case is interesting in other ways. His model was the 'scholar-librarian'. He was not noticeably more scholarly than the other university librarians, but he was much less involved than they were in plans for the whole library system, and he was rather loftily disdainful of the idea that a country library service could have anything worthwhile to offer beyond its restricted sphere. For his part, Alley found it hard to accept such attitudes, especially from anyone connected with a university. Mutual antipathy between the two men was a feature of the library landscape for a long time, and perhaps it started here. It was rather strange, since both of them had started their careers as WEA tutors in Canterbury; and it was a great pity, since both of them had qualities which were appreciated by their colleagues.
We shall now take a short break before continuing with the story of the Central Bureau for Library Book Imports and the long-term consequences of its establishment.
For the first two years of the existence of the CLS, Fraser, who held several portfolios, including education and health, retained an extraordinarily close personal interest in this small part of his responsibilities. Even Hall, 37
In August 1939, because of Savage's last illness, Fraser became acting prime minister, and after Savage died in March 1940 he became prime minister. His place as minister of education was taken by H.G.R. Mason, attorney general since 1935, with whom Alley formed another close working relationship. 'Now here was a different person entirely,' said Alley in 1983, 'and it's almost as though one's dreams, one's hopes were answered. Instead of the visionary, the encourager, the leader as 38
Hall raised the question, in August 1940, of returning the CLS to the care of the 39 By this time the director of education was 40 A minute written on this report says, 'The above appointment is confirmed, 10.4.41.'
At the time of the controversy over the Central Bureau for Library Book 41 Another loose end tied up!
The committee which was appointed by the council of the NZLA in February 1940 'to act in an advisory capacity to the Central Bureau for library book imports' consisted of the honorary secretary (Norrie), the honorary assistant secretary (Perry), and the liaison officer (Carnell). This does not suggest that its watchdog role was thought to be desperately urgent, and most of those involved in fact had their minds on the next steps that should be taken to achieve bibliographical progress. 42 Taylor had told him that '
The NZLA council then, on 26 September, appointed a union catalogue committee, consisting of Alley (convener), Scholefield, Barr, Collins, Sandall, Harris, Taylor and Norrie, and empowered it to approach the Carnegie Corporation for financial support if this was appropriate. At its first meeting, on 19 October, which was attended by several other interested parties, the committee resolved 'that a central record of books held by the principal libraries of New Zealand is desirable and that the method of microfilming is approved'. Alley, Scholefield, Taylor, and Norrie were deputed to draw up a request to the Carnegie Corporation, and the committee also recommended that libraries be asked to notify non-fiction accessions to the bureau from January 1941.
On 21 October Miller wrote to Norrie making it clear that, as a nonmember of the committee but present at its meeting, 'I did not vote and do not accept responsibility for its decisions'.43
The Carnegie Corporation agreed, after some correspondence on the methods to be adopted, to provide equipment for the microfilming project, and the minister of education authorised Alley to give all possible 44
In the light of these developments, and no doubt with the knowledge and approval of his library colleagues (or most of them), Alley wrote to Mason in June 1941 a letter which he headed 'Book Resources of New Zealand Libraries. Recommendation that the Council of the New Zealand Library Association be asked to act in an advisory capacity to the Central Bureau for Library Book Imports'.45 'In order that the fullest benefit may be gained from the work of the Central Bureau for Library Book Imports,' he said, 'it is necessary that libraries throughout New Zealand adopt more intensive policies of specialisation in importing stock to cover the needs, especially potential and actual industrial needs, of this country. … When the Bureau was first established the Library Association set up a small advisory committee to give any necessary help to the Bureau and to watch the interests of libraries. … The needs of the situation would be met if you would formally invite the Council of the New Zealand Library Association to act in an advisory capacity to the Central Bureau … and to submit proposals to you for the most economic way of ensuring that the necessary books and periodicals enter the country and are made available to the greatest number of those who need them.'
Mason agreed to this proposal and invited the NZLA, in a letter which he had asked Alley to draft, 'to extend the advisory help it now gives to the Central Bureau for Library Book Imports by proposing means whereby (a) at least one copy of every publication of any importance in the English language reaches this country and (b) serious readers everywhere in New Zealand have free access to all such publications'.46 At its next meeting the NZLA council established a New Zealand Book Resources Committee, to 47 Its membership included the familiar names of Barr, Collins, Dunningham, Harris, Norrie, Scholefield, and Taylor, and it absorbed the committees on inter-library loans and the union catalogue. When this decision was reported to Mason, he was asked to approve the payment of actual and reasonable expenses for members to attend meetings, and he agreed to this request.48 At a meeting of the committee at which he met the members, he said that he knew from his own experience the value which a union catalogue would be to all engaged in research of any description, and added that 'any recommendations which you make regarding the ways in which the Government can further the development of New Zealand libraries will receive very careful and most sympathetic consideration from me and from the Government'.49
The terms of reference of the book resources committee enabled it to contemplate activities a good way beyond those which had been placed before the minister. They included some which turned out, as time went on, to be impractical, but the enthusiasm with which they were contemplated, and which was captured by Carnell in New Zealand Libraries in December 1941,50 is a measure of both the commitment of librarians of the time and the strong relationship which had developed between the library profession and the government. The book resources committee remained for many years a semi-government organisation within the NZLA, a fact which was recognised by the payment of meeting expenses, and this fact also meant that Alley had to continue to be its convener, the vital link between the two bodies.
That series of developments – the Central Bureau for Library Book Imports and the very quick moves towards the involvement of the CLS at the centre of work on national book resources – was quite unexpected; or rather, it happened unexpectedly soon. The next major development, on the other hand, which came to fruition in 1942, had been eagerly awaited. It was a move to address the glaring weaknesses, in most parts of the country, in library services for children.
Munn and Barr, in their 1934 report, said that 'The four large cities and a few of the secondary cities are making an honest attempt to give some service to children. There is no New Zealand librarian who has had any training in library work with children, but several of them show a natural aptitude for it. … Cities as large as New Plymouth, Napier, Gisborne, and Hamilton can claim no more than a gesture towards work with children. … The failure to grasp the importance of service to children seriously 51
In their recommendations, Munn and Barr said that 'In all new plans of library development fuller attention should be given to the children', and that 'Efforts should be made to improve the libraries of primary, secondary and technical schools and to establish small permanent collections of reference books of value to pupils and masters. Improved financial provision should be made by the 52
The selection of 53
At this point we should settle on a name for the
Alley was, of course, well aware of the importance placed on children's library service by the Munn–Barr report, and Dorothy White, who was quite a political person, was well aware of Alley's importance in making possible the extension to the whole country of the kind of work she had been doing in Otago. When she spoke to him in Christchurch in August 1937, at the time that plans for the CLS were being gestated, they discussed 54 and in May 1938, before the CLS was even on the road, Alley was writing to her: 'About the whole question of Junior work. I am still doing nothing. Are you very fed up with me for this? … I still think our original idea is best. To instal the machinery side of the C.L.S. and then wail loudly that nothing is being done about Junior work, and that we must have you or someone added and put in charge for N.Z.'55
Alley was, however, discussing possible ways of establishing a service to children with the minister and within the 56 White advised Alley that there had to be a service to schools first and that the strengthening of public library service had to follow,57 and when he sent the director of education copies of Carnell's reports he also enclosed a rough draft of a comprehensive service on a dominion basis, 'for which 58
A typical discussion at this time was one between Alley (with Carnell) and Mason which occurred in April 1941, of which the following extracts give the flavour:
Alleymentioned problems that had occurred over the Canterbury travelling library for schools, due partly to loss of staff because of uncertainty about the future.
Minister: 'What about a scheme that would absorb them … You have ideas of a scheme – what is your timetable?
Alleysaid there were two possibilities: CLS or theCanterbury Public Library to be involved. 'It is for you to decide whether the Government should provide more through the Department or our Service, and whether it should be centralized.'
Minister: 'If your depot [in Christchurch] do it, aren't you doing just what these people are doing except that you are more skilled in the work?' … 'It seems to me the more you can centralise the thing the better. Has Hamilton a good library?'
Alley: 'Not up to standard. …'
Minister: 'There has been a lot of talk about a general library service. I thought there would be some scheme worked out.'
Alley: 'A good many have been worked out, but mainly only exploratory.
The only scheme the Government has is that which resulted in the establishment of the 59
By this stage things were moving fairly quickly, though. On 28 May 1941 Alley sent to the minister a set of recommendations which included the following:
The file copy of this letter has a minute, in Alley's handwriting: 'Hon. Minister approved & issued direction for scheme to go ahead & Estimates altered accordingly. 30/5/41.' A formal recommendation for Budget purposes, 'for the purpose of starting a Schools Library Scheme to be conducted by the 61 was sent to the minister by the director of education at the end of July; it was envisaged that the service would start on 1 April 1942. This separate recommendation would have been necessary because the cost of the New Zealand Libraries in October 1941, gave most of the credit for the investigation of ways and means of improving school libraries to the 62
63 The selection of books was a major task, but it was made easier by the fact that the foundation stock had already been acquired – chosen from an important piece of work that White had done for the NZLA: Junior Books: a recommended list for boys and girls, published in 1940 by the NZLA, was a 95-page annotated list to which White brought the discriminating taste of her later, better-known books.
In 1950 a librarian working in the SLS who had been a teacher in the early 1940s wrote a piece for Education, a periodical published by the School Publications Branch of the Department of Education, to draw teachers' attention to the services provided by the 64 This is what was started in 1942.
War resumed during the time that all these developments were occurring. It is known that the government had been consulting with various supporting agencies, such as the YMCA, during the late '30s about their state of preparedness for picking up the roles they had been able to put aside barely 20 years earlier. It is not known whether Alley had been involved in these discussions, but whether or not he had, he acted very quickly after war was declared on 3 September 1939. On 12 October he wrote to the NZLA saying that, with the approval of the minister, the facilities of the CLS would be extended to military camps. It was proposed that the National Advisory Committee for Patriotic Purposes establish a library sub-committee, on which the NZLA would be represented, and the association was asked to co-operate by providing unused books through its member libraries and by helping, through its branches and through libraries, to collect books by public book drives. It was intended that the association should be identified as an active participant, in order to demonstrate its value as a national organisation.65
The NZLA responded enthusiastically to this invitation, and Norrie was appointed to represent it on the camp library committee. Appeals for books were broadcast to the public, and libraries acted as receiving centres. Other organisations, such as the Returned Services' Association and the Boy Scouts Association, were also recruited to the enterprise. The central administration of the scheme was placed in the hands of the CLS, but 66 Alley himself worked nights sorting books in the basement of the 67 and he spent part of the Christmas period in Christchurch working with 68 In an article published in May 1940 the New Zealand Free Lance said that 40,000 books and 60,000 periodicals had been collected at depots in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch: 'Under Mr. Alley's resourceful direction, this ambitious wartime library service overlooks very little and forgets still less. It has remembered, among other things, to lay down the golden rule for those still anxious to give books that they should not forward any book which they would not welcome for themselves.'69
In his annual report for the March 1940 year Alley said that, in addition to co-ordinating the national collection and distribution of gifts of books and periodicals for camps and troop-ships, the CLS had also lent its own books to camp libraries where proper library facilities were available, and had facilitated the use, where possible, of the NZLA's inter-library loan scheme.70
One of the little problems, invisible to the public, that Alley and his colleagues had to cope with in ensuring that army, navy, and air force personnel were not cut off from the advantages of library service is revealed by a brief exchange of correspondence between Barr and Alley in 1942. Barr applied for an oil fuel licence to enable him to do some work in connection with the War Library Service, and was turned down by the district oil fuel controller. He appealed for help to Alley, who wrote to the commissioner of transport recommending that Barr should be allowed 25 gallons to visit and assess the work being done in libraries at the RNZAF stations at Hobsonville and Whenuapai and at the Papakura military camp, and the authorisation was given.71 This was not bureaucratic officiousness – supplies of oil fuel, which were transported in very dangerous conditions at this stage of the war, had to be husbanded carefully – but it illustrates the kind of obstacle that had to be dealt with, in many activities, at that time.
From the beginning of the war, in September 1939, heavy censorship was imposed on all kinds of information and publicity. It was necessary but it could easily become unreasonable, and, in the case of the importation of books and periodicals, it encouraged good keen customs officials to make decisions which defied reason – decisions, moreover, which were themselves concealed under the veil of censorship. In order to bring some common sense into this area of censorship, 72 called 'an ad hoc and invisible committee
In a very few years, Alley had made a great impact on the profession he had joined much later than many of his colleagues. The close relationships he had formed with key government politicians and with influential public servants, in carrying out policies to which they were committed, gave him something of a charmed life, and he had also been accepted by the leaders of the library movement (a revealing term which they often used) as one of their own. He did, however, tend at times to hold his cards very close to his chest, causing some uneasiness. He was still, in the library world, the single general (good or bad) in the old 2–3–2 scrum of his South African days, able to carry points by force of character without necessarily carrying everyone with him.
In September 1940 concerns about the growing strength of the CLS and its relationship with the library world generally, and with the NZLA in particular, were raised with the honorary secretary of the NZLA, Norrie, by The Case for Free Library Service. At the time of his approach to Norrie he was a vice-president of the NZLA, and in line to become president in February 1941.
Perry was asked by Norrie to discuss Prosser's concerns with Alley, and after this discussion he drafted a letter, which he showed to Alley in draft, for Norrie to send to Alley. The main points in this letter were the following:
With reference to the Assistant Secretary's consultation with you on Saturday morning, 21st September, during which, in the interests of harmony and to avoid any possibility of future misunderstanding, you were good enough to inform him of your attitude towards certain current developments affecting libraries. I should like first of all to express the hope that the harmony which has hitherto existed between the Country Library Service and the Association may continue … You are fully aware of my personal admiration for the work which you are doing … much can
be done by an alliance between the two organisations, which neither could so effectively accomplish alone …
He then asked Alley to confirm his position on the questions at issue, which he set out as follows:
Overlapping [between the CLS and the NZLA] is inevitable in that the services rendered by the two bodies are not entirely distinct. There is, however, no intention on the part of the
Country Library Service to attempt to supersede the Association. It is appreciated that the motions underlying the proposed nomination of a Cabinet Minister as President of the Association are (a) possible benefit to the Association during the coming year, and (b) a desire on the part of the Service to exploit the system of Government support under the exceptionally favourable circumstances which may be assumed to exist during the same period. The principle that the Presidency should be an annual office is reaffirmed; and any suggestion that the nomination is to be put forward to increase the weight of Government representation on the Council of the Association, or as a step towards making the Association in any way subservient to the Government, or bringing it under Government control, is expressly disclaimed.There is no present intention on the part of the Government to subject public libraries themselves to any system of national control …
… warm appreciation of the fullness of the comments and assurances you have given me …
73
Alley wrote to Norrie confirming his agreement with the statements set out in Norrie's letter;74 Prosser was elected president in February 1941; and no cabinet minister was ever president of the NZLA. The correspondence was placed on a file labelled 'State Aid and Control of Libraries'.
Two years later 75 Perry, in a minute to this letter, wrote: '
Among the general public there were some who saw in the CLS and all it stood for not only government control of libraries, but a communist plot to subvert the minds of the people. Alley had encountered this kind of reaction in his Canterbury days. In 1935, for instance, 76 Ten years later Alley was writing to a public figure in Oamaru who had encountered some criticism of the CLS: 'There is absolutely no ground for saying that this Service is "leftish" as our book stock represents, as you say, all kinds of thought. We do not buy from the Right Book Club, or from the Left Book Club, although we buy from ordinary retailers books by authors who write for both these clubs.'77
Nevertheless, there was no upwelling of outrage about the CLS. In Parliament, apart from the responsible ministers who were understandably delighted to have an achievement to talk about which was generally thought to be uncontroversial, the only members who spoke about the CLS, invariably with approval, tended to be Labour backbenchers from rural or semi-rural seats.78 A considered view was given in an editorial in The Press in August 1943, in which it was said:
The completion of five years' work is recorded in the annual report of the
Country Library Service , with the modest comment that, while much remains to be done before New Zealand has an adequate library system, it is a 'hopeful sign' that the service has been able to grow in usefulness during the abnormal conditions of war. Something should be added to this. It should be said that theCountry Library Service , which cost little to found and costs little to maintain, which works quietly, out of the glare of publicity and controversy, but with steady, constructive social effect, is an established success. It rapidly passed the stage when it was itself an experiment; it has not ceased to be, and it is to be hoped it will never cease to be, a centre of experimental effort. Some of this effort has been called forth by direct war-time needs. Some has been stimulated by the difficulty of developing its primary programme in war; but the development has been real and instructive.79
A few months later the Dunedin Evening Star called the CLS 'the outstanding success in adult education of recent years … which has succeeded beyond all bounds in putting numerous worthwhile books into hundreds of rural houses and many small-town libraries', and praised 'the skill and energy of the director … and his technique in both working independently and also making use of existing institutions.'80
Apart from the book resources committee, in respect to which he had a semi-official role, one of Alley's strongest NZLA interests was in the library training (later library education) committee, of which he was convener from 1939 to 1955, with one break in the 1943/44 year (when
Means must be devised to raise the general and professional standards of librarians and assistant librarians. It is recommended that for all urban public library systems and all university college libraries the matriculation examination of the University of New Zealand, or its equivalent, should be the minimum required for appointment to a library position. In addition every encouragement should be given to young library assistants (1) to acquire a university degree, (2) to study for the professional examinations of the Library Association (London), or to take a course in librarianship at the Library School of the University of London or one of the American universities … As soon as the general level of salaries can be raised, only university graduates should be eligible for appointment to professional staffs.
81
This recommendation had been taken up by the societies of librarians which were formed in 1936, and which soon became branches of the NZLA. In August 1936 Perry wrote to the Society of Otago Librarians, suggesting that a correspondence course might be organised and saying: 'I feel that there are now enough trained men82 in New Zealand to undertake the work of setting and correcting correspondence courses for a comparatively small number of students'; and the Otago librarians reported in 1937 in favour of the idea, adding that 'it is less important to have library examinations than to provide a course of instruction designed to equip librarians with such training as is fundamental to their profession'.83
The question was discussed anxiously over the next few years.84 By 1940 Alley's library training committee was committed to organising correspondence courses, and Carnell was deeply involved in implementing them. The first course to start, in 1941, was one for a children's librarian's About Books for Children (1946).
In January 1941 the NZLA council received a preliminary draft, prepared by Carnell, of a syllabus for a general training course. The syllabus was approved by the council in November 1941, and the first annual intake of 42 students was admitted in August 1942. The course was designed for students who were already employed in libraries and whose educational level was university entrance. It was laid out in two sections: one, taking two and a half years, leading to a certificate, followed by another, taking three years, leading to a diploma. Notes for the certificate course were written by Carnell, and students were assigned to tutors, who marked and commented on regular assignments. An innovative feature, which sprang from Carnell's fertile mind, was a record of their own reading which students were required to keep for 50 weeks and submit to a supervisor. This was in place of a more formal paper in a subject such as English literature, to be found in similar courses elsewhere, and was an acknowledgement that librarians could have very varied interests, all of which could be valuable in their work – the important thing was to discover whether they could comment intelligently and with discrimination on what they read in the ordinary course of their lives. As Alley has said, it was based on 'the idea that people could not just pass themselves off as librarians unless they had a real live contact, an association with books and with reading'.85
It was a very ambitious programme for such a small profession to undertake. At first, with only the first annual intake to be coped with, it was daunting enough, but after five years, even allowing for the probability that many students would not proceed to the diploma, the fugue, in full voice, either would have been unbearably majestic or would have fallen in on itself. In 1942 it was possible for the association to make a bold start, but, even so, by May of that year Alley was facing problems over the appointment of tutors. Writing to members of the committee, he said:
A crisis has arisen regarding the general course. You will have noticed on page 203 of the April number of
New Zealand Librariesthe note regarding tutors. Up to the time of writing there has been no response at all. The number of students who have applied is 41. It seems fairly certain that, even if one or two last minute applications are received from suitable persons, we are not going to have enough tutors to carry through Part 1, much less Part 2, of the general course. It is true that no attempt has been made to bring pressure to bear upon likely people to undertake tutoring,but under present circumstances is it either fair or wise to do so? … In ordinary times we have a moral claim upon the services of librarians who have had the benefit of study and travel abroad, and at the end of the war there should be no difficulty in finding a dozen suitable tutors, but with some in camp or likely to be called up soon, and others short staffed and preoccupied with E.P.S. or Home Guard work, it is physically impossible for most of the people to undertake extra work of this kind. 86
Morale must have reached its lowest point just then. The course did get under way, though a report presented to the NZLA council in January 1944 said that 'The course has only proceeded with difficulty.'87 One could also say that it had only proceeded because of the superhuman dedication of a few overburdened people, including Barr, Collins, Dunningham, and Harris, who were among the first tutors. It is difficult to imagine how the impetus could have been kept up, especially in the years before newlyqualified librarians became available for tutoring duties, without some change of approach. This did happen, but before we get to that we must look at some of the other things that were going on then, both in the library world and in Alley's own life. The context was one that would have overwhelmed a more settled and comfortable profession.
In February 1942 Alley was elected honorary secretary of the NZLA, and in September of that year the association's office moved from the ex officio a member of every committee of the NZLA council, and the union catalogue, which had moved with the association's office, started to occupy an increasing amount of the CLS's space – the early trickle gradually became a lusty stream, and finally a roaring torrent while card cabinets were still in use. Increasingly, also, distinctions between the CLS and its director and the NZLA and its honorary secretary became somewhat blurred. This did not matter in 1942, but at times it did later.
Carnell continued to work with public libraries, to spread the free library message and to link those in smaller towns with the CLS. In a report on her work in 1941 she noted that 15 libraries had adopted free library service in that year, but said, 'It is significant that there are only three libraries (Dunedin, Timaru, 88
By this time Carnell was concerned that wartime conditions were making it increasingly difficult for her to carry out her responsibilities, and she and Alley had begun to think that a way should be found to conserve the funds provided by the Carnegie Corporation until they could be used more effectively. Writing to Dunningham in February 1942, she said that Alley had discussed with her and with the central executive of the NZLA the possibility of getting her designated assistant director of the CLS, or something like that, and having the salary paid from government funds. 'This would be a comfortable solution in that the Carnegie dollars would be saved (by no means such a trivial point as I gather you think). I could be used for War Library Service, writing training schemes and any other job which seemed useful, and personal ambition would be gratified.'89 Dunningham's response was, 'so long as you are remaining with the C.L.S. I should personally be happy'.90 This seems to have been the general view, and Carnell was appointed assistant director of the CLS from 1 April 1942. In informing the NZLA of the appointment, Alley said that she 'will continue to hold the position of Liaison Officer between this Service and the N.Z. Library Association. Her salary and travelling expenses will not, however, be recoverable from the Association after 31st March next.'91
Despite his preoccupations with the CLS and the NZLA, Alley did have another life at this time. In April or May 1941 The Farmer in New Zealand, by G.T. Alley and D.O.W. Hall, was published by the The Farmer in New Zealand was late in appearing.
Alley was commissioned to write the book in July 1938. The committee which selected him included
In a memorandum to the chosen authors, Duff said that the books should be surveys rather than histories, should not be longer than about 30,000 words, should present a new view of the field covered rather than paraphrase or epitomise existing narratives, and should be held together by a common idea. In writing to Alley, he offered the agreed fee of £100, which was equivalent to about 20 per cent of Alley's salary at that time, and asked him to agree to deliver his manuscript within a year, an undertaking which Alley agreed to.92 In May 1939, though, when McCormick, who had replaced Duff as editor, inquired about progress, Alley had to say that pressure of work was causing delays. By the middle of 1940, when a manuscript had still not appeared, David Hall, as associate editor, joined Alley in a desperate effort to complete the book on time,93 and the text was sent to the printer in January 1941. Reporting this finally successful outcome to the secretary of the Public Service Commission, Heenan endorsed a recommendation that the fee should be split between Alley and Hall. 'Mr. Hall has done a vast amount of work,' he said, 'which alone has made the completion of this survey possible, and has done it to the complete satisfaction of Mr. McCormick and the rest of the Editorial staff.' Alley got £60, Hall got £10, and the rest was held back because much of Hall's work was done in office time.94
The Farmer in New Zealand is an interesting book for its time and, to one who knew Alley better than he knew Hall, it seems, in its independent approach firmly based on fact, to reflect Alley's way of thinking. An anonymous review (possibly by Duff) in the New Zealand Listener95 said that it gave 'no duplication of anything that has ever been written in New Zealand, but an entirely new light and line of thought'. This reviewer highlighted a number of comments on Maori farming before the Troubles (called 'the Maori Wars' in the book): that the Maori were producing food cheaply enough to disturb the white settlers' market; that the Waikato 'ninety years ago' was 'one great wheatfield'; that in the
This reviewer was fixated on Maori farming. Alley was, of course, ahead of his time in drawing attention to early Maori achievements, but the distinguishing feature of the book is really its selection of illuminating
It is appropriate to consider how far the
New Zealand Company settlers had available to them the basic necessities for successful farming. The basic necessities may be crudely defined as access to land, with security of tenure implicit, a reasonably realistic technique, an assured market, and energy and initiative. It is customary to credit the pioneers with the lastmentioned qualities almost by definition. This is perhaps due to the habit of contemplating exclusively the successful examples. (p.34)The second generation of large graziers rarely inherited either the charm or the education of their fathers, but at least they produced an increasing quantity of wool. (p.56)
Since [the early days] the farmer in this country has become more preoccupied with the prices of his products and the costs of producing them. But he is not wholly a business man, any more than a doctor, who lives by disease, surreptitiously propagates it. … Many farmers are as vividly aware of the beauty of their surroundings as they are of the growth of feed on the portion of the landscape they happen to own. (p.127)
Published at the subsidised price of five shillings, some of the centennial surveys were valued at $30 or $40 70 years later. The Farmer in New Zealand is not one of these. Its value is in the book itself, not in its secondhand price.
Alley-as-Farmer was also involved in another project in 1941. His brother Rewi, who by then was one of the most effective organisers of the vast Gung Ho industrial co-operative movement in the part of China that was out of the reach of the Japanese invaders, wanted some stud sheep to be purchased from New Zealand so that they could be used for improving the standard of stock in Kansu (now Gansu) province. The sheep were ordered by 96 and Geoff interested the firm of Wright Stephenson and Company in arranging the purchase; 150 animals of various breeds were shipped to Rangoon early in December 1941. A few days later the Pacific war erupted and the ship was diverted to Calcutta, which had no road link to China.97 Communication with China was disrupted, but in 1944 Rewi told Geoff that he had heard that the sheep had ended up somewhere in Tibet.98 The attempt to introduce new genes to the flocks of Gansu had to be postponed until after the war.
Back in suburban Wellington, the Alleys' fourth and final child,
Both the Alley parents were active in the school community. Geoff, who was a member of the Hataitai School committee for several years from June 1940, helped to build a library within the school and was supportive of the few school events that took place in the war years. Euphan formed some good friendships with women with whom she would sit in the sun down at the beach while the younger children played, and she also made a rewarding foray into the playcentre movement. Geoff brought home children's books when they started coming in for the and, as a very responsible job, to take the New Yorker up to Mr Fraser's office.99
For a time during the war Alley was a member of a committee which was concerned with imports of anti-war publications. No record of its deliberations has been found, but Alley's attitude might be gauged from his comment on the help given to the committee by 100
In November 1942 Alley, together with other officers of the
For the past 3 years the Service has administered the War Library Service acting in conjunction with the National Patriotic Fund Board … The Service itself is of great importance, in peace or war, and should be maintained, and, as opportunity offers, developed. It has become in a little over 4 years, one of the largest libraries in New Zealand, and it will in time be the largest, serving nearly half the total population of New Zealand.
Arrangements for Replacement: The Director of the Country Library Service considers that the Assistant Director of the Service, Miss E.J. Carnell, is fully capable of carrying on the work in his absence. He knows of no other person to whom the responsibility could be given. There has been a serious loss of male staff to the armed forces, however, and it is essential that the book van distributing services now operating be kept running and that one or two male officers are available at Headquarters.
Two factors which would need consideration in connection with Carnell's availability were then mentioned: (1) the likelihood that work she had begun, especially the NZLA training courses and the establishment of the sine die was requested for Alley, and army reserve transport was suggested as alternative service.101 These requests must have been granted, for in a curriculum vitae prepared in 1944 Alley gave his status in regard to military service thus: 'I am "On Leave Without Pay", Certificate No L 24381, as from 12 November 1942, from Area 5 Wellington, and am Company Sergeant Major of No 17 Lines of Communication Motor Transport Company, in Reserve.'102 Judith's impression was that 'his thing was to get Wellington evacuated'.103
The outcome of the appeal was pretty certain, considering that Alley was in the middle of negotiations over the future of library services as part of the educational activities of the armed forces. By mid-1942 the fact that New Zealand was the only English-speaking country which had no scheme for education in the army had led to a decision by the government to establish an Army Education and Welfare Service (AEWS) under the direction of a senior inspector in the 104 The AEWS officially opened in March 1943. Some months earlier Ball and Alley had met together and then, on 23 November 1942, with the War Cabinet, to consider the relationship between the existing War Library Service, in which the CLS and the NZLA were involved, and the AEWS. Following these discussions the War Cabinet decided '(a) that the Government should approach the National Patriotic Fund Board to have their war library interests transferred to the Army Education and Welfare Service, (b) that Colonel Ball and
- that the advice and recommendations of the New Zealand Library Association and the Country Library Service should be fully considered in the determination of Army library policy;
- that the machinery of the
Country Library Service , suitably extended to meet wartime needs, should be the chief means for carrying out library services for the armed forces;- that the Library Staff Officer, when appointed, should carry out the duties of liaison officer between the Army Education Service on the one hand and the Country Library Service and the New Zealand Library Association on the other;
- that the Library Staff Officer should also be designated Library Liaison Officer and be recognized as such by the Country Library Service and the New Zealand Library Association.
An important element was that, since the library service was to be run by the CLS, it was accepted that it would cover the navy and the air force as well as the army.
When these decisions and recommendations were referred to the Treasury, it reported favourably, to the extent of £17,500, with the proviso that after the war the CLS 'should take over the books, etc, at valuation for their normal purposes, the War Expenses Account should be reimbursed accordingly'105 – this happened in the 1945/46 year, when the CLS spent £21,379 on books, including AEWS surplus stock, against £14,000 voted, the extra amount being a useful windfall for the CLS since its vote for the next year remained unaffected at £17,000.106
In this matter Alley was of course wearing two hats, CLS and NZLA, a situation which sometimes caused confusion over the next decade until he ceased to be honorary secretary of the NZLA, but which also, in the favourable circumstances of the time, enabled him to steer a number of important projects to safe berths. Over the AEWS he received strong support from all sections of the library world.107
Dunningham was recruited from Dunedin to take the post of library staff officer, with the rank of captain, and Carnell became first subaltern on the library establishment of the AEWS. Dunningham was in his element: an entirely new library service, covering the whole country without the complications of local body boundaries and rivalries, based on the CLS 108 An early CLS staff member recalled Dunningham as 'that bouncy guy',109 and this was undoubtedly one of the pinnacles of his career. After the war it was not possible to replicate the organisation of the AEWS library service, but the experience provided good lessons for all libraries on the distribution and circulation of library materials.110 At the time its success enhanced the reputation of the CLS in the official mind.
By 1945 the staff of the CLS numbered 52.111 In the beginning there were the field librarians, who visited the participating libraries and groups, changed their books, and advised on how to use the service; and the headquarters staff, who selected, bought, and catalogued the books, sent them to the vans, and dealt with those that were returned. As time went on the scope of the work widened. The population limit for boroughs which could receive service was raised to 15,000 and by 1946 there were 65 of them, in addition to 504 rural groups, 69 hamper groups and 674 postal borrowers. The SLS opened branches in various towns. A request service for participating libraries was developed, together with subject loan collections which were provided in addition to the standard scale of loans, and in 1943 the CLS became the clearing-house for inter-library requests from all types of libraries. A mechanism was established for circulating regular lists of books which had been requested on interloan and had not been found in the union catalogue or by checking other Wellington libraries. Books that were not reported after these lists were circulated were considered for purchase by the CLS, which began consciously to build up a headquarters stock which was designed to bear part of the interloan load. Thought was being given to service to hospitals and prisons, and to developing an industrial and technical service.
In the long run, a long run which had been foreseen from the start, if only through a glass, darkly, the service was going to change out of recognition, but the heart of it in the 1940s was still the
The blood-stream of New Zealand's present rural library system is the 4,000-mile route followed by the
Country Library Service book-vans, one in each Island, in the course of their fourteen weeks' tours, thrice yearly.Nearly 350 Libraries of all sizes and types in rural districts and in towndistricts and boroughs of up to 10,000 inhabitants are supplied from the vans, which in turn are continually fed from Wellington. The possibilities of van-service as available at present are fairly obvious. Local librarians are afforded a wide choice in their book selection (the vans carry about 1,500 volumes). Personal contact between local and travelling librarians may be of material benefit. The travelling librarian is enabled to compare and correlate the methods, standards and holdings of the libraries visited and should be able to gain information and experience which can be gained in no other convenient way and which can be made available to all libraries concerned. 112
Mercer then went on to describe the weaknesses of libraries in rural New Zealand which he had observed – in knowledge of the range of books available, in the standard (or absence) of staffing, in support from local authorities – all of which he did his best to ameliorate in the course of a long career. He was typical of the kind of person who was attracted to work in the CLS.
When the staff was small Alley presided over it like a large and gentle, but somewhat silent, giant. 113 Members of the staff were called upon to give little talks at staff meetings on topics like book selection, the function of the catalogue, reference questions that do arise and might arise in a small library that is working in co-operation with the CLS, pseudonyms, the role of the library in wartime, library equipment, and subject entries in the subject catalogue and in the classified catalogue.114 Wright remembers Alley as very upright in the tradition of the civil service at that time, and as one who gave a good deal of latitude to those whom he trusted. Interestingly enough, Alley, in speaking of Shelley, said: 'His possible weakness [in administration] was perhaps a result of a virtue. He tended to leave his colleagues to themselves – to get on with it. Sometimes it would have been better if he had been more directly involved – but again he had a strong belief in independence for anyone entrusted with a task.'115 That could have been written about Alley himself.
Wright was one whom Alley trusted. He sent her to Christchurch in 1943 to establish a depot for the despatch and receipt of books, and then again in 1945 to set up the first full-scale branch of the CLS outside 116 Wright never let him down; those who did found, eventually, that they could not get away with it for ever.
At a very early stage Alley insisted that the salary scale for men and women should be the same, and his attitudes in such matters are also exemplified by the fact that, under his management as honorary secretary, the names of members attending NZLA meetings were given as initials plus surnames, with no indication of gender or marital status. One associate thought his influence was pivotal for women at a time when women were beginning to move into the professions.117 He was also well disposed towards staff members who had physical or social disabilities, and in this respect he anticipated the era when it was thought that special commissioners were needed to ensure justice.
With all his pluses and a few minuses, Alley built up a staff in the 1940s which had a very strong esprit de corps, which felt that it was doing worthwhile and important work, and which was encouraged to think creatively and flexibly. As an example of the kind of approach he encouraged, there is this memorandum which he gave to the librarian in charge of the CLS Christchurch office, on the question of eligibility for the 'D' (postal) service:
Each [application] is judged on its own merits and consideration is given to the individual circumstances. The general rule is that anyone at a distance of 10 miles or over from the nearest Public Library, unless on a railway line, is eligible. In some cases this distance is too far; consideration must be given to type of country, and possibility of transport. If nearer than ten miles, or accessible by rail, the applicant is asked to join the nearest public library and is given details of the interloan service when the library is not linked with WCl [CLS Wellington] and of the Request service when the library is linked with WCl … [and on special cases:] e.g. there is one borrower at Carterton because the librarian refuses to use interloan'.
118
Alley regarded the role of the CLS as being not only to provide a service but also to encourage and assist improvements in the service provided by individual libraries, a role for which organising librarian positions were created as time went on, to follow up, in a more intensive way, the kind of advice and assistance that was offered by field librarians. He made this role clear in his annual reports; in 1944, for instance, after commenting that progress by participating libraries was uneven, he said: 'Local authorities, 119
In the same report Alley said: 'At the earliest favourable time it is proposed to develop this Service on a regional basis. Instead of separate services for city and country it is proposed, with the co-operation of the city library authorities, to combine the services of town and country in one regional service. A strong National Library Service is essential to coordinate the work of such regions.' This was a rather surprising statement, but it followed several years of discussion, in which Alley had taken an increasingly active role without always being able to control its direction, of the structure that might best meet the needs of the country for the delivery of public library service. During that time the CLS had been established as a central government organisation which initially had very little to do with libraries in the larger centres, and it had been a great success within its limited brief. But members of the library profession kept harking back to the Munn–Barr recommendation that district library organisations should be set up, by co-operative arrangements between local authorities. This model came to be known as the regional library one, although Munn and Barr had used 'regional' in a different sense. Some thought that regional libraries should be supported by the CLS; others that they should supplant it. Most ignored the warnings of those, like McIntosh, who thought that co-operation between consenting local authorities, in the absence of an indissoluble union, would be very difficult to achieve and even more difficult to maintain over libraries, which did not have as high a profile in the public mind as they had in the minds of librarians.
So there had been years of enthusiastic and enjoyable thinking and arguing about the ideal library system for New Zealand, punctuated by the writing of reports on various ways of achieving the desired end. Enthusiasm for the regional idea was particularly strong in Dunedin, where the Otago branch of the NZLA was a lively forum for the discussion of library policies and a source of numerous reports.120 Leaders in the branch were the two charismatic senior librarians, 121 At about the same time he was helping
By 1944 the idea of 'regional library service' had fixed itself firmly in many library minds as the kind of library organisation which should be put in place as soon as possible. It had been reinforced by a report on the public library service of Great Britain, written by
The last years of the war were a time of post-war planning in many parts of the world, and New Zealand was not immune from the urge to plan for a better future. The library world, which had been in planning mode for some time, had recently had yet another excitement in the success, for a short time, of the AEWS library service, with Dunningham in operational command, Carnell by his side, and Alley as sponsor, and the novel experience of a library service run from a centre, without local bodies being involved except by supporting it. By 1943 it was time for all these plans and experiences to be brought together.
In August 1943 the NZLA council set up an interim planning committee to set the scene for the post-war era. Convened by Carnell, it included Perry and (nominated by the Wellington branch) Scholefield, W.J. Gaudin (a city councillor) and ex officio. At an early meeting some members of the committee brought forward two drafts outlining possible lines of development. Labelled 'Plan A' and 'Plan B', neither of these was endorsed by the committee. Instead, several librarians were asked to examine them,122 and their comments, together with the plans, were then published in New Zealand Libraries for wider discussion.123
Plan A was an ambitious one, providing for a Ministry of Libraries
Plan B was designed more as an extension of the existing structure of the
Plan A was prepared by Carnell and Robertson.124 It is not clear who prepared Plan B, but Alley was probably behind it, with the support of other members of the committee. On the face of it, Plan B seemed to provide for a continuation of a central government scheme, whereas the structure proposed in Plan A provided for a bottom-up approach, with each level of management appointing members to the next level above. But Perry pointed out a major weakness of Plan A when he said that he was 'unable to persuade myself that centralised (i.e. Consolidated Fund) finance can be satisfactorily combined with the form of local control suggested'. Perry also commented that 'Neither of the schemes appears to take any account of possible local authority reform to provide larger units of local government. There appears to be no prospect of such reform in the immediate future, but I believe the problem must be faced immediately after the war.'125
Barr thought that neither plan was sufficiently comprehensive – 'i.e. they do not deal with the whole of the New Zealand Library Service – Public, University, Governmental and Departmental Libraries. Semi-public libraries, such as the Royal Society of New Zealand and its branches, are libraries left out of consideration.' Harris said: 'The two plans seem to me to have a common failure. They approach the problem in an abstract manner. They begin, and end, with an organisational and administrative set-up … Administration is not an objective. It is a means to an end, and should be considered only in relation to that end.'126
To Alley, Plan A was 'An impressive conception, reminds one of a super 127
It had been intended that the plans, and comments on them, should be considered in February 1944, at a conference of the NZLA which would have been the first such conference since 1941. At the last minute the conference was postponed because severe restrictions were suddenly placed on railway travel (there was a war on), and in the end the postponement lasted until February 1945. Looking back, one can only think that it was providential that the two hastily cobbled together plans could now be given more careful consideration, away from the pressure of remits and resolutions. The coming year was also going to be an eventful one in producing new material to be incorporated in the discussions, though the extent to which this would happen could not have been foreseen in February 1944.
At the next meeting of the interim planning committee, on 17 March 1944, Alley 'stated that since the last meeting the 128 This was the background to the statement in Alley's March 1944 annual report. It seems, from correspondence on the file, that the negotiations were with Barr and Auckland, but nothing ever came of them. The statement did, however, put an end to Plan A. At its meeting in April 1944 the NZLA council appointed a less interim planning committee, again with Carnell as convener but with Barr and 129 The story of this committee's fortunes will have to be postponed at this point.
There is no doubt that Alley was very annoyed by Carnell's involvement with the production of Plan A, and that his attitude towards her soured from this time; when Alley got annoyed with someone he stayed annoyed.
'Plan A,' said Alley in his memoirs, 'was a very startlingly innovative one … it involved a more or less complete taking over of the whole library system by Government. Now this might have been possible but I don't think Mr Mason or Mr Fraser as Prime Minister would have agreed with it. I don't think the Library Association would have agreed to it, it would of course have caused a great deal of fluttering in the dovecotes. It might, of course on the other hand, have been a good thing because it would have saved an awful lot of energy in trying to persuade reluctant local authorities to do something about their library service. Under Plan A libraries would be just installed, maintained as it were like the Post Office or some Departmental thing. Well, one could talk about this endlessly. One sees all the perils.'130
Another intriguing element in this story is Carnell's association with 131 and in 1944 he was chairman of the Wellington branch. Alley: 'Robertson was a committed, avowed, dyed-in-the-wool socialist, a believer in the virtues of co-operation. He just lived and breathed and thought in those terms. He worked in the 132 Robertson did not continue active work in the association after 1944; he died (by his own hand) in 1950.133
The episode of the two plans is interesting on several levels. It shows Alley's increasing stature, both as a trusted adviser of ministers and as a leader in a profession which was thinking big. Over quite a long period Alley as director and Alley as honorary secretary would orchestrate important library developments, with political support and with the willing co-operation of most of the leaders in the profession. It also shows Alley's ability to take quick and effective action when circumstances demanded it. The downside of this was his somewhat ruthless manipulation of people
In his subsequent attitude to Carnell, though, Alley demonstrated another characteristic, his inability to forgive and make allowance for opposition, which arose from what he called, in writing to his sister Joy, 'the well known Alley thin-ness of epidermis';134 over the years this made difficulties for himself as well as for others.
Towards the end of 1943 Scholefield, in writing to Collins about a number of matters concerning the NZLA, said:
To my mind the Robertson–Carnell combination is not nice and is aiming at things I don't like at all. Moreover, they have Geoff Alley very unhappy. It is a strange position for two members of his staff to be working in opposition to him. I have always felt that Geoff did not do what he might have done to secure co-operation from some of us. He was too apt to draw rabbits out of his pocket and make the council feel foolish for discussing matters to which he held the answer. Nevertheless we will have to support him and not allow the C.L.S. to suffer.
Miss Carnell 's fault is impetuosity; she will plunge at the hurdles. The other party is a bird of passage pure and simple … I do feel that at the present moment our path is very clear and that all we have to do is the obvious; i.e. amalgamate the Turnbull and this Library and the C.L.S. with or without theRoyal Society and with or without the Archives …135
A month later Scholefield wrote a long letter to Alley setting out his concerns about the position of the NZLA and its relations with the CLS. After emphasising the help and support that the
Though from the outset I realised that the influence of the C.L.S. was bound to be an increasing one and probably dominant I always thought it undesirable that the Association should sell out to the C.L.S. That would be bad from your own point of view and it would be the first stage in
complete bureaucratisation of library service in N.Z. I have often thought that the C.L.S. and yourself (or Miss Carnell ) went too far and too fast in seizing authority and assuming activities that would have been better left to the Association. Then I felt that the non-C.L.S. personnel of the Council and its committees were simply rubber-stamping what you wished while we were sometimes in the dark as to your real plans. I don't suggest that you had any covert designs, but you quite often spoke flippantly or in miracles which did not make your real meaning clear to my dense mind …Miss Carnell 's position has always appeared to me to be anomalous and mischievous … You will understand from this that I believe we have got into a mild imbroglio and that it isour dutyto find the way out. The Carnell–Robertson putsch has to me a very sinister implication …Personally I want to see that the C.L.S. and yourself do not suffer as I am afraid you might, from the unexplained defection of people within and without the C.L.S.136
Scholefield was potentially that very valuable kind of person, a strong critic who was basically supportive and who had mana. He remained well disposed towards Alley, but Alley always spoke disparagingly of him from this time.
In the midst of these events, Mary Prescott Parsons arrived in Wellington in January 1944 to establish a United States Information Library for the Office of War Information. Born in 1885, she had had a distinguished career in American libraries, her work in public libraries ranging from the great New Zealand Libraries said.137
It is not surprising that members of the NZLA saw Parsons's arrival as a chance to get first-class guidance on finding solutions to problems they had encountered in organising an indigenous form of education for librarianship, or that she would answer the call. She was a member of the NZLA's library training committee by April 1944, when she was offering assistance with the training course by seeking teaching materials in the 138 but her presence was also sparking much more ambitious ideas.
McIntosh had returned from the 139 but it was too soon for such a meeting to be successful. In a comment which he placed on his file at that time, Alley wrote:
No one would be so absurd as not to want to have this. If the Association had a long and glorious career of library training, had in effect trained people, if the country were full of good libraries and if one could make sure that the librarian knew his or her job and that the book stock were classified and catalogued and there was some attempt being made in short to meet the situation. But this is not the case. We are dealing now with a situation which I think calls for fairly rapid action. We have got from the Carnegie Corporation assistance for the five year programme … If at the end of 3 or 4 years or even 5 years, it may be longer, it is felt that people should receive the hall mark of academic qualifications, if they need that in order to conduct their libraries better, then it would perhaps be a good thing to take steps in this direction, but I think we are faced with the fact that we have in front of us a draft [for the NZLA course] which does ensure that we do something …
140
Three years had passed. The NZLA had started its courses with great difficulty, and the time had come when another superhuman effort would have to be made to launch the second (diploma) part of the general training course. Furthermore, the effort involved was devoted entirely to improving the performance of existing staff members, who were not required to have more than a university entrance qualification; it was not recruiting people to a profession. In January 1944 Harris, who was temporarily convening 141 The logic of the situation was pointing towards a more radical solution to the problem of training, one which had seemed impossible to Alley in 1941 and which would still have seemed to present insuperable difficulties, but for the miraculous arrival of Mary Parsons.
At its meeting in April 1944 the library training committee asked Dunningham 'to consider the question of a school giving short courses in library training, and to report to the next meeting of this Committee'.142 Dunningham did not report until September, but in the meantime there was an informal but seminal meeting at which Parsons decided that she would take on the directorship of a New Zealand library school if arrangements for her to do so could be negotiated. 'I remember,' wrote her obituarist (Dunningham), 'we were walking with Mary through the orchard of the Alley farmhouse at Riccarton when we sat down, as Geoffrey said, to work out the possibility of a Bretton Woods (or was it Dumbarton Oaks?) agreement by which the Director of the USIS Library might be seconded to the New Zealand government for assistance in the founding and direction of the library school if the New Zealand government in its turn would agree to second professional assistance to the work of the USIS Library.'143
True to form, Dunningham, in his report to the library training committee,144 focused entirely on the need for suitably trained staff to be available when the CLS was 'decentralised on a regional basis as suggested in the last Annual Report of the Director … My own view,' he said, 'is that almost complete autonomy should exist in regions. The regional librarian should be responsible to his regional committee which should submit its budget every year to the national board for approval and that the national board should in turn consist of a majority of members elected by local regional conferences … It is suggested that the national centre should set up a library school and that the national library board should retain power to refuse service through a region to any local library where staffing is considered insufficiently trained.' He then referred to the fortunate circumstance of Parsons's presence in the country and recommended that she be asked to report on a more detailed plan in co-operation with the director of the CLS.
Other librarians had their own particular interests, of course. There were, for instance, the university librarians, who also had staffing needs, and Mary L. Brown, Librarian of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), pointed out to the committee that, if a school of librarianship were established with government assistance, 'it would seem 145 When the library training committee met on 19 October 1944 it was ready to go for a wider scheme. With Alley in the chair and Barr, Collins, 146
This resolution went to the NZLA council, and the gist of it was included in a composite request which was sent to the government from the association's conference in February 1945, but while the guests were being greeted work was going on in the kitchen. Alley would have been keeping his minister fully informed of what was happening and getting the appropriate green lights, and he was also working on his more cautious and timorous colleagues – Collins remembered being taken by the elbow while he and Alley walked along Lambton Quay in Wellington and being told, 'We've got to do this.'147 Parsons spoke to the conference in February and assured those present that if library school students were self-reliant and intelligent they would experiment and would improve libraries.148 McIntosh, who by then was secretary of external affairs, negotiated with the 149
So when the time came, in April 1945, for an exchange of notes between the two governments, everything had been pretty well sewn up. 150
On 30 April 1945 Alley wrote to Parsons to say that the director of the school would be in full control of staff and students and responsible to the director of the CLS for its operation (or to the director of a National Library Service, if one were instituted), and that the training committee of the NZLA would be consulted on policy matters, although its recommendations would not necessarily be considered as mandatory; interviews of applicants for entry to the school would be conducted by the director of the school, the director of the CLS, and a representative of the NZLA in each interviewing centre.151 Mason's public statement, in which he said, 'In 1946, with the approval of the manpower authorities, the school will give a year's training to 30 students, who will be University graduates in science or arts', 152 followed shortly after.
The decision to establish the Library School was made fairly quickly, so that the first course could start at the beginning of 1946. 'Incidentally,' Alley said in his memoirs, 'this was one of my first experiences of a favourable Treasury report. Treasury gave the thing its blessing and the rest was merely, I think, more or less a formality.'153 But the proposal which led to it was part of a larger programme of development affecting the CLS which was coming through the NZLA's pipelines at the same time. We shall now have to go back to the planning committee; first, though, we should record two events which occurred in the middle of 1944, one of which might have caused problems if it had come to anything, while the other probably enabled those who were concerned with long-term planning to proceed in an orderly way.
The first of these was Alley's apparent decision, in the middle of the year in which, we can now see, he was within sight of the peak of his career, to apply for a position of lecturer in rural education at Lincoln Agricultural College. This position had been established to enable teacher trainees to opt for periods of residence and instruction at Lincoln College in order to meet the needs of rural people,154 and Alley's application155 was supported by testimonials from 156 and 157 The decision to apply is described as 'apparent' 158 but Alley kept a carbon copy in his personal papers. The appointment went to
The other event was what Alley called Carnell's 'very quick and unwelcome departure'.159 She went to London in August 1944, to help to establish a library service for the armed forces in the Middle East160 and to undertake tasks for the CLS and the NZLA, and in May 1945 she resigned her appointment as assistant director of the CLS.161 In her five years in New Zealand she had made a lasting impact. Alley, in his memoirs, emphasised her work in getting the 162 but equal emphasis should be placed on the way in which she ensured that the CLS became quickly implanted in the rural library scene. 'Once she knew what Mr Alley wanted,' said 163
The planning committee which was appointed by the NZLA council under Carnell's convenership in April 1944 was asked to 'comment on proposals for regional development of library services to be made by the Government Country Library Service'. After Carnell's departure, Perry took it over in a caretaking role and three new members, including Dunningham, were appointed to it. In the same period another planning committee, to report 'on points concerning the development of university and special library service which should be considered by the main planning committee',164 was actively considering its brief. This committee consisted of Collins (convener), Brown (DSIR), Harris and Scholefield. Many of the most prominent members of the association were therefore, by the second half of 1944, involved in the two planning committees, and from this point planning for the future got really serious.
When the main planning committee met on 17 October 1944 it appointed 165
By the end of 1944, therefore, decentralisation of the work of the CLS, based on the document that had been prepared by Alley (no doubt in 166 The proposals had the strong support of Melville, who was held in great respect in the library world, having been chairman of the Auckland City Council's library committee since 1917 except for a break of three years, a local authority delegate to the Libraries Association/NZLA since 1926, and a wholehearted and consistent supporter of the free public library idea.167
At the same time, the supplementary committee convened by Collins raised questions concerning the 'learned' libraries, which had not hitherto been given much prominence in discussions of national library systems. The emphasis of its report to the council was on the need for 'a real National Library' to be formed by the combination of the 168
In response to the report by Collins's committee, which had been asked by the NZLA council to continue its discussions, Alley produced another document, 'Draft Proposals for Setting up a New Zealand National Library Service', which was approved by the minister of education 'as a basis of discussion'.169 The committee met for two days, on 12 and 13 December 1944, to consider it, and from this point Collins, working closely with Alley, became a leading figure in bringing together practical ideas for the development of the library system and in breaking the log-jam of reports, opinions, and endless discussions.
In the preamble to his document Alley had said: 'The past few years have taught New Zealand librarians the importance of co-operation and a pressing need has arisen for a well-organized national centre to co-ordinate the efforts of all libraries concerned with the exploitation and conservation
In opening the committee's discussion of Alley's document, Collins referred to earlier attempts to create a national library by the amalgamation of several existing libraries. He said that these had failed because the libraries involved were concerned with their own functions and were not particularly interested in the national library idea. Now we had a new 'extrovert' service, the
- The present duplication could not be justified: the big State libraries must be co-ordinated. It was asking for trouble to leave them as they were, though it might be difficult to bring them under one control (Scholefield).
- The national service would co-ordinate these libraries; it was not necessary to bring them under one control (Harris).
- It was no use attempting unity until real unity existed; the various libraries must learn to work together and then they could talk about new buildings. Continuing with book resources, union catalogues, etc., would prepare the way for later development (Alley).
The committee agreed that to proceed with functional development would not impede the eventual formation of a national library but would prepare the ground for it; and also that the training of staff was the first necessity. It then agreed on a set of resolutions which endorsed Alley's proposals, commenting that further steps concerning the integration of state-owned 170
Reports of these meetings were published in New Zealand Libraries, together with a very detailed organisation chart which showed the connections that might exist between a National Library Service and the various types of libraries in the national system. The conference of the NZLA which was held in Wanganui in February 1945 endorsed the recommendations of both the planning committees and sent telegrams to the prime minister and the minister of education supporting them.171 In introducing his committee's recommendations, Collins said: 'Let me state that it is my committee which is responsible for the new proposal to expand on the basis of the 172
A full account of these discussions, with the organisation chart, was included in Alley's March 1945 annual report.173 It does not seem to have given rise to any comment in Parliament, but Victoria University College took alarm at the organisation chart, which included the university libraries among all the others. The university authorities were not advanced enough in their administrative thinking or experience to appreciate the difference between a solid line, which indicated an administrative link, and a dotted one, which indicated fraternal co-operation, and assumed that the whole thing was a government takeover. In July 1945 the registrar of Victoria University College wrote to the NZLA conveying a resolution of the college council which said: 'While being happy to co-operate as in the past in making library resources as widely available as possible the controlling authorities of the Library would be opposed to any change in the Library system which impaired their ultimate control.' A reply, drafted by Collins, said, 'In the meantime, I would say that the required to participate; and 174 It was a storm in a teacup, but it was a teacup which was storm-prone.
Cabinet approved the creation of a National Library Service (NLS) on 21 September 1945, and Mason announced its establishment on 8 October. The plan for the new service was basically the one that had been put forward by the NZLA (chart and all), except that it was much less specific on the question of the future direction of the CLS: 'The present 175 In writing to the public service commissioner to inform him of the Cabinet's decision and its approval of the appointment of a Director, National Library Service, a librarian, National Library Centre, and a Librarian, 176 This was done (though the appointment was subject to appeal), and Dunningham, in writing to congratulate Alley, said, 'I don't think anyone else could have estimated so accurately the distance which the Government could be persuaded to go from year to year; nor do I think anyone else could have gained confidence and respect for the development so quickly.'177
Dunningham was right, of course, but the importance of Collins's contribution in clarifying the proposals should not be overlooked. In 1969 Perry wrote to 178 to clarify Collins's role. 'Until the 1945 Conference of the Association in Wanganui,' Perry wrote,
nothing of moment had revealed itself as far as the proposed composition and character of the library were concerned … Largely as a result of Collins' thinking then and subsequently the National Library Service was brought into being … We thus had under one control a National Library Service – the nucleus at any rate of a comprehensive service – but without a
National Library … As I recall it, the figure most to be remembered in connection with determination of function and scope of the library is Collins … Collins was far more concerned with the character theorganisation would assume. Without in any way trying to detract from the influence of the Brains Trust in the early days [1934–35], or of Alley or any other individual, I feel fairly sure that much of the force that resulted in the establishment of the Country Library Service had become spent a few years later. Mason's sympathies were enlisted for a further programme which owed as much to Collins' Library Association committee as it did to carried-forward Prime Ministerial sympathy.179
But Alley it was who carried the government with him.
On Monday 18 February 1946, 30 students selected for the first graduate course of the
'This is an important day,' Alley told the students with characteristic lack of hyperbole, 'I am glad to see you.' Mary Parsons, in a quick survey of library history, referred to an earlier phase when libraries were first established, with bookish and scholarly people, possessing the special kind of photographic memory that enabled them to find information without any special order in the arrangement of the books, as librarians. This was followed by a period in which methods of arranging the books were devised which were necessary for the control of growing collections, but which tended to become ends in themselves rather than means to an end. The new school represented a third phase, an era of service, in which a clear distinction was made between professional library work and the routines which could be carried on in libraries by clerical assistants. In the curriculum of the new school the aim would be 'to take the best from each phase of library development — good scholarship from the first, good and useful methods from the second and from the third the idea of active community service through books'.1
Such occasions lend themselves to inadequate reporting and to underestimation of the participants, but Parsons was a hard-headed administrator with a scholarly background, and her brief remarks emphasised the
Accommodation for the school had been allocated in another wooden building in Sydney Street East, next to the building already occupied by the National Library Service. Since it was not ready by 18 February, the Wellington Public Library's lecture theatre complex was rented for the first three weeks — cramped quarters, but not so cramped as to dampen enthusiasm. Staffing, which had been set at three senior and two junior lecturers, was not complete by opening day, but Alley, as well as Parsons, undertook a considerable teaching load, particularly in dealing with library administration and the social setting of public library service. their library school, their achievement.
The selection of students had been made by the director of the NLS and the director of the Library School on the basis of written applications followed by interviews in which they were joined, in each centre, by a representative of the NZLA, and the final list was approved by the minister of education. Part of the written application was a list of books read recently by the candidate, from which the interviewers could bring up sometimes disconcerting questions. Parsons, who interviewed separately from the others, made shrewd assessments based on her long and varied experience, though she had a strange habit of noting, on the interview sheets, which candidates had blue eyes.2 Some applicants found Alley's pregnant pauses unnerving, as
One who never got over this initial experience of Alley's silence was a sensitive man, German and Jewish in origin, who had arrived in New Zealand some time after leaving Germany during the Nazi era and whose experiences would explain a good deal of his sensitivity. Years later Dietrich Borchardt still spluttered about 'that heap of brawn that sat there, smoking and not looking at me' while the interview was conducted by the NZLA representative.3 What had happened was that it had been discovered too late that, because of their living allowances, the students were technically appointed temporarily to the public service (and the allowances were included as NLS salaries in the government's estimates of expenditure). They were therefore governed by the Public Service Act, which decreed that no person should be admitted to the public service 'unless he is a natural-born or naturalized subject of His Majesty'.4 Another section of the act provided for 'any officer or class of officers' to be declared exempt from provisions of the act by the governor general 'with advice and consent',5 and Alley had set in motion the machinery to exempt Library School students, but it did not complete its journey until late in February 1946.6 Borchardt, who was still a German national, was told that he could not be admitted to the school in 1946 and was invited to apply again for entry to the 1947 intake (by which time he had in any case been naturalised), but Alley did not explain to him clearly and sympathetically the reasons for the rejection and what was being done about them. No doubt he was acting in the best public service tradition of confidentiality and discretion, but one cannot help thinking that a bit of human indiscretion might have been helpful in this case.
One student, a science graduate, withdrew after a short time to accept an opportunity elsewhere, but the 29 who remained settled down to a hard year's work. Among them were one future national librarian, two city librarians, two university librarians, and one library adviser to the governments of other Commonwealth countries, as well as others who helped to advance the practice of librarianship in other roles; but that was all in the future. At this stage they sat at the feet of those who had made it all possible: Alley, Barr, Norrie, Perry, Scholefield, Collins, Harris, Dunningham – all those who have figured in this story so far. They were not overly conscious of being the first of the waves of the future, but they became very conscious of being 'the class of '46', sometimes causing a little irritation among members of the classes of '47 and later.
The other major addition to the complex which made up the National Library Service was the new National Library Centre, which came into
In his blueprint which led to the creation of the NLS, Alley had set out the planned responsibilities of the National Library Centre as follows:
- Establishing satisfactory liaison between all library units.
- Organisation of programme of work and coverage projects of the book resources committee.
- Central Bureau for Library Book Imports and union catalogue.
- Union list of serials.
- Centralised reference clearing-house, employing subject specialists.
- Centralised book ordering available to all government libraries and departments.
- Centralised cataloguing available as above.
- Active participation in the staff training programme.
7
This list represented, in the main, a continuation and intensification of tasks that had already been begun, but instead of being add-ons to the CLS, added to the CLS 'because it was there', they would now form the nucleus of a group of functions which many would have regarded as being at the heart of a future national library. There are obvious links between the list and the range of interests of the book resources committee of the NZLA, which was an important link with the wider library community and which Alley continued to chair.
Where was Bagnall to start? One can imagine the first few days, when the job would not have seemed to have a coherent form. Alley was not one to inhibit his top staff members by being too prescriptive, but he would have realised that in working his way into his new job – and, in fact, beginning to create it – it would be good for Bagnall to get his teeth into a particular assignment, and for this purpose he chose the question, which
When Alister McIntosh was mapping out the report which he planned to write on his observations in the 8 Although McIntosh opted for 'Cooperation with Government scientific libraries to develop a Dominion Science Library' as his solution to the problem,9 it is interesting that points 6 and 7 of Alley's blueprint were concerned with centralised purchasing and cataloguing. The question of developing a major science library was quite a different matter, which needed to be raised separately, if at all.
Alley first became involved with a government departmental library in 1941, when he acted for the university and research section of the NZLA in passing on to the Public Service Commission a memorandum on the library of the 10 (i.e. after the war).
So, as far as Alley was concerned the question of government departmental libraries was 'unfinished business', but he was not alone in being concerned about them. In 1944 the planning committee dealing with university and research libraries, which was convened by 11
As soon as Bagnall had settled in Alley wrote to the Public Service Commission, referring to the 1941 correspondence and recommending that 12 After the commission had approved the recommendation, Bagnall, in a vigorous way which came to be recognised as his way of doing things, surveyed over 50 libraries, wrote a report, attended meetings, and drew up a set of recommendations which was agreed to by the Public Service Commission and Treasury in June 1947.13 The 14 decisions provided for all purchases for departmental libraries to be made by the NLS, which would supply catalogue cards as part of a range of services which would also include a reference service. Questions arising from inter-departmental co-operation were to be the responsibility of the Librarian of the National Library Centre.
These decisions were not reached without controversy. Indeed, hard words were said at a meeting at the Department of Industries and Commerce, when Alley berated the librarian for a piece of 'grossly irresponsible librarianship' in inquiring overseas for material on a subject on which the NLS, as it happened, had quite good resources. On the evidence of the written record the librarian's action seems to have been rather silly but understandable. At this meeting Alley also said that Bagnall's report had been made 'at the instigation of the Public Service Commission', which was not strictly true.14 As at other times during his career, Alley responded truculently to opposition when a more laid-back attitude would have given less of an impression of changes being bulldozed through, and some departmental librarians, notably E.H. (Ted) Leatham of the DSIR, never accepted that the decisions were reasonable. But Alley was right to raise a matter which needed to be dealt with, and, on the whole, the system which was worked out at this time, and which was administered in a helpful spirit by members of the NLS staff, operated smoothly for 40 years or so.
The third new senior position which was approved as part of the establishment of the National Library Service was that of Librarian, 15
The special position of the CLS within the working organisation of the NLS was clearly the result of a deliberate decision, and it is reflected in the fact that the annual reports of the NLS can best be read as reports of the CLS with appendices devoted to other activities, such as the Library School and the National Library Centre. In the case of the
Other special needs which had been identified by the NZLA for attention by the NLS and the library system as a whole were services to patients in hospitals and to prison inmates, and the development of a co-ordinated science and technology service. Alley accepted hospitals and prisons as coming within the scope of the CLS, and science and technology as an area which might involve the NLS as a whole, in association with other libraries.
The NZLA had been involved in discussions over services to patients in hospitals since at least 1932, and the 16
In 1945 the 17 18
Science and technology was a different matter altogether. There was a strong feeling in the library world that a better service in these fields needed to be provided, but there was also a great deal of confusion about what the terms meant; this is indicated by the fact that in some documents the key words are 'science and technology', and in others 'technical and commercial'. The bigger public libraries had quite a good record in service to industry and commerce; the main science libraries were concentrated in the university colleges and in various government departments. The confusion was never resolved. At one meeting of an NZLA committee on technical and commercial library service Alley 'asked how far technical and industrial information service was a library problem … if members admitted that the service would take organization and require a library behind it, then they were thrown back on the fundamental axiom that covers all New Zealand library thinking, that no one library was sufficient. If bibliographical services were needed there was an obvious need for a more effective use of them and a more clear cut policy about administering them … Staffing was the key thing of it'.19
Nevertheless, the NZLA put forward a recommendation that one headquarters technical librarian and four regional technical librarians be appointed by the NLS, the one at headquarters to be a person with several years' experience in research. Following agreement by the minister of education and the Public Service Commission, the posts were advertised in February 1946. Appointments were made to two positions, including the headquarters one, but both appointees withdrew and no further appointments were made, although the positions were re-advertised in November 1946.20 It is very likely that failure to clarify the proposal led to a lack of enthusiasm for it both on the part of potential candidates and in Alley's own mind.
In November 1946 Alley appealed against his salary grading. Being in charge of an organisation which had started from very small beginnings and had taken on an ever-increasing range of responsibilities, he was very conscious of his position in the public service hierarchy, though he seldom allowed his colleagues to suspect this. In 1941, after his appointment had been made permanent, his maximum salary was £540, which was 54 per cent of the salary of an assistant director of education. In 1942 it rose to
Alley was perhaps a little premature in his self-assessment. The Public Service Board of Appeal was unmoved.21
At about this time the question of Rewi's sheep came to life again. In 1945 the story of the shipment which had had to be diverted at the start of the Pacific war was written up for the New Zealand Listener.22 Shortly afterwards, C.E. Robertson of Wright Stephenson and Co. wrote to Geoff saying, 'Mr. J.T. Martin, the Managing Director of our firm, was very interested and the matter was brought before our Board yesterday when it was decided at the suggestion of Mr. Martin and myself to support the proposal to present a shipment of New Zealand sheep to China. A grant of £250 was made by the Board towards the project.' Robertson said that the Bushey Park estate was prepared to donate a stud Corriedale ram valued at 100 guineas, and that he intended to approach other breeders as well.23
The war in the Pacific had not finished at this time, of course, but the collection of sheep for Rewi was begun, and when a larger consignment of animals, donated by the New Zealand government to the Chinese government after the war, was despatched in February 1947 the stud sheep especially intended for Rewi's Sandan school travelled with them.24 On 27 March 1947, when Rewi was writing to his mother saying that three days earlier he had received mail with pictures of Pip loading sheep in Lyttelton, a truck arrived with the sheep aboard, 'and soon we were unloading 24 sheep into the farm house'.25
In 1946, also, the Alleys moved to their permanent home, as the older generation had in 1920 when Frederick bought Westcote. Geoff had found a property at 56 Ebdentown Road, Upper Hutt, which offered opportunities for the kind of life he wanted to live, and bought it for some £1300. It was a two-acre block, which offered Geoff a new challenge, and even the long train journeys to and from work (about an hour each way) 26
Alley had found his home, which became so important to him that it deserves a chapter to itself, but the demands of the outside world still had to be dealt with. It was widely rumoured among members of the NLS staff that the minister had rung early one morning before Alley, who had not caught the first train, had arrived at work, and that the importance of punctuality had been made very clear to him. Quite apart from ministerial martinets, there were many other things to claim his attention, including hands-on control of the
The last of these was, despite its 'honorary' status, particularly onerous. At this time the NZLA was a major powerhouse for the generation of plans for library development, as well as an active participant in such matters as the administration of the certificate course of training and pilot bibliographical projects. Alley was the main link between the NZLA and the government and had to ensure that proposals which would depend on government support were acceptable both to the membership of the association (including his own organisation) and to the minister of education and his colleagues. Dealing with, on the one hand, an association which, though small, had very capable members fired with reforming zeal, and on the other with a government which had a clear set of policies and principles, called for qualities of diplomacy and integrity which Alley was increasingly perceived as possessing. It was demanding work.
The NZLA was still in a reforming mood, and in particular was still gripped by the idea of the regional development of, especially, public library services, which some of its members thought had been sidelined by the establishment of the de novo and those who saw no hope of making progress except by working
In August 1946 the council of the NZLA established a regional planning committee, with Dunningham as convener. Other members included three local authority councillors, a public librarian who had not been prominent in relevant discussions, ex officio) Alley.27 Dunningham set to work enthusiastically (and on his own), and on 21 February 1947 sent Alley a very long document which he called 'a draft report of the Regional Planning Committee', which he had discussed informally with a couple of people in Dunedin but not with any members of his committee. It seems that he wanted Alley to help him polish it, but Alley took the view that, as honorary secretary, he should make his own comments at a full meeting of the committee. Dunningham wanted a second version of his draft, which was completed in April, circulated to the council of the NZLA, still before it had been approved by members of the committee, but Alley refused to agree to this, and in this he was supported by Perry, who said: 'I am in full agreement with the action of the Hon. Secretary in consulting the Standing Executive Committee and the Council of the Association with regard to the propriety of a general circulation of a draft report which had not been approved by members of the Committee.'28 The draft never got beyond being a draft, but its contents became well known and it gave rise to a fairly sharp dispute which engrossed members of the NZLA for years to come, and which led to what came to be known as 'the Alley/Dunningham rift'.
There were many problems with Dunningham's draft. Quite reasonably (as a member of the committee but not as its convener) he had written it to support his own extreme view that the central government should have nothing to do with public library service, which he saw as a purely local concern (except, of course, that the central government should pay cash grants to district library councils). More than that, he approached the whole question of central government involvement in all matters remotely connected with libraries with a startling degree of paranoia, so that points which needed to be discussed soberly were obscured by inflammatory statements, errors of fact, and a total air of hostility which Dunningham probably did not intend – he just got carried away. It is extraordinarily difficult to find passages in it with a clear enough focus to be quotable, but an example which is typical of the whole document is the following section on ministerial control:
The basic weakness from which most criticism arises is the increasing impotence of the
New Zealand Library Association in attempting to control any of the co-operative projects which it has launched and whichthe National Library Service has now taken over. Library training is being taken over by the Library School but while the Training Committee of the Library Association is consulted and represented on the selection committee for admission of trainees the Association has virtually handed to the Minister of Education the right to decide what the course will be and who will be qualified to conduct it. It would be much better if some properly constituted and responsible body such as a university council could later be given the function of administering the school. Similarly with the book service and other assistance which libraries (almost all libraries) are now receiving from the National Library Service – it can be received but cannot be criticised except through the tolerance and forbearance of the Director. Most problems would be solved if the Council of the Association or the local body members could in fact be the governing body of the National Library .
In an historical introduction to the draft Dunningham referred to the Carnegie Library Group's recommendation that a demonstration of a library district should be conducted, and to Alley's Taranaki survey. 'In the meantime,' he wrote, 'the Otago Branch of the Library Association … had suggested a number of projects to the Association and a further report submitted by Mr. Dunningham recommended that the Government should be asked for funds to be administered through the Association to provide a service to country libraries. As a result of the Otago representations the Government was asked to assist and did so by establishing the
In another section, picking up the intention of the NLS to employ advisory staff to be sent to libraries on secondment to help with special problems, Dunningham said: 'A further threat to the future of the
Elsewhere, under the heading 'Government departments', he said that 'The existence of the National Library Service means that the enforcement of all departmental regulations can be either influenced or controlled by recommendations of the Director of the National Library Service. Potentially the National Library Service can control local libraries whenever they are involved in seeking government departmental approvals.' Taking as an example appointments made by education boards with funds drawn from the
There was no way that a rational discussion could proceed on the basis of a document which served mainly to polarise opinions on anything that had the remotest connection with the national library system. There was a session on regional and metropolitan planning at the conference of the NZLA which was held in May 1947, at which Dunningham gave a more urbane and measured presentation of his views on regional library service,29 and the council of the NZLA then appointed a committee, convened by Perry, which reported that 'The question … appears to be whether it is desirable to continue with the present gradual policy, whether authorities should be required to maintain services and to erect joint regional headquarters for the purpose of administering State aid, or whether the present gradual policy should be proceeded with, supplemented by agreement among local authorities where this is found possible.' It favoured the adoption by the association of the last of these options, which might be described as 'the slightly accelerated gradual approach'.30
On the face of it, then, troubled waters had been satisfactorily oiled, but in fact there was a lot of tension at the 1947 conference and the opposing points of view were irreconcilable. Dunningham said, many years later, that when the CLS was established 'We were proceeding along an almost irreversibly wrong path',31 while Alley, also looking back years later, said that 'Many things seem now to have made [a national lending system] the only logical and possible decision. There was a climate of "centralism", a background of Government assistance (of a sort) to libraries, a lack of enthusiasm among territorial local authorities for changes in their structure 32 But Alley, in 1947, was not purely a centralist. His reservations about a regional solution to the public library problem were based on a conviction that it was not possible. True, the Local Government Committee of 1945 had suggested that library work on a regional basis, with some form of national co-ordination, was 'work on which we think local bodies could well be asked to co-operate and to act in their own districts',33 but that was hardly a stirring call to arms. No harm asking, but Alley's brief was to get something done. He did tell the Library School class of '46 that one job the 34 but that was long before any kind of local body reorganisation became possible, and it was also before the CLS developed a mystique of its own which became another barrier to change.35
The 'rift' between Alley and Dunningham was very real in one sense, and it certainly coloured discussions on the organisation of the public library system for a long time. The way it was told around the library camp fires, in one corner would be the Dunedin team, in blue and gold, defying Wellington and all its works with some support from other provincials, including those Aucklanders who were vaguely aware that there was a world somewhere south of the Bombay hills; in the other the Wellington contingent, conscious of their divine right to rule and their imperial destiny. There was some element of this kind of thing, but 36 and it is doubtful whether a majority of the profession continued for long to allow the matter to worry them. But in the two main centres of dispute it did rumble on, and
When I started with the CLS in 1960 this controversy was deeply established. Relationships between
National Library and DP were adversely affected long after GT retired as National Librarian. Plenty of older librarians attempted to explain to me why the Alley/Dunningham rift occurred, also why it spread to DP/WN with followers on both sides. The controversy invaded many NZLA conferences. I could never really understand it and became increasingly frustrated by it. It was fanned by people on both sides for years. For an example seeNZ LibrariesAugust 1963 p.201. I remember the day whenJim Traue as editor had handedAda Fache 's letter to GT inviting comment. GT was sitting there at his desk considering what comment to make. He was furious. (He never liked being put in the wrong anyway). But I think GT was also guilty of fanning the controversy. I also found that some older CLS staff accepted the controversy as a continuing fact without doing much to dissipate it.37
Alley was clearly very upset by this episode and its continuing effects, but it is significant that, although he tended to rubbish people who opposed or contradicted him, he never lost his respect for Dunningham or his friendship for him. Dunningham, also, never said an unkind word about Alley personally.38 In proposing a vote of thanks to Dunningham for his 1947 conference paper, Alley said: '39 That was in 1947. In 1983 he wrote: 'In the years up to 1945, 40 Alley always remembered, in the midst of strife, that the submission which led
In Alley's taped reminiscences from which that comment is taken, one of the longest sections, and one of the most affectionate, is on Dunningham, of whom he said: 'Few people, I think, would make such a bold statement that they have any real understanding of 41 It is significant that Pat, Alley's younger son, who would have been quite young at the time, remembers Dunningham's visits to Ebdentown Road, which was fairly sparing in its hospitality, for their light entertainment value.42 Relations were not always strained.
Early in 1947, when the regional library controversy was brewing up, 43 the NZLA arranged, with the help of government finance, for
'As you have been told,' McColvin said to the students of the Library School, 'I am the Librarian of the Public Libraries of the City of Westminster in London. All my life I have spent in public libraries, and not only do I know more about them, but I must admit I have always been more interested in the development of public library services than in any other aspect of librarianship, because I think I have realised right from the beginning that the public library is one of the most valuable institutions of the modern world.' He then gave a comprehensive account of the background and current state of the British public library system, highlighting points which he knew were matters of concern in New Zealand, and saying, 'Libraries are very old institutions. They are as old as civilisation – or to put it the other way, civilisation is as old as libraries. Until there were readers and books civilisation was not possible.'44
In his public broadcast45 McColvin repeated that 'No one can deny that our civilisation is based on the written and printed record. Without books and related materials, science, scholarship, medicine, technology – to mention those matters alone – could have achieved but little.' Speaking at a civic reception in Wellington, in the presence of the mayor and the minister of education, he said that in New Zealand 'I find a library service that is remarkably well developed and which has made progress in recent years just as the British library services have done.' After congratulating the 46
McColvin's visit, brief though it was, was a morale booster at a difficult but exciting time for New Zealand libraries, and in him Alley had come across the kind of foreign librarian for whom he always felt an affinity: impressive without being flamboyant or élitist, in control of himself and his work, down to earth, and aware of the importance of public libraries.
The first graduate course of the Library School concluded on 29 47 Alley contributed lectures to the book course and was a major contributor to the course in library administration, for which he drew on his wide knowledge of the New Zealand library system and of New Zealand society. 'The aim of the school,' Parsons wrote, 'has been to have the students know books and understand the best administrative policies and technical procedures so far as the profession has developed them. Above all the aim is to have the students go out from the School as intelligent workers who will do nothing without knowing why they do it and will be capable, according to the needs of the positions they take, of doing good team work or good independent work.'
When John Harris was asked to lecture he asked Ngarita Gordon, a member of his staff who was spending 1946 as librarian and bibliographer at the school, a number of questions to help him prepare for the task. In her reply she stressed the time constraints and the pressures that the students had to contend with, but she also described the great care that was taken in planning each week's timetable. 'There is … a good deal of "straight" lecturing,' she said, 'But though there is little in the nature of group or "round table" discussion the students, thanks be, are far from inarticulate! … Some students, of course, are more vocal than others, but most of them make some material contribution in this way, and are encouraged to do so both in and out of class. You'll find them an interesting and interested group.' In reply to the question, 'Is it true that Mary Parsons still sits on the platform?', Gordon replied, 'There is no platform. But she sits. With the class. Usually at the back. But for visiting lecturers, in the front row! I do not know anyone capable of persuading her to any other course of action.'48
The students of the class of '46 became a very cohesive group. They Colophon, edited by W.J. (Jock) McEldowney and New Zealand Libraries said had 'an unexpected if refreshing absence of professional subject matter'.49 Some members made a trip to Feilding to observe the work of the community centre which had been established there by Crawford and 50 and an article, which was published in the American periodical Library Quarterly,51 in which O'Reilly offered a provocative comment on the evangelistic librarian ('Let the librarian stay a librarian,' he concluded, 'and give people a chance to think'). And on one occasion a keg was set up in a study room for a celebration to which Parsons was invited. Her comment was, 'My, you have some delightful stoodent customs which we don't have back home.' Alley pointed out to the students' association that the study room was in a government building and that such events were out of order.
The pattern that was established in 1946 remained throughout the life of the school, though each class had its own distinct personality. The tone was usually set by a few strong characters, and the result was that, from the point of view of the staff, some classes were harder to handle than others, though this did not mean that they were worse. The class of '47, for instance, perceived itself to be, and probably was, less accepting of established views than those who had gone before; and it must be noted that one or two of its members, who challenged some of Alley's cherished principles, fell into disfavour, with disproportionately adverse effects on their later careers.52 Alley's files show that he was usually meticulously objective in his assessment of his juniors – for instance, when they were candidates for positions – but there was a limit to his tolerance of lèsemajesté.
When Mary Fleming returned from the 53
Alley, who was concerned that when Mary Parsons left it would be very difficult to find a suitable replacement from the small profession which existed in New Zealand at that time, asked
I've been at Detroit today and talked with
Miss Bateson here. I would find it a little difficult to say what I think were it not that it was my obvious duty to be helpful to you. I likedMiss Bateson and there can be no doubt whatever about her ability and intelligence. She holds a responsible position at Detroit and is thought well of by her present chief – but I don't think she'd be a good choice for you. She's a woman well on in her fifties, I should imagine, and, though she's had very varied experience – in Nova Scotia and Jamaica, etc. – I imagine she's 'found' various 'difficulties' in the course of her career and unless I'm mistaken has her share of 'complexes'. She wants to get out of America (for which I do not blame her) and I'm very very sorry I can't recommend her wholeheartedly but I don't think she'd fit; she might indeed create more problems than she helped to solve and I'm sure you don't want that. I was very careful to be extremely non-committal when talking with her – and I think it quite probable that she may write to you expressing her willingness to go to N.Z. although it means halving her salary – but – well, you must act as you think best. My advice, for what it is worth, is don't.54
Despite McColvin's warning, Alley decided to offer Bateson the position of senior lecturer in the book course at the Library School, which she took up in September 1947. By this time the question of Mary Parsons's tenure of the directorship of the Library School had come up unexpectedly early, since the US State Department had decided, in a fit of post-war retrenchment, to close American libraries in the British Commonwealth, and the library in Wellington put up its shutters on 31 July 1947.55 Its stock and some of its functions were taken over by the National Library Service, but the agreement between the two governments over Parsons's directorship of the school lapsed. The New Zealand government continued paying her salary until the end of the year, but a decision now had to be made on a permanent appointment.
Parsons's demonstration of a high-quality reference service in the three years of the existence of her library in Woodward Street had been not only inspirational but also politically influential. Alley recalled an incident in 56 In her approach to library administration her thinking appealed to Alley, and it also had a very strong effect on the early students of the Library School. 'Administration to Mary Parsons,' said Alley, 'was leadership of a group in a common effort, and she tended also to stress the non-charismatic aspect of leadership'57 (though it must be added that the non-charismatic glove concealed a hand of steel). But she was already more than 60 years old, so that even a permanent appointment would be very temporary, and there were those who did not view her as favourably as Alley did. John Harris, whose training was British and bibliographical, not American and public service, wrote to Alley in October 1947: 'I hear that Bateson has turned up and is a good downright sort of person. Sounds the right kind. Archie [Dunningham] is very pro-Mary P. God knows why. But he's exceedingly peculiar these days.'58
One person whom Alley approached over the directorship was 59
So Mary Parsons left New Zealand in February 1948 and 60 but, she confessed to Collins, 'I was very interested in the Library but even more interested in the School – as I can say now off the record because I shall be out of the diplomatic corps at the end of this month.'61
Six of the students of the 1946 class, working as a committee and with advice from staff, drew up a code for listing New Zealand publications between the period covered by Bibliography of the Literature relating to New Zealand (1909) and the beginning of the list of copyright publications issued by the 62 This exercise was one of many productive ways in which the school was
63
The first specific job Bagnall tackled was the co-ordination of government departmental libraries. At the same time he became responsible for the whole range of interests of the NZLA's book resources committee, including the encouragement and, where necessary, the execution of bibliographical projects, maintenance of the union catalogue, the Central Bureau for Library Book Imports, the operation of a clearing-house for inter-library loans, and the stimulation of discussion of all matters relating to the nation's book resources.64 The blueprint for the National Library Centre had been drawn up by Alley in his roles as director of the NLS, honorary secretary of the NZLA and convener of the book resources committee, and he continued to be its forceful and innovative promoter, but in choosing Bagnall he had looked for someone who would assume much of the responsibility for fully developing the arm of the National Library Service which had grown as an offshoot of the
In March 1946 the National Library Centre took over the compilation of the Index to New Zealand Periodicals, which had languished since 1943 when the Otago branch of the NZLA had had to suspend work on it.65 A cumulation covering the intervening period was prepared, and an annual series was begun from 1947. The Union List of Serials in New Zealand Libraries, which had been one of 66 Later in the same year Bagnall put forward a proposal for the preparation and sale of catalogue cards for New Zealand publications, which was approved by the book resources committee in August 1946, and the first cards were issued in January 1948.
The system which had been established, before the National Library Centre came into being, for handling inter-library loan requests for material whose location was not known to the requesting libraries was this:
- Interloan cards were sent to the National Library Centre.
- Material held by the NLS would be supplied.
- Remaining cards would be checked against the union catalogue, and those for items found in it would be sent on.
- Cards still remaining would be checked in the catalogues of other major Wellington libraries by NLS staff, and cards for located items would be passed to those libraries.
- Remaining items (except a few which were considered not to be within scope) would then be listed in the weekly
Book Resourcescircular which was sent to major libraries; they would report holdings which would be recorded in the union catalogue, and the cards would be sent on.- Items not located would then be considered for purchase by the NLS and, if ordered, lent on arrival.
This system was designed to cope with a situation in which central records were rudimentary; and, of course, it pre-dated by several decades the possibility of on-line access to computer databases. Alley was good at devising simple systems which worked more or less automatically, requiring high-level attention only when policy was being changed or there was an emergency.
In reporting on interloan traffic handled by the National Library Centre in the March 1947 year, Bagnall said that 5684 request cards had been received. Of the items requested, 2794 were supplied from NLS stock and 794 from other Wellington libraries; 358 were located in the union catalogue, and 73 in the interim checklist of serials which Harris had recently produced. Of the remainder (plus some requests placed by the CLS on behalf of smaller public libraries which did not qualify to belong to the interloan scheme), 1824 were listed in the Book Resources circular, which flushed out 619 holdings.67 The small number of items located in the union catalogue emphasised the need for a major effort to be made to complete it when the easing of wartime and post-war constraints on manufacturing and shipping made it possible for the equipment which had been offered by the Carnegie Corporation to be supplied and the original plan to proceed.
A responsibility of the National Library Centre which placed it in the middle of controversy was the Central Bureau for Library Book Imports, in relation to which the NLS acted as an agent for the Customs Department in implementing most-favoured status for libraries in an era of severe import restrictions. When Dunningham was promoting the cause of regional library development in 1947 he used the example of the bureau to illustrate the dangers of central government control. Referring to a possibly garbled report that local offices of the Customs Department had been instructed by 68
In his comments on Dunningham's draft Alley said: 'In view of the record of the past seven years, with its painstaking attention to hundreds of points of detail by the Book Resources Committee [of which Dunningham had been a member], the good relations which have been so carefully built up and maintained between local libraries, National Library Service and Customs Department are not, I hope, to be endangered by this piece of irresponsibility.'69 Further lengthy amplifications of his points were shot off by Dunningham before the meeting of the book resources committee which was held in May 1947, when it was reported that 'Mr Alley stated that as long as the positions of Convener of the Book Resources Committee and Director National Library Service were held by him, the Committee would be notified if policy decisions were made by the Government which differed from Association policy.'70 This statement seems to have satisfied the committee, whose members71 could not be described as ciphers, but it is perhaps a pity that Dunningham's stridency when he was sitting in front of his battered old typewriter rather than talking to people face to face tended to prevent sober consideration of what might have been legitimate concerns.
Back in the hallowed if somewhat decrepit halls of the wooden buildings in Sydney Street East, the three main headquarters sections of the NLS – orders, cataloguing and reference – were placed under the control of the Librarian, National Library Centre, to whom their heads became responsible. Increasingly, their work had become concerned with libraries outside the network of the
By the end of the decade the regular operations of the CLS had settled into a tried and true pattern. In the March 1950 year 88 boroughs and town districts received the full range of CLS services (the 'A' service), compared with 65 in 1946; there were 691 rural groups (the 'B' service), up from 504; groups receiving hampers (the 'C' service) had dropped from 69 to 43; and there were 1047 postal ('D' service) borrowers (674 in 1946). An additional service was one to 39 Works Department, Forest Service, and State Hydro camps, which had begun on 1 April 1949, and, as well as the regular bulk loans of books, 25,822 books were supplied in answer to requests from CLS libraries and 396 subject loan collections (20,319 books) were sent to libraries which asked for them. A nice point in the annual report from which these figures are taken72 is that among the four local authorities which are noted as having adopted free library service and qualified to receive CLS aid during the year is Opunake, whose town board had not responded to Alley's blandishments when he did his Taranaki survey in 1936.
These figures are fine, as far as they go, and one could probably derive some kind of bottom line from them to show that all was well in the CLS organisation. But the bottom line, in accounting terms, never is the real bottom line, and this is why Alley kept the control of the CLS in his own hands. To him the object of librarianship was to make it possible for anyone, anywhere, to see and decide for themselves whether to read a very wide range of intellectually stimulating and informative books. Numbers did not enter into the equation, except in so far as increases in quantity were not diluted by decreases in quality. It is necessary, of course, to remember that books at various levels of sophistication can stir a response in different individuals, so that this principle is not confined to academic material, but the principle of the 'worthwhile book' was one of Alley's driving forces. In effect, Alley had faith in the innate ability of New Zealanders to respond to opportunities to use books no matter where they lived or how isolated they were, and he knew that the health of the whole community depended on the opportunities for intellectual stimulus which were afforded to its individual members. There are obvious parallels with
In the case of municipal corporations, the direct services of the CLS were extended gradually to all but the larger cities. Basic to the partnership between government and borough was the abolition of the subscription system of membership, which the Munn–Barr report had identified as a major impediment to effective library service and which the NZLA and the CLS, with
In one respect some overseas librarians have felt that the New Zealand library profession compromised the purity of library principles. This was in its support of the free-and-rental system, under which heavy demand for popular, lightweight books was controlled by placing them in a separate category for which a rental fee was charged. The justification for the policy was that such books, which could also be got on similar terms from commercial enterprises, would, if they were supplied in sufficient numbers to meet demand, absorb a large part of the funds which should be used to build up an exciting, vibrant collection with a much wider scope. But for the benefits of the system to be realised there needed to be good librarians, with knowledge of both books and people, supported by sympathetic local authorities. It was important that local authorities should not simply rely on receiving books from the CLS, but that a well-selected local collection should be reinforced by a flow of CLS books. The rationale for this creative approach to the supply of books in smaller public libraries which would have struggled on their own was set out in 1946 in a paper by 73 which was influential at the time, despite some naïvetés which reflected current hopes and aspirations. Taylor, who had been an innovative librarian in Tauranga since 1943, was
Alley was very effective in discussing these matters with councillors and officials. He also watched for librarians who understood what was needed, and encouraged them to take jobs where they could develop a good service. In his administration of the CLS he established policies and practices which were tailored to the needs of local libraries. Staff of the CLS, whether in the offices or in the field, were chosen for their ability to establish rapport with users. And 'organising librarian' positions were established in the CLS, to which he appointed people, like
Oamaru offers an example of how Alley and the CLS operated at that time. With a population of about 8000, Oamaru had no public library. As in many other towns, an Athenaeum and Mechanics' Institute had been established in the 1860s, and this was still in existence and trying to provide a library service to its subscribers when the
With the help of the Athenaeum committee, things then moved fairly quickly. In July 1947 74 Legislation was then passed to allow the change to occur, and in January 1948 Alley wrote to the town clerk that he was pleased to hear that the council was now competent to assume control of the library; 700 books and loan collections would be sent before the end of the month, provided the following conditions of service were agreed to:
That the Oamaru Borough Council –
- Assume responsibility for the Library. This need not prevent the co-option to the Library Committee of people who are not councillors.
- Agree to abolish subscriptions for the use of the Library by all residents of the Borough area; and to issue free all non-fiction and fiction of a good literary standard or of some subject value, as well as the books lent by this Service.
- Maintain the Library at a reasonable standard of efficiency. The Council would be expected to make a grant to the Library which will cover costs of administration and the purchase of new books for the free collection each year.
75
The necessary assurances were given and the 76 In Cowey they picked a winner – she ended her career 30 years later as director of the extension division of the
'It must have been a heart-breaking task for the librarian and the Athenaeum Committee members,' Cowey wrote in 1954, 'to try to satisfy the demands of the subscribers for light fiction, travel and biography while at the same time trying to buy books of more permanent value which they knew should be available in a public library, even if the book fund was only £250 a year. Before 1938 there had been no machinery for borrowing books from other libraries, therefore the librarian would not wish to withdraw any books for which the subscribers might ask. Thus the shelves were loaded with many books past their usefulness which were detracting from the general appearance of the stock. In fact this library was an excellent example of McColvin's twin tragedies, Books without readers, readers without books.'77
'My first concern,' said Cowey later
was to try to widen the range of subjects available and to make Oamaru people aware that there were books to interest everyone … Work began immediately on weeding stock. Hundreds of books were discarded …
When room had been made on the shelves we borrowed some of the CLS Indefinite Loan stock which helped quickly to establish collections of books on gardening, child care, cooking, art, music, fishing, philosophy, astronomy, etc. Oamaru was the centre for the North Otago Adult Education tutor employed by Otago University . He set up his headquarters in the library and there were many ways that this co-operation between the library and the Adult Education centre were developed … Loan collections of books were borrowed to support local activities: the Agricultural and Pastoral Shows, the Embroidery Group, the Drama Club, etc…. Some of the enormous art books [in special loan collections from the CLS] were especially spectacular and I would enjoy the thought that borrowers in theCanterbury Public Library would not be able to make their choice from as many lovely new books on a single subject as the people of Oamaru were able to from these loan collections.78
The problem of the New Zealand county system, with its inability to provide rural libraries, remained, of course, but in setting up its network of 'B' libraries in country areas the CLS acted in loco parentis, as it were, until the promise of local body reform, constantly made but never fulfilled, should have become a reality. In the cold light of logic the 'B' library could not be justified except as a temporary expedient, and yet the book van travelling around country districts, field librarian at the wheel, was for many people the symbol of the CLS, even of the NLS, and, in the absence of anything more logical, acquired a mystique of its own.79 It did, after all, exist, and counties able to deliver library service did not.
In 1947, in addition to exercising direct control of the ex officio a member of all the association's committees; this would not have been too onerous in the case of several of them, but he was convener of the library training committee and the New Zealand book resources committee, both of which involved a great deal of detailed work. At a time when important developments were occurring, he was also the main link between the library profession and the government, besides being the official responsible for carrying out government policy in library matters. For an active person of 43, such an accumulation of responsibilities is not altogether unusual, but it carries with it the danger of burn-out. Questions were also being raised about the propriety, or wisdom, of potentially conflicting interests being held in one pair of hands.
Early in 1947 Alley decided to relinquish the honorary secretaryship from the date of the annual meeting of the NZLA on 23 May. In giving 80 However, he must have mentioned the matter to a number of people beforehand, for at the same meeting a letter was received from the Otago branch saying that it had 'asked 81 One can imagine the consternation with which Alley would have contemplated, as the regional library controversy developed, the transfer to such erratic hands of the relationships which he had so carefully built up in Wellington. He had probably arranged for a safe and suitable successor, as he did on a later occasion, but would have been taken by surprise by this Otago initiative. Available records do not show what happened next, but at the annual meeting Alley was re-elected honorary secretary. He had also intended to give up the convenership of the library training committee, but this idea was dropped too. His convenership of the book resources committee was not in question, because of its semi-official status.
The Carnegie Corporation, in November 1947, offered Alley a travel grant to enable him to visit the 82
Since the 1949 election was due at the end of that year, Alley could have made a trip some time in the next 18 months, but after some delay he declined the invitation. 'I have postponed writing to you,' he wrote in 83 He hoped that there might be an opportunity in 1949, but this did not turn out to be so.
There is no reason to doubt Alley's regret at having to make this decision, though another person, with a less highly developed sense of responsibility, might have seized the opportunity. Like many people of independent mind (and particularly those with Irish attitudes towards authority) who matured in the 1920s and 1930s, Alley had a curious respect for all things American, to the extent that, with Alley thoroughness, he was able to recite the names of all the 48 states (and probably the territories as well), their capitals, and their state flowers,84 but in fact he did not really enjoy going to meet strange people in strange places. To get him away would take a major effort.
From his base in Wellington, though, Alley maintained very fruitful relations with New York. Problems over the supply of microfilm equipment for work on the completion of the union catalogue were overcome in 1948, and the equipment, valued at $US5000, was shipped in February 1949; it was consigned to the NZLA, which had decided that it 'be operated and controlled by the National Centre during the completion of the project and thereafter … be used by the Centre to assist most effectively in the work of the Book Resources Committee'.85 Arrangements were also made, during a visit to New Zealand by 86 This post-war phase of activity culminated in a request for an additional grant for general support of the NZLA, which was sent to the corporation in August 1949. A grant of $US10,000 was received, but Shepardson made it clear that it was a final grant of this kind and that the association would be expected to find full local support for its activities in the future.87 He said that the corporation's objectives were changing, and in fact what New Zealand received for the next 20 years or so was a succession of travelling fellowships for librarians who had achieved or seemed likely to achieve some degree of eminence.
In May 1948 Alley got the NZLA council to appoint Bagnall to the book resources committee as its secretary. He had made the grade. His appointment to the position of Librarian, National Library Centre, was in fact one of the most important moves that Alley ever made, and it was the 88
In carrying out his wider responsibilities, Bagnall depended on the heads of the three headquarters sections, both to shield him from too heavy an involvement in the detailed work of the sections and to provide support and help in conducting the National Library Centre's relations with the wider library community and carrying out work which the centre was asked to do. All three of the sections required new heads within the first two years or so of the centre's existence, and Alley chose to appoint to these positions two graduates from the 1946 class of the Library School and one from the class of 1947. John Sage was appointed to the orders section in 1947, H.O. (Bert) Roth to cataloguing in 1948, and
The inter-library loan scheme presents, in microcosm, an instructive example of the way the library profession of the day operated.
The first serious step in co-operation in the use of books and the building up of stocks (because co-operation is of many kinds: use, building up, and discarding) was taken by the four university librarians when, in 1936, we met and worked out a scheme of lending among ourselves. We drew up rules and gradually we got them adopted and approved, after some trepidation, by our governing bodies. They were doubtful whether it would be practicable to lend books, and it took some encouragement to make them realize that though we might each run a
riskof finding that we urgently wanted something that had been lent, we gained thecertaintyof improving our service. From the beginning we tried to avoid what we thought were mistakes in other countries and to make our plan as simple as possible, with no fuss and bother about fees and postage accounts, which still mar interloan in countries which in some respects are ahead of us. The rules we approved were simple in their working and liberal in their effect. There was ample provision for refusal to lend, without explanation, for making specific conditions governing use, and in fact governing everything. But, as a result of having those provisions in the rules, we found we needed to use them very little.89
That was the scheme which led in 1937 to the adoption by the NZLA of a wider one developed by a committee of which Alley was a member, which led in turn to the agreement in 1943 that the 90 Another was that progress towards the completion of central records of libraries' holdings, including the union catalogue, was an increasingly urgent responsibility of the National Library Centre. A third consequence was the effect the centre's role had on the collection policy of the National Library Service.
From the very early days of the 91 In addition, of course, there would have been a large number of requests from CLS libraries and from government departments, as well as enquiries from visitors who might have battled their way into the overcrowded and unsuitable premises.
These figures are not high in relation to the number of loans of all kinds recorded by other libraries, but they are remarkable enough, considering that the headquarters accommodation had not been planned to cope with people coming in from outside. What had been happening was that a very small beginning had been made in creating a national collection. There was at this stage no clear plan, but certain trends were emerging. In the first place, it was desirable for the central collection to acquire general material of a high standard which one could expect to find in any substantial general collection. Secondly, it needed to have certain classes of material which might be wanted by readers who did not have ready access to large libraries and which many libraries were reluctant to lend, a case in point being outof-print New Zealand books, for which there was a steady demand. And there were subjects which were not well covered elsewhere because libraries which might have been expected to provide material in them were tied to prescriptions such as academic curricula and could not afford to branch out too far. It was pointed out once by Keyes D. Metcalf of Harvard University that the
All of this pointed the way to the building up of a national collection which might in due course include specialised collections which other libraries would come to recognise as important in their own right. It was reasonable to assume, also, that it would be provided with accommodation which would enable it to be used as a reference library, alongside its role as clearing-house and national enquiry centre. That was, of course, looking to the future, but the future would not come if nothing had been done in the past. Immediately, though, there was another very important benefit that the existence of the central collection conferred, and this was that it acted as a back-up to the interloan system. The fact that over half the requests received by the clearing-house were satisfied by the National Library Centre's own collection meant that the perceived 'burden' of even a very simple interloan system was reduced, while the pressure for financial barriers which served only to put money into the pockets of managers and
Another factor which called for the creation of a substantial and wideranging library collection in the National Library Service was simply that no organisation can reasonably call itself a library if it is not a library. This is not a question of acquiring the trappings of librarianship for show. There is a very important role for a central organisation to play in a national library system, but to be effective it needs to have a staff that is made up of good librarians who understand the functions and needs of other libraries and are able to work with them co-operatively and imaginatively, with the object of making the best and most economical use of the nation's total library resources; and it is hard to see how it can attract staff of this calibre if its work does not have the background of a sound collection of its own and the stimulus of interaction with users, whether on the spot or at a distance, together with regular contact with librarians in other libraries at a high level in the planning and implementation of national policies. Without this level of activity, the organisation is likely to fall into the hands of administrators who do not know what they are doing and, as a result, become irrelevant. Bagnall was too much of a book man not to be very conscious of these problems, and in this, again, he reinforced Alley's approach, which had always been book-based. Both of them tended, in fact, to be a little too dismissive of technical advances and innovations, but there are always strong arguments for a cautious approach to innovation, especially if its devotees tend to be dismissive of the real reasons for an institution's existence.
By this time it had become accepted by most librarians that bibliographical projects pioneered by members of the NZLA would be taken over by the NLS, which would then seek the advice of the book resources committee in continuing and developing them. But in the case of a union list of serials holdings of New Zealand libraries a different approach had been adopted. This was a particular interest of 92 After some negotiation within the book resources committee, the NZLA asked the 93
The Otago branch of the NZLA was always inclined to regard itself as a principality within a kingdom, so that anything that happened to any of its leaders was treated with utmost seriousness, but in Harris's case there were grounds for celebration and concern. When the branch farewelled him he was honoured by a reading of a 103-line ode which had been written by his deputy,
He goes, our honoured friend, John Harris ,Not to New York, Moscow, or Paris, Not to some library of luster More celebrated and auguster Ever than that which in Dunedin So many come to see and read in; A library his work and vision Raised from an object of derision To one of dignity and worth, No – but to the ends of earth He goes to give his skill and knowledge To an unknown remote new College … 94
95 Alley, in a strangely low-key section of his memoirs, said, 'Now I think it is a curious twist of history, a curious bibliographical twist that Harris's contribution to New Zealand library development lay mainly through his approach to bibliography. It stemmed, I suppose, from his doing the course at the London School which was bibliographically oriented.'96 97 he might have added 'one of its very few professional librarians'. Harris's later career was one that was full of achievement and honour. Among other things he became known as 'the father of West African librarianship',98 and New Zealand librarianship was able, to some extent, to bask in his reflected glory. But, although his departure removed what had been a special orientation towards bibliographical enterprise, when he went the gap was more than adequately filled by Bagnall and the National Library Centre.
At about this time Bagnall started seriously on the work that, in time, came to be especially associated with his name, the compilation of a retrospective New Zealand national bibliography, building on the work of earlier bibliographers like Hocken, Johnstone, and Chapple, and making the record as complete as possible up to a date which was first set at 1950 and later extended to 1960. 'When I first discussed the project with Geoff Alley,' he wrote once, 'his perceptive query was: "Do you want to do this yourself, or do you merely want to see it done?".'99 He did indeed want to do it himself, and described it in 1977 as 'not merely a faithful interest to which I longed to return when elsewhere involved but also an anchor of absorbing preoccupation, even an assurance of sanity'.100 But doing it himself included enrolling helpers from libraries throughout the country, in what Alley called 'the capacity in his administration to see administration as leadership of a group'.101 This was the kind of administration that Alley liked to encourage.
In its early years the Library School was kept afloat by the ability of the National Library Service to absorb a high proportion of its graduates. Seventy-three emerged from the school in its first three years, 1946–48, of whom 44 accepted positions in the NLS, five in other government departments, 14 in public libraries, and 10 in university libraries. Dietrich Borchardt, who had it in for Alley and the NLS, interpreted these figures as meaning that '49 went into the civil service while 24 only engaged in work of the kind held up to the students as the true purpose of their training. In other words, only one-third of the students took up the profession of librarianship, while two-thirds went to work as highly trained civil servants.'102 But it could equally well be argued that there would have been a lot of unemployed librarians for several years until the system was able to provide jobs for them if it had not been for the fact that the National Library Service was expanding at that time and wanting people to work with public libraries, in a
Alley was determined to create a situation in which it was regarded as normal practice to look for graduates with postgraduate library qualifications to appoint to professional positions. He made it clear to those of his existing staff who did not have professional qualifications that, if they wanted to proceed up the ladder, it would be necessary for them to go through the Library School first, and, as we have seen, he made some appointments which consolidated the position of Library School graduates in his staffing structure. In the case of the university libraries, which were the other main group which was ready to welcome the products of the Library School, the problem was that they were so small – it is, in fact, 103 In some, particularly medium-sized, public libraries there were grave doubts about the ability of academic theorists who had not started at the bottom to understand the library public.
Much of the reason why so many of the first Library School graduates went into the National Library Service was therefore simply that suitable jobs were not offered elsewhere, but another factor which should not be overlooked is that, at that time, many of the new recruits considered that the National Library Service was where the action was. They wanted to work there and be a part of it. Later, when many other libraries took their rightful places in the library system, the excitement of working in the NLS was largely forgotten, but it was very real in the late 1940s.
When the Library School was established its annual intake was capped at 30. Thirty candidates were accepted for the first course in 1946 (though one withdrew soon after the course began), but after that year the numbers of suitable candidates began to decline. There were 25 in 1947, 25 in 1948, 21 in 1949 and 15 in 1950. We shall look at the continuing decline in numbers in the next chapter, but we should note at this point how fortunate it was that the school started just at the time when so many young people, who had been otherwise occupied during the war, were looking for new career options. Like Gabriel Read, the library profession had 'shovelled away about two and a half feet of ground, arriving at a beautiful soft slate, and saw the gold shining like the stars in Orion on a dark frosty night'.104 After the easy alluvial deposits had been worked over, winning more gold by mining and sluicing was a slower business, but the initial capital gain remained in the library community. The pay-off for most libraries came later, when they were able to draw on a reservoir of well-trained and, by then, experienced librarians when they needed them.
The problems arising from the initial potential glut of Library School graduates sorted themselves out within a few years. More serious concerns were caused by the fact that those who had embarked on the NZLA's courses from 1942, and especially those who had contemplated going on to the diploma course which the association abandoned in 1945, felt that they were being superseded in the profession's hierarchy by the new graduate professionals. Among them were university graduates who, a few years later, would almost certainly have applied for entry to the Library School, but others, who had entered library work when the apprenticeship path to advancement was taken for granted, also felt sidelined and aggrieved and 105 there was a great deal of confusion about what they were worth.
The NZLA had in fact changed course from a channel which was full of shoals and hazards into one which seemed to lead to a safe haven after the fortuitous arrival of Mary Parsons. As John Harris wrote just before leaving for Nigeria, in discussing the pre-Library School period, 'The main problem was the scarcity of librarians able and free enough to give instruction…. The launching of the General Training Course strained the resources of New Zealand librarianship almost to breaking point. Those few in the profession who were both able and willing to act as tutors, to prepare courses, and to examine were already without exception overworked in their respective jobs…. But the main fault of the General Training Course was nothing to do with the course itself. The trouble was that after several years of operation we seemed to have fewer trained librarians than ever. The course was for those already in library work.'106 Harris's remarks were directed at the first – the certificate – part of the planned course, but it was already clear, when the idea of a graduate library school was first raised, that there was no way the NZLA could launch the diploma course which was to have followed on from the certificate. All the same, those students who had planned to carry on to the diploma felt especially frustrated by the advent of a new, higher-level qualification.
In the early stages of discussions over the proposal for a Library School, one idea that was floated was that the school might take over the work of tutoring for the NZLA course. At a meeting of the library training committee of the NZLA in February 1945, Alley said that 'The School could begin to take over the N.Z.L.A. training course as soon as staff was appointed',107 and in his report which provided the basis for the establishment of the National Library Service he wrote that 'Tutoring of the general training course and the writing of the parts for the diploma should be undertaken by the school.' This report was included in full in his March 1945 annual report,108 which was perhaps a mistake, though this was the time when the NZLA tended to think that it was making government policy on library matters. It was preceded by a note which said that it had been 'approved as a basis of discussion by the Minister of Education and later approved by the New Zealand Library Association', but many people forgot about the words 'as a basis of discussion'. When the minister announced the establishment of the school he did not mention the possibility of its becoming involved in the NZLA's course, and its staffing establishment was not sufficient for it to do so. The anger expressed by some of its disappointed members at the NZLA's conference in May 1948 led to a request to the minister (now 109 but he turned it down in a letter which was no doubt drafted by Alley, saying, 'It is questionable whether the two different types of training could satisfactorily be carried out by the same staff, and at present the School staff could not undertake the administration of the 110
In its first years the Library School had accepted some NZLA certificateholders, including a few who were required to attend for only the second and third terms, but now, armed with the invitation to make further representations to the minister, Alley and Bateson worked out a proposal for dividing the NZLA's certificate course into two parts, the first to be conducted by correspondence as before and the second to be a six-week full-time course in Wellington, held at the Library School. This proposal, which was discussed by the library training committee and the council of the NZLA in May 1949,111 was referred to its branches and sections for comment, with a warning that ministerial authority would be needed before it could be implemented. The seriousness with which the matter was regarded within the association is indicated by this report of a meeting of the Wellington branch:
Although there was relatively little debate upon the merits of these changes, members were grateful to
Miss Bateson and Mr Alley for their ready explanations of various points raised during the evening.Mr MacGregor asked to what standard the GTC is supposed to take a trainee. Mr Alley quoted the approximate words of the syllabus, 'to fit the holder for positions of £250–£300 – at 1940 rates,' adding that the course was invaluable for sole charge positions in smaller libraries also. Miss Stewart asked if the residential course would share lectures with Library School students.
Miss Bateson replied that it would be a separate course. In reply to Mr MacGregor,Miss Fleming said that the standard of Cataloguing and Classification would be part-way between the first and second terms at Columbia, a little lower than at Library School.
Miss Bateson emphasized that the starting date, if the changes were accepted and approved, depended in part on the problem of space. At the earliest it would be quite a time until it could be put into effect, by which time she hoped this problem would be solved. Mr Alley did not dissent. Mr McEldowney asked what provision would be made for those who were taking some time over the correspondence course, and might not have finished when the changes came into effect. Mr Alley answered that 150 to 200 of them could apply for readmission, so there would probablyneed to be a time limit to which this could apply. There would also need to be some arrangement for people who couldn't come to the school. Mr Roth asked how many students were expected, andMiss Fleming replied that the average intake so far had been 25 to 30 a year, and that this average would probably persist. To Mr Roth's suggestion that there might be a considerable strain upon the teaching staff and his query as to whether the residential course might be held in the holidays,Miss Bateson answered that this was not possible – it was done in the U.S.A., but holidays were longer there. When Mr MacGregor asked if local authorities had been sounded for their reactions to the need for releasing people for six weeks,Miss Bateson said that they had already released librarians for three weeks or a month in the past, so it was presumed that they would be agreeable.Was there any provision made for children's courses, enquired
Miss Cowey . Mr Alley suggested that a short training course for people who had completed might be better.Miss Bateson remarked that it was difficult to add more to the new course, which was already packed full. To Mr Roth, who suggested that six weeks seemed a very short period,Miss Bateson replied that, compared with a year of spare-time work, the course would really give a longer period of concentrated work.When Mr McEldowney asked whether the proposals were satisfactory to those who had suggested at the Napier Conference that the GTC should be taken over by the Library School,
Miss Gilmer [one of the angry students] replied that she thought the new arrangement admirable.Mr Roth suggested that Council should make it clear that training was being provided at two separate levels, but Mr Alley thought that clear-cut stratification was wrong. There was no reason why the GTC person should be unacceptable to the Library School.
Dr Eichbaum asked if there would be an examination at the end of the six weeks' course.Miss Bateson replied that there would be a screening at the end of Part I, but that it was unlikely that there would be an examination at the School, except perhaps in cataloguing.Dr Eichbaum asked if six weeks was long enough to get to know the students. Mr Alley pointed out that considerable knowledge would be gained of them during the correspondence course beforehand.112
Alley's objection to 'clear-cut stratification' was indicative of a degree of ambivalence which was at odds with his insistence, at other times, that graduate entry to the library profession should be the norm. When it came to the point he could not bring himself to brand the librarians, often unqualified, of small public libraries, whom he regarded, in his heart of hearts, as the salt of the earth, as 'non-professionals'. It was a sentimental
After ministerial approval for the Library School's involvement with the NZLA's general training course had been received, the first admissions to the revised course were made in March 1950. In January and February 1952, 11 of these students attended part II, the residential section, in Wellington.113
Alley's introduction to librarianship was by way of adult education and, as we have seen, he had been convinced by the work that 114 Through all that he had done since then that insight had remained a powerful driving force and kept him focused on the end users of library service, at all levels. This applied as much to the work of the book resources committee as it did to the promotion of rural libraries. It was in keeping with this view of librarianship that he should have taken his seat, as director of the National Library Service, at the first meeting of the reconstituted National Council of Adult Education on 15 and 16 April 1948, but it had needed some active lobbying by library interests to get him there.
In 1943 the minister of education (Mason) decided to call together a conference on 'problems that lie at the borders of the school system proper' in the following year and to place adult education on its order paper. Alerted by 115 and, on 27 June 1944, after receiving an invitation to attend,116 sent the minister a dossier of material with a request that library matters be considered in relation to two of the questions which the minister had suggested were urgent: (1) how can the government and other interested organisations assist in developing increased facilities for the cultural and leisure-time activities of adolescent youth and young people beyond the school leaving age?; and (2) how can the community develop better facilities for adult education, and what part should the state play in this development?117
The NZLA was too late to get library development on to the agenda as a separate topic, but, while the director of education, 118 Reading between the lines, one could conclude that the minister had received rather different pieces of advice from the director of education and from the director of the CLS, which were reconciled in Beeby's letter.
When the ministerial conference met in October 1944, after a delay which had been caused by travel restrictions resulting from a shortage of coal, it resolved 'That this Conference stress the importance at all stages of education of an adequately stocked and staffed free library service.'119 In a joint submission to the consultative committee on adult education which followed this conference, Alley and the NZLA (represented by 120 pointed out that 'Efficient distribution [of materials for adult education] involves distribution to small as well as to large centres through the country. The only agency of Adult Education already established widely as well as nationally is library service, and the Association recommends that existing library buildings and staffing should be used and developed now as the present basis on which initial distribution at least should be made.'121 It is not surprising that the consultative committee, despite the faint whiff of fanaticism in this submission, commented that 'a library service includes more than the distribution of books; already libraries act as clearing houses for information in all manner of topics';122 or that it recommended the inclusion of the Director of the National Library Service in the reconstituted National Council of Adult Education which was in due course established by the Adult Education Act 1947.123 Alley remained a member of the council until 1963, when it was reconstituted again, but it never became a very important part of his professional life.
This episode illustrates some of the ambiguities which existed between the National Library Service and the Department of Education and between their directors, Alley and Beeby. The Country Library Service, and the National Library Service which succeeded it, were part of the
The relationship between Alley and Beeby was conditioned by their histories and their personalities, especially Alley's. They both entered 124 and he wisely did not seek to impose his own authority on Alley.
Associates of Alley have said that he thought that Beeby had very little idea of what Alley was doing in his library activities, or that it had anything to do with education. There might be something in this. The only reference to Alley in Beeby's autobiography is to his creation, with Fraser, of the 125 and in 126 But, although Alley was generally correct and courteous in his public relations, he was very critical of even the most harmless foibles of others in more private situations; he was quite 'naughty' in his scornful attitude towards too many people, said 127 and such a comment about Beeby would have been par for the course. Beeby would not have been unduly worried about any of Alley's comments that might have reached him, but he did adapt his own actions to suit the situation. In his autobiography Beeby said that, as director, he 128 In less formal situations, according to Pat Alley, Geoff and Beeb got on very well, in a way that reminded him of mutual support given in rucks: 'They climbed different mountains and each reached the top. Beeb had quickness and humour and the common touch, for which Geoff was too shy.'129
130131 But Graham also said, remembering his time as assistant director-general of education, that 'Geoff liked to run his own ship.' Alley was not 'one of the boys' in the senior public service community, but he gained the respect of those members of that community with whom he dealt, as he also gained the respect of government ministers and some outstanding local body politicians who had an interest in libraries, like
As a member of the small group of leaders in the library profession who, in a remarkably short time, had transformed the library scene in New Zealand and laid the foundations for the future, Alley was accepted by most of his colleagues by the end of the 1940s – even by those who disapproved of centralism based on Wellington – as primus inter pares, and in his turn he supported them whenever he could. In his relations with his own staff he welcomed and supported initiatives which enhanced the work of the service and was generous in giving credit for them. He was also protective in his attitude towards those who had any kind of disability or who were suffering misfortune, personal or professional.132 An example of this concern is provided by his intervention on behalf of 133
Alley was also ahead of his time in his recognition of the equal contribution which women and men could make in the workplace – 'pivotal,' John Roberts has said, 'at a time when women were beginning to move into the professions'.134
Among those with whom Alley had difficult relationships were some of the newcomers whom he himself had, ironically, helped to bring into the profession through the establishment of a graduate library school. On the whole Alley accepted an inquiring, even a questioning, attitude, but he reacted strongly against some whom he clearly regarded as 'uppity' and could be unfair to them in a way which others did not experience. His treatment of 135
Apart from its policy-making, lobbying, training, library co-operative and conferencing activities, the NZLA in the second half of the 1940s had a small but significant record of publishing. Dorothy White's About Books for Children was published jointly with the NZCER in 1946, and in the same year the NZLA published Guide to New Zealand Reference Material and other sources of information, which went to a second edition in 1950. Regular publication of the Index to New Zealand Periodicals began during this period, and New Zealand Libraries was well established as a lively monthly bulletin. Library Administration was published in 1947 in London by Grafton & Co, but was based on the notes which Carnell had written for the NZLA's general training course. The Esther Glen Award, which the association had established in 1944 to recognise distinguished contributions to New Zealand literature for children, was awarded in 1945, 1947 and 1950,136 and the NZLA, in association with the Associated Booksellers of New Zealand, introduced Children's Book Week in 1947 as a means of drawing attention to good children's books. Presiding over all these activities, Alley kept his focus on the end user, the reader of books, and, while he was about it, became
When New Zealand sent an All Black team to South Africa in 1949, for the first time since 1928 and for the first encounter between 137 He reckoned that the 138 It is not clear whether he disapproved, at this stage, of the sending of a racially-selected team, in the way that 139 Possibly not – his own stand was made a decade later; in 1949 his public contribution was a series of rather neutral radio talks on the 1928 tour.
The form of political parties was more to the point than the form of the 140 but in his objective way he would have picked that the 141 In any case, Labour was on its way out: in the election which followed on 30 November 1949 a National government was voted into office with a comfortable majority, and those enterprises which had enjoyed Labour's favours had reason to wonder how they would fare under the new régime.
Labour, by 1949, was 'a complacent party', as 1
The electorate was ready for a change. It was tired of controls which resulted from wartime and post-war shortages and of industrial strife which seemed to be a poor return for years of upheaval and privation, and it sensed that the Labour government, which had done so much to transform New Zealand life, had nothing more to offer. But the question which now confronted those who had been involved in Labour's innovations was how far the new government would want to turn the clock back. At the top political level senior public servants now had to serve a very different group of people. In historian 2
Many of the structural problems which had developed in the country's administration needed the attention of a fresh and vigorous government, but it was also known that there was a hit list of frivolities, from the 'play way' in education to vocational guidance to the national orchestra, which many members of the 3
For someone in Alley's position the time of changeover was not one when it was safe to be away. In February 1950 he wrote to 4
The new minister of education was R.M. (Ronald) Algie. The son of a postmaster in rural Southland, he had become in 1920, at the age of 31, Auckland University College's first professor of law. By 1949 he had been a member of Parliament for six years, 'undoubtedly the most effective parliamentary debater of his time'.5 After Holland had announced his ministry, 6 This was not one of McIntosh's more inspired judgements; nevertheless, in view of the new government's attitude towards the Labour government's educational initiatives there was cause for concern. Algie, says Beeby, 'was openly suspicious of me as a radical, and our first year together must have been as frustrating for him as it was miserable for me … [but] when we came to know each other better, I found him an excellent minister, a shrewd tactician who managed to get through Cabinet financial approvals that seemed hopeless'.7
Alley also had to be prepared to survive a difficult period with Algie at first, but his work had not attracted the same kind of uninformed hostility as Beeby's. He had the great advantage that Algie had grown up in a bookreading family in rural areas and appreciated what the
Both Algie and 8
When Algie and Alley appeared on the same platform on library occasions, Algie, who was a little fellow, tended to express his awe of and admiration for Alley as an All Black forward, to Alley's intense embarrassment: Alley 'seemed to turn into an Easter Island monument – inscrutable and immovable'.9 But it was surely worth the pain when the minister got on to other topics.
The section of the National Library Service that Algie had in his sights was, it turned out, the Library School. The school was vulnerable because of its declining enrolments, though its assumption of responsibility for part II of the NZLA's general training course, which was due to take effect in 1952, compensated for some of the shortfall. But Alley was determined to save the school because of its long-term importance for the library profession, and he persuaded Algie to accept the CLS postal service to isolated readers (the 'D' service) as a substitute to be sacrificed to the government's demand for economies to be made. In justifying this recommendation, Alley made much of the fact that the CLS provided aid to many public libraries, which could be expected, in their turn, to provide a service to isolated readers. 'If our ideas on regional service are to mean anything,' he said on one occasion, 'it is obvious that the provision of books for isolated readers is something that should be done locally'10 – though some cynics entertained the unworthy thought that he might not have minded causing a little inconvenience for a group of readers who would tend to be National supporters.
Algie was publicly open about his discussions with Alley about the Library School. When he spoke at the school's graduation ceremony on 11 Two years later, at the 1952 graduation ceremony, Algie referred to Alley's advice that the postal service should be discontinued, and said that 'he knew it would be politically unwise to follow this advice, but he followed it nevertheless, and he was convinced that he had done the right thing'.12
13 This is probably true, as far as Alley was concerned, but other evidence suggests that Beeby was quite happy that the direct access to his minister that Alley had enjoyed under the Labour administration should continue.
To further Algie's education, at least as far as public libraries were concerned, Alley included in his March 1950 annual report a brief chronology of legislation affecting public libraries in New Zealand, with references to other events like the Munn–Barr report and the establishment of the
Commenting on this statement, Alley wrote, in a passage clearly designed to reinforce his lessons on the value of the Library School: 'it will always be impossible for a full service to be given until qualified librarians are employed in each centre. Local authorities will not be conscious that a full service is possible until trained people can demonstrate that it is so. When a mediocre service is in operation, demand for a full service seldom makes itself felt. There is the tendency for people to accept whatever is provided for them, without full knowledge of what they may have. There has been an immediate response, however, both from the people as a whole and in local-authority financial support, in those libraries where energetic and enlightened librarians have been directing the service, even after a few weeks' work.'14
15 but he had been a great minister of education, a great prime minister and a great friend to the library world. The NZLA had acted honourably in re-electing him its patron after the defeat of the Labour government; as 16 17 Writing in 1956, Alley said: 'I am glad that we found the reference we put on the flowers the Association sent to Mr. Fraser's funeral – a quotation from Rabelais which does express the kind of man he was. He would be talking rather forcefully about something, perhaps taking a strong stand, when a book would be mentioned, and his voice and expression would change, and he would quote from the book, and, perhaps, mention several others. On his card was: "His mind among the books like the fire in the heather".'18
Fraser's death meant, symbolically, the end of the very special relationship that had existed, during the 14 years of the first Labour government, between the library profession, the
The importance of the NZLA's position in the 1940s is indicated by the fact that a high proportion of its most senior members offered themselves for membership of its council and regarded their membership as a way to participate in directing the library system of the country. The council which took office in May 1950, and which was similar in its composition to those of the preceding decade, included three city librarians (Auckland, Wellington, and Timaru), three of the four university librarians, the heads of the three state libraries, the director of the Library School, three other well-respected librarians, and highly regarded local body councillors from three cities and a borough. These were people who carried weight with a government which shared their aims, and they were also people who could deliver on decisions they had made. When the council met, lesser library folk would hang around outside the meeting room waiting to hear what conclusions it had reached on matters they thought to be crucially important.
There was no sudden change in this situation. In many ways things seemed to go on as they had done for quite a long time, but little cracks began to appear in the edifice. Alley continued to commune with his minister, but could not be so sure that the minister could win his way with the other ministers. Submissions from the NZLA were not so readily endorsed. The position of Alley, standing between the library world and the government, began to seem more anomalous. And – it must be added – as the number of experienced librarians grew and libraries became more varied and specialised and their librarians became increasingly burdened by their own jobs, the old unanimities came under increasing strain. In 1920 the British Empire seemed still to be at the height of its power and influence, but we know now that the weaknesses which eventually led to its
In 1952 Alley decided that he needed to distance himself publicly from the ambiguities that arose from his being honorary secretary of the NZLA at the same time as his position as director of the National Library Service made him, de facto, the government's main adviser on library matters. In 1947 he had been able to back away, without too much trouble, from his intention to resign the honorary secretaryship, but now the possible consequences of attempts to wear two hats simultaneously were too serious to be taken lightly. He therefore did not stand for re-election to the position in February 1952, but this time he made sure there was a suitable substitute. New Zealand Libraries since 1948, was elected honorary assistant secretary.19 Alley was elected an honorary life member of the association at its annual meeting on 28 February 1952.20
Fleming and McEldowney were, of course, Alley's surrogates, and no one pretended that they were not, but Alley's mana within the NZLA was so strong at this time (and remained so for at least another decade) that there was very little opposition to his continuing to influence its governance. It is fair to say, though, that neither Fleming nor McEldowney was simply a puppet. They shared most of Alley's attitudes and assumptions, to be sure, but then so did a high proportion of members of the association; and they were capable of bringing their own views to bear on the formulation of association policies and on the way in which it operated. What they did not have was the clout that enabled Alley to be accepted unquestioningly by outsiders as the personification of the library world.
The honorary secretary of the NZLA was, at this time, the equivalent of what would later be called a chief executive officer (except that he or she did not command a big fat salary package), working as a member of a highpowered group of councillors and also accountable to them. But the unusual aspect of the library situation at this time was that Alley's dominance – his physical presence, his command of all sides of the association's work, his meticulous observance of protocol in meetings and in communications both within and outside the association, his general air of authority – had established the office as a uniquely influential one; and that this perception of it really related as much to Alley as to the office. Furthermore, the perception would not necessarily have lasted much longer. The library system and the profession itself were beginning to diversify, so that, even
The first big event, in the library world, of the new era was one which had been planned and prepared for over the previous couple of years. In the 15 or so years since the Munn–Barr survey had been carried out and its report, which had acquired the status of a founding document, had been published, big advances had been made in the delivery of public library services in New Zealand, but there were also differences of opinion over the way in which these services should be delivered – most notably over the desirability and feasibility of regional or district organisation, but also over such matters as the free-and-rental system and whether state support should be available to the larger public libraries. These differences emerged when a committee set up by the NZLA council in 1947 to revise the 1940 publication The Case for Free Library Service failed to reach agreement. As the association's history says, 'The simple urge to establish free service had been replaced by controversy as to the best way to operate it.'21 Much interest had been aroused in the library world by the work and publications of the Public Library Inquiry which had been carried out in the 22 and the NZLA council therefore asked the United States Educational Foundation in New Zealand, which had been set up under the Fulbright Act, to sponsor a visit to New Zealand by a member or members of the American Inquiry team to carry out a similar inquiry here. In its annual report for 1948 the council said, rather hopefully: 'Just as the adoption and publication of the Munn–Barr Report was followed by greatly increased library activity, and also by financial support for the Association, it is felt that adequate finance for a further period for the Association could be expected to follow the adoption of an acceptable plan for development of libraries generally in the next ten years.'23
The foundation agreed to this request, and the person who accepted its invitation to conduct the survey was 24 and who had been one of four prominent librarians retained by the Carnegie Corporation as advisers from 1939 to 1941.25 With a special interest in adult education, she was notable for the pioneering work she had done in the Milwaukee Public Library between 1919 and 1929.26 She arrived in Wellington on 25 January 1950 and stayed in New Zealand until the following November. Alley had arranged for the National Council of 27
Tompkins tackled her task with great vigour and perseverance, visiting large numbers of public libraries and talking to all the NZLA branches, but, as O'Neill has said, 'It became apparent as the survey progressed that the amount of work involved was much greater than it would have been for a comparable survey in the 28 O'Reilly was the one who was charged with the task of compensating for the lack of information, but, although this kind of thing was something of a hobby of his, he suffered from an inability to enable others to see the wood, not just for the trees but for every branch and twig in it. He was also good at producing a proliferation of ideas, but not at synthesising them in digestible form. Alley, who might have been expected to explain the peculiarities of the New Zealand situation to Tompkins, was of little help – 'She complained he would not talk to her,' O'Neill said in a letter, 'partly his style but also I suspect he felt a responsibility to keep his distance.' On O'Reilly, O'Neill added, 'She should have told Geoff – or he should have seen – that she would be better off without him.'29
The course of the survey did not, therefore, run smooth, but during her visits to libraries and librarians Tompkins aroused a lot of interest and stimulated a lot of discussion on the problems that needed to be tackled in organising a comprehensive library service. At a meeting of the Wellington branch of the NZLA she set out four different options for the future, including endorsement of the present system but with correction of existing weaknesses, total withdrawal of the central government from responsibility for public library service, and all-out government support and financial aid for regional library authorities, either by financial assistance to voluntary groupings of local authorities or by the establishment by statute of regional or district library boards.30 She told the Otago branch that she was going to recommend the development of regional libraries31 – or perhaps that is what the branch reporter thought she ought to have meant to say; she had not at that stage had a chance to grapple with the unique New Zealand local body system, and it is very likely that she was more cautious than the report would indicate. That she would not have gone straight for the most difficult solution without further thought is suggested by her comment to a reporter from the Otago Daily Times that she was quite excited by some of the things she had seen in New Zealand in regard to library work, but that 32
When Tompkins left New Zealand on 24 November 1950 she had not been able to complete her report. Her health had not stood up very well to the strain, and when she got back to New York she had to plunge immediately into preparing for her teaching responsibilities. It was necessary, therefore, for New Zealand librarians to be prepared to wait for some time for the written record of her work, but a large amount of useful information had been gathered and was available, and further thinking had been stimulated on a number of issues, particularly on the regional development of library services.33
The opening of a
In such circumstances, decentralisation of a centrally controlled organisation can be effective, up to a point, if the organisation itself is oriented towards local service and if the people who are placed in charge of the individual units are focused on the needs of the inhabitants of their areas. Alley's experience made him very conscious of the interests and wishes of people, throughout the country, who were not part of the urban culture, and the CLS, by the 1950s, had a reservoir of staff members who had spent a lot of time on the road and who identified with the people who lived and worked in small towns and scattered communities – the people who gave the country its character. For the position of librarian in charge of the Hamilton office Alley chose
By the 1950s the CLS and its staff had been operating long enough to 34 convey, succinctly but as well as anything else that is available, both the attitudes which made the CLS so popular and the pervasiveness of Alley's own principles. Writing of 1959, when she became an organising librarian in the CLS, Sullivan says that by this time many of the borough libraries receiving the 'A' service had been helped to change from the subscription plan and to become linked with the CLS. 'The CLS offices were sending the bookvans to these libraries and giving them the usual request and loan collection services. In addition the Librarian in Charge of the appropriate office would be writing frequently to the librarians of these libraries offering encouragement and assistance with any problems.' There were 88 of these 'A' libraries in 1950, and the number had risen to 107 by 1958 (and to 163 by 1978).
Writing of relations between the CLS and borough councils, which under existing legislation either were or had the potential to be effective library authorities, Sullivan describes Alley's methods as follows:
It was the policy of the CLS not to take initiatives with local authorities that were not linked with it. However, if a Field Librarian happened to know the librarian of a town that she was passing through she would often pop in for a friendly chat. If a local resident had visited another town where the library was linked with the CLS, often the resident would make enquiries about the procedure to become linked. This would sometimes mean flagging down a bookvan or possibly writing to the CLS office. From there the Librarian in Charge would emphasise that any request to become linked with the service would need to come from the local authority of the town. If the local resident could form a committee of interested residents they could request the CLS to prepare a report setting out the services that could be obtained and the conditions required from the local authority supporting the library. Often these reports were prepared by the organising librarian in Wellington after she had visited the town to meet the Town Clerk and the Librarian.
GTA would take a lively interest in the preparation of these reports and would often suggest suitable quotations to be included. The progress of discussions between the appropriate Librarian in Charge and the local authority would be reported to Wellington and if necessary GTA would visit the town and talk to the local Borough Council. During most years until his retirement he would be taking a special interest in
some Borough Council somewhere where discussions were being held about the reorganisation of the local public library and the local residents' committee would be working hard to convince the council that this was wanted urgently in the town. Sometimes a visit by GTA was the trump card that would persuade the council.
In the case of the county areas, where it was difficult for the local authority to accept responsibility for library service because of its limited role and resource base under existing legislation, the government had agreed, when the CLS was established, that a direct service should be provided to small individual groups for a nominal fee which substituted for the rates which would normally have been used for this purpose. In Sullivan's words, 'The "B" service was also operating in the counties at that time. The volunteer librarians were often highly intelligent people who made good use of the CLS on behalf of those who used their libraries. Of course these small subscription libraries when well administered could be the channel for readers to obtain a wide range of reading. While the Field Librarians greatly enjoyed their visits to these delightful small libraries, the staff of the CLS were always very clear that these libraries were an interim measure until the counties could be persuaded to take an active role in providing library service.' There were 691 of these groups in 1950, and the number of them peaked at about 850 later. They, of course, were the whistle stops which took the book vans to every corner of the country.
Alley's objective was that all citizens should be able, in one way or another, to gain access to the full range of books which an intelligent community could benefit from. It paralleled the democratic policy, expressed by Fraser in his famous statement on education, that all citizens should have free access to education, and Alley was particularly concerned that the people involved in library service should be of the kind who would pursue his objective. 'The number of titles available to the local librarian,' he wrote in his contribution to a Festschrift published in honour of 35 'is, theoretically, the number in the whole system, but the practical and realised number depends on the imagination, energy and intelligence – the librarianship – of that librarian. Visitors from libraries overseas who have seen the superb work of the librarians of many of New Zealand's public libraries where national aid and encouragement are used to help local effort have always been impressed. There is, I think, nothing like it anywhere else.'
In 1956 Alley wrote of 36
Heine had gained the NZLA certificate while working in the small library at Motueka. 'With her background of belief in the things of the mind and the spirit,' wrote Alley, 'it was inevitable that she should think of librarianship in terms of books and not merely in terms of organization of services.' This tribute tells us as much about Alley as it does about
When it came to the staffing of the CLS, Alley did insist on professional qualifications for professional positions, but he also looked for people who understood the librarians and the readers for whom the service was created, as well as the local authority councillors and officials upon whose goodwill the service depended. They also needed to be well informed about the services available, the stock of the CLS and the kind of material that could be called upon from elsewhere.
The field librarians were something of an élite within the staff of the CLS. Not only did they need to have the range of qualifications and qualities that were required of all professional members of the staff, but once they set out with a van they were responsible for driving it, seeing that it was kept in good running order and maintaining a tight schedule, in addition to their work with books and readers. In writing of the CLS book vans in 1950, before the Hamilton office was opened,
The first requirement of a CLS bookvan is that it shall stay on the road and remain free to the utmost possible extent from mechanical and structural disorders. When a van sets out from its base at Christchurch or Auckland or
Palmerston North it is presumed that it will maintain schedule throughout the whole trip, which means for three or four months. Its arrival at Pirongia, Rotorua, Denniston or Bluff is announced to the nearest minute of time some three weeks in advance, and if, as on rare occasions, an appointment is not kept, the cause is more likely to be a washout on the road or a brokenbridge than a disabled bookvan. Without this assurance of vehicular fitness the whole programme of book exchanges, involving an average day of fifty miles travelling and three libraries five (or six) days a week, would be unworkable. That it is workable is due, to begin with, to the fact that all CLS vans have been constructed on brand-new chassis and are covered by strict maintenance procedures. 37
When Mercer and Lorimer were writing, one of the two original vans which had been commissioned in 1938 had been in for refitting. It had travelled 120,000 miles without serious breakdown, 'and had been host and friend to some 20,000 rural readers. Its design was basic to CLS needs then and now: elevated brow for frontal roominess, maximum width for space and stock capacity, ample height for head-room, short wheel-base for manoeuvrability. It was the essential CLS bookvan'.38 And, it might be added, it incorporated the lessons which Alley had learned in coping with inadequate vehicles in his Canterbury days.
There is a story which used to be told around CLS campfires about a field librarian who drove her van through the misty gorges and bush-clad hills between Gisborne and the Bay of Plenty and, when she stopped at the official service station in Opotiki, the steering assembly dropped on to the floor. The story is almost certainly apocryphal, but, like all good apocryphal stories, it could have happened. Such cautionary tales are great motivators when safety is at stake.
'Nowadays,' said Mercer and Lorimer, 'when a CLS bookvan passes the saleyards at Waipawa or grinds its way down into the Ida Valley neither sheep nor shepherds stare. It wasn't always like that. When the first vans set out, one from Wellington and one from Christchurch, they were met on all sides and at every stop with incredulous gaze and many puckered brows. By the time the first additional van went into action from Wellington in 1945 the CLS van was beginning to be accepted as a regular visitor, no stranger on the road…. And now with six of them in existence a CLS van … is a CLS van New Zealand over. Grey painted, with a line of scarlet lettering, it is a simple, roadworthy job, solid with books.'39 It is not surprising that some bright young graduates were attracted to librarianship by the thought of driving a CLS van – or that some had to be told, at that early stage of their lives, 'Not everyone gets to drive a van.'40
By 1953 the 41 In addition, schools were able to send 42
There was rather less dramatic success in the development of library services for prison inmates. The CLS had been providing books and other services for several years, but the importance of library service for a prison's rehabilitation programme had not really been appreciated in the Justice Department. After discussions with the head of the department, in which he advocated the appointment of a qualified prisons librarian to the department's staff, Alley suggested that Ron O'Reilly be seconded to the Justice Department to report on the library needs of the prison service. The secondment was approved by the Public Service Commission on 20 June 1950, and O'Reilly visited the institutions and had discussions with officers of the department between December 1950 and February 1951. In his report43 O'Reilly pointed out that the scale of service which had been established by the CLS after
Some improvements resulted from O'Reilly's report, including the allocation of Justice Department funds for prison libraries and recognition in the Criminal Justice Act 1954 of the role of libraries in rehabilitation programmes, but the position of librarian was not established until much later. 44
One of his areas of responsibility that Algie wanted to look into was the National Council of Adult Education, which had been reconstituted in 1947, when Alley was appointed to it. There was some mistrust among 45 but there were also structural problems which impaired relations between the national council and the regional councils. In David Hall's view, 'The National Council had proved a clumsy initiator of new ideas in its own right. On the other hand, the 46
At a meeting with the council on 11 May 1951 Algie raised these questions: was adult education reaching people in numbers justifying the expenditure and were there better ways of reaching more people; and could there be closer linkage between the work of adult education and other agencies of adult education such as libraries and radio?47 These questions sparked discussions which continued in a desultory way for some years but did not come to anything for another decade. Alley, with so much else on his plate, was not able to give high priority to these discussions, but he did contribute ideas which helped to shift the emphasis away from the traditional system of WEA classes and the like. In speaking on adult education to the Wellington branch of the NZLA, for instance, he dealt with 'a service more deeply rooted in this country, namely, library service', and emphasised 'the fundamental importance of local bodies in this matter of library service, the basis of local support being more honest and giving safeguards more sure than those of a centralized administration'.48
Alley would also have been instrumental in having the NZLA, in May 1951, set up a standards research committee 'to formulate a statement of the objectives of New Zealand public library work, in terms of units of service, buildings, stock, librarianship, etc.'. The standards research committee was convened by Brian O'Neill and included among its members 49 which reflects very clearly Alley's and Dunningham's thinking on the subject. It suggested, for instance, that 'The aims of public libraries and adult education in New Zealand are similar in that the achievements of both must show themselves in the lives of individuals in communities. As a consequence of this common basis in the life of the community, both organizations must depend on being accepted as a necessary element of community life; they must become part of the community. It is difficult to see how this common purpose can be achieved unless the local organization is treated as the basic unit, and not as an outpost of a central government activity.'
In July 1953, when Algie invited comments on questions which should be considered in relation to adult education, Alley suggested the following topics: '(a) Organization versus individual and local informal education 50 But Alley was not fired with sufficient enthusiasm for the work of the National Council of Adult Education to allow it to overshadow developments in the library world in which he now had a more direct interest.
The topic which was going to engage Alley's attention increasingly for the rest of his career was the question of a national library for New Zealand. It emerged in 1950 as a recommendation from the 51 From such small beginnings do mighty rivers grow. One is reminded of the Lewis River, which starts as a sparkling stream in the Southern Alps, grows in size until it adds its flow to the Boyle, which in turn joins the Hope, which further down the valley adds its bulk to the Waiau, one of the major rivers of the east of the
There was nothing new, of course, in the notion that New Zealand should have a national library. The term had been bandied about for a long time, but it had never reached the point of being defined. Different people had different ideas on what a national library should be or do, and ideas differed on what priority should be given to each of its possible functions. For a long time it was assumed that the 52 But Wilson was making a bid for more space to be allocated to his library in the new Parliament building, and his argument did not prevail.
53
As late as 1936 T.D.H. Hall, Clerk of the House of Representatives, wrote to 54 and Hall was also involved in discussions which could have led to the establishment of a rural library service attached to the
Scholefield has been blamed for dragging his feet over the ambitious plans for expansion of the role of the
The council of the NZLA did not consider the 55 The branch replied promptly, on 21 September,56 but the council did not get around to considering this reply until 1 May 1951, when it rejected a proposal that a committee be set up 'to study the question of co-ordinating special libraries such as the National Library Centre, the Alexander Turnbull Library and the General Assembly Library under the heading of a NZ National Library' and opted instead for a committee 'to report to the Council on the degree of co-operation and co-ordination existing between the various Wellington libraries with a view to the formation of Association policy'.57 This committee, which was convened by 58 for it which was full of interesting information but short on bold proposals, and it reported to the council with a series of recommendations (which the council approved), of which the most notable were:
- That this Committee reaffirms the Association's approval of the desirability of a
National Library implied in its adoption of the Munn– Barr report, and considers that unless there is a single library building there will not be possible a greater degree of co-operation than exists at present.- That this Committee, representative of the major Wellington libraries, considers that it would be useful if it were able to meet annually as an Association committee.
59
One can imagine the committee, after recording from time to time with regret the successive deaths of most of its original members and welcoming
60 Perry gave notice to a meeting of the NZLA council on 15 August 1952 of his intention to move that the committee be set up again and report by the following February.61 He forgot to move the motion, but he went ahead anyway, called the committee together for a special meeting on 26 August, and got the council's standing executive committee on 30 September to give it stronger terms of reference: it was 'to study the matter of reformulating the Association's policy on a National Library for New Zealand and report to the Council in February, and … in the meantime … be authorized to take whatever action may be possible to bring before the public those elements of Association policy which have so far been settled'.62 Perry retained the convenership, and Evening Post on 13 September, in which, noting recent Cabinet approvals for work to be done on the General Assembly and 63
Perry's moves at this time were decisive in starting what became the campaign for a national library, but credit should also be given to
Tompkins had been faced with problems which she could not have foreseen. The first was the expectation that hers would be another Munn– Barr report, a follow-up to the seminal document which had made such a striking impact in 1934. But follow-up reports are often disappointing. Munn and Barr were dealing with a very simple situation in which simple solutions, agreed upon by people of goodwill, could start a process of
The second problem was what has been referred to as 'the lack of previously assembled information' and the rather misdirected enthusiasm with which Ron O'Reilly tried to fill the gap. Shortly after her return to New York Tompkins wrote to Alley: 'I am finding some of Ron's material difficult to work with. He has done an excellent job of handling the data, but it would never do to use some of the material as he has presented it. We should certainly support the validity of our findings, but I am sure most librarians would not have the patience to read his densely packed pages. I think we should use them sparingly'.64 Alley agreed with these comments,65 but of course he should have known that O'Reilly's methods were not suitable for a job of this kind and he should have intervened at an early stage. This could be counted as Tompkins's third problem.
Among the papers that Tompkins left was a set of notes headed 'Future Development', which was sent to 66 From these notes it is clear that she had been considering a strengthening, rather than a withering away, of the
O'Reilly's role in the survey has been criticised above for obvious reasons, but in his more philosophic mode he was a thinker who did not always receive the attention he deserved. Writing after Tompkins's death, he said:
For the first time we were face to face with the complexities of the problems which the Association had set out so innocently to solve at the Wanganui
[1945] and other conferences. Without more than a cursory glance at our libraries in the first month of her stay, Miss Tompkins could have given us a very competent transcription of orthodox formulas relating, for example, to regional service. It is interesting to know what the effect would have been if this had happened, because it became clearer to us all as the months slipped by that these formulas would not produce a mixture that would work.There would have been no reaction between the domestic ingredients in New Zealand. The risk of destroying the CLS structure in the attempt to dissolve it into something still better was too great …
Certain types of problem (e.g. scientific ones) are in principle completely solvable. The complexities make some more difficult, but no one doubts that given the time and the application the answer (the one true answer) will be discovered. Other problems, such as technical ones and administrative ones, may, in fact, at any given time, have
nosolution …Miss Tompkins could not allow herself to believe that there is, at present, no adequate solution for the main problem she set herself, and that is the source of the tragedy …67
O'Neill, writing at the same time, said of Tompkins: 'She was a kind, thoughtful and humble person, and a worthy representative of what is most likeable of her country.'68 It would be idle to speculate on how she would, in the end, have dealt with the question of the regional development of library services in a country in which there were no effective regional government structures, but if there had been time, and if Alley had come down from the mountain, it is very likely that they could at least have clarified the issues together, for it must be remembered that Alley was persuaded of the desirability of a regional solution. What he was not persuaded of was that there were administrative structures that would make it possible. When it was obvious that Tompkins was having difficulty in completing her work, Alley said to O'Reilly, 'She will produce a report: she is too much of an American not to finish what she has started.'69 It was unfortunate that Alley did not realise just how hard-pressed Tompkins was, for in many ways he would have found her American approach compatible and he could have helped her to understand and take into account the particular problems of the New Zealand situation. The fact that, although she had given the impression early in her stay that she intended to recommend the development of regional libraries, her later notes suggested a system firmly based on the
70 Brian O'Neill has commented that 'the easy exchange of ideas was not his forte, and to someone like 71 He also observed: 'I once visited the McGill Library School and found there the values of civilised idealism of which Nora was an example. She must have found us a provincial lot devoid of spiritual values.'72
A different view is given by 73 And perhaps it could be added that this 'provincial lot' has in fact scored some modest achievements, like getting to the top of Everest, splitting the atom, inventing the jet boat, treating eye troubles in aborigines, and delighting opera audiences without behaving like prima donnas. Perhaps the CLS could have been seen by an outsider to have failed in theory while it was successful in practice.
One could go on collecting points of this kind and conclude, in the end, that these two good people simply didn't get on. McColvin's report to Alley on Bateson was a shrewd assessment which would have been better to have been heeded, and perhaps it resulted from McColvin's summing up not only of Bateson but also of Alley. Bateson could very well have been right to try to bring knowledge of what was done elsewhere into the rather closed New Zealand library community, but it was unwise of her to appear to rubbish what Alley had achieved in difficult circumstances – and Alley was not one to accept criticism tolerantly and with confidence.
The section devoted to Bateson in Alley's taped reminiscences74 is shorter than any other section and more restrained. After pointing out that when Mary Parsons left in 1947 it would have been difficult to replace her with a New Zealand director, he said that the time Bateson spent in the Library
Her background as a consultant in various schemes in Canada I didn't understand until I actually saw Canada [1968–70] and saw the very bad state of their regional library services. This was so bad that really one could only be appalled. Any notion of a library being supported, fed by a regional system was a very, very thin one indeed. In Ontario, a province that was spending, at the time of my stay there, some five million dollars, probably double that now in so-called aid, the practice was, if you please, to have the libraries belonging to regional schemes, but if a little library wanted a book, it was sent the book – it was bought for it, sent to it, and it was charged not only for the price of the book but for the cost of cataloguing and preparing it for circulation. This to me is utter and absolute madness and I think probably the other schemes in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick about which
Miss Bateson tended to talk, these would probably have followed similar lines but would not have gone into the business of really supporting the smaller libraries. The notion of a really vigorous book supply to smaller libraries simply hadn't taken hold in Canada, or for that matter in most of North America.
These reminiscences were recorded in 1983, 30 years after Bateson had left New Zealand. Neither music nor time nor anything else had soothed the savage breast.
Bateson departed in May 1953 to return to England. Jock McEldowney said, at a meeting of the Wellington branch of the NZLA, that, when she arrived, 'only one class had gone out from the School, the second was about to go, and the prestige of the Library School hung in the balance; it depended on what the graduates did and on the future administration of the School. 75 In a letter to the editor of New Zealand Libraries Bateson wrote: 'When I came to New Zealand nearly six years ago I was impressed by the vitality and imagination so noticeable in the approach to library problems here. The school itself and its shape and 76
There remains Bateson's farewell to Alley, who must surely have been one of those in her mind when she wrote of 'imaginative leadership'. Her letter to him, which she wrote on board ship and posted from 77 and the rest of the letter was fairly bland. What a pity it had to end that way! She died in England on 6 January 1956, aged only 59. 'Of all the places she was in,' 78
To replace Bateson as director of the Library School, Alley chose 79 but O'Reilly had been appointed city librarian in Christchurch (a breakthrough for New Zealand-trained librarians), and because of the decline in enrolments the Public Service Commission had refused to maintain the directorship as a full-time position (a situation which continued until 1961, when enrolments had risen again). It was therefore necessary to appoint as director on a part-time basis (with an extra-duties allowance) someone who already held a senior position in the National Library Service. Macaskill had been librarian of the 80
Library School enrolments continued to be depressed throughout the 1950s, due mainly to the fact that new university graduates, who came predominantly from the low birth-rate years of the Depression and the war, were in heavy demand, especially as teachers in schools which were being filled by the post-war bulge. Although the school was still permitted to accept 30 students annually, an attempt was made not to relax standards and actual enrolments of New Zealand students averaged 14 annually from 1951 to 1957. The assumption of responsibility for part II of the NZLA general training course from 1952, which added another batch of students, at a less advanced level than the professional course, for a six-week period each year, helped to keep the staff of the school busy, and in 1953 and 1955 the first Asian library students brought to New Zealand under the Colombo Plan joined the professional course. These two were from Pakistan and South Korea; the 24 Colombo Plan students who followed them in the next 10 years were mainly from Indonesia and Singapore, and, 81
Despite the problems of its doldrum years, the Library School was making an increasing impact on the library profession and the library system in New Zealand. Of the 353 librarians listed in Who's Who in New Zealand Libraries 1958, 104 had a Library School qualification, of whom 18 were also among the 99 who had the NZLA certificate. Thirtythree had overseas qualifications. Those who had no library qualification included a number who had been in library work for a long time, some of whom had played an important part in establishing training courses, but the greater number were in junior positions or in charge of small libraries or branches.82 New graduates of the Library School, diminished though their numbers were, were joining a profession which had been strengthened immeasurably by the output of the school in its first years, and which was able, thanks to Alley's decision to stake all on keeping the school going, to absorb a steady flow of reinforcements.
In 1952 83 At the same time, 84
Conservative resistance to the employment of products of the newfangled school had been most marked in some of the middle-sized public libraries, but it evaporated as Library School graduates moved steadily into vacancies, throughout the library system, which arose from retirements or from the expansion of services, and as they, in their turn, gained experience and were appointed to more senior positions. Appointments such as those of Ron O'Reilly as city librarian in Christchurch and
Alley, by the early 1950s, had senior staff members who had matured with time and through their close association with national library developments in which he was an acknowledged leader. At their head was
The everyday work of the CLS continued to expand as local authorities became convinced of the advantages of working with it to provide a service which widened the horizons of their communities. Between the 1950 and 1958 March years the number of local authorities (mainly boroughs and town districts) receiving CLS service increased from 88 to 147, and the number of rural groups in county areas from 691 to 832. A small start had also been made in persuading some county councils to contribute to the funds of adjacent public libraries so that they could provide a free service to county residents,85 though it had become clear that this kind of arrangement could only be achieved in unusual circumstances.
Underlying these developments in the public library field was a corps of CLS workers who became close colleagues of the librarians and the local body elected members and officials they served. 86 and others who were content to stay as field librarians with their vans, their books, and the people who were always ready to welcome them. This was the period when the CLS was at the height of its innovative and enthusiastic powers.
In Alley's mind the role of the CLS was not merely to provide consignments of books in a wholesale sort of way, but to help local authorities to develop, under their own control, collections and services which were tailored to the needs of their own people and were supplemented by CLS effort. CLS staff were encouraged and trained to regard themselves as members of a network 87
Alley regarded the location and planning of library buildings as being critically important for the effect they could have on the use that people would make of libraries. As honorary secretary he had encouraged the work of the NZLA's library buildings committee, convened by 88 to influence the decisions of local authorities, and, on one occasion, the town planning section of the Ministry of Works in Auckland, the Auckland City Council and the School of Architecture at the University of Auckland.89 The tenor of this statement is indicated by these brief extracts:
The library should not be placed in a park or reserve. The library building is not a monument, but the centre of an active service.
It should be in the busiest part of the town, on the main street. No site is too good for the library, which, when properly administered, can be one of the most popular services of the town. A popular library will give added value to the neighbouring properties.
If there is no librarian, or if there is likely to be a change, the planning should await the new appointment.
These general statements were followed by more detailed specifications, and a later contribution by 90 There are many good library buildings in good locations in medium-sized towns in New Zealand which owe their quality to Taylor's work and the way in which it was carried on by CLS staff. One can see why Alley was upset when Taylor, whose ideas were so well attuned to his own, blasted off into outer space,91 although he was later proud of her 'fine contribution to librarianship' in New York, Singapore, and Nigeria.92
It was part of Alley's attitude to small libraries that he was keen that they should build up lively collections of books of their own, chosen for local use, which would be supplemented, rather than supplanted, by books supplied by the CLS. In 1951 John Sage, who was then in charge of the order section of the NLS in Wellington and therefore responsible, among other things, for the selection and purchase of books for the CLS, initiated a cyclostyled publication called Books to Buy which listed popular non-fiction books which were recommended as suitable for purchase by 'A' libraries served by the CLS. It was compiled from books which had been received by the NLS during the previous three months, and included succinct comments written by members of the NLS staff who had read them. Alley took a close interest in Books to Buy, which became a regular monthly (later weekly) publication, and in the 1960s, when Books to Buy thus. I remember some fairly tense phone calls.'93
In 1954 Alley seized an opportunity to help improve services in an area where there was a run-down library but a library committee which included a number of very good people who wanted to upgrade it and turn it into a community asset. The Turanganui Public Library in Gisborne was a subscription library controlled by a committee of subscribers.94 There were funds from an endowment and the library also received grants from the
Early in 1954 a study of public library services in the Gisborne area appeared in New Zealand Libraries.95 Written by New Zealand Libraries, but an approach was made by the committee to the NLS, as a result of which
Alley persuaded the committee to agree to appointing a qualified librarian for an initial period of six months at a standard salary rate. The position was to be reviewed after six months, and then, if the librarian was no longer required, he promised to find a place for him or her on the staff of the NLS. He then asked 96
There were obvious parallels between the library situation in Oamaru and in Gisborne, but there were also significant differences. In each case, members of a subscribers' committee had started moves towards the conversion of an unsatisfactory subscription library into a public library controlled by local government, but in Gisborne the committee already included members appointed by the borough and the county, and Gisborne's new mayor was a very strong character who had made public library service one of his priorities. Following the Oamaru precedent would have led to the library being taken over by the borough, but Alley hoped that it might be possible to retain and build on the degree of co-operation that already existed between the borough and the county. This, in its turn, could have caused delays, since the county was not as keen as the borough on increasing its financial commitment. There was also the complication that Gisborne's population of over 20,000, which was about to cause it to be declared a city, was above the current limit of 15,000 for CLS service. But there was also the knowledge, gained from the Oamaru exercise, that 97 and that her contribution might be able to consolidate the advantages before apathy set in.
Alley decided to pull out all the stops in demonstrating what could be done, beyond what had been achieved so far, in widening the range of public library service. He was prepared to anticipate success and to ask his minister to agree to steps being taken which were strictly outside the rules the CLS operated under, in order to avoid delays. He left the question of the formal transfer of the library to local authority control until later, in the hope that it would be joint borough/county control, though he did insist that free service should be offered, which would require an increased financial commitment from the local bodies. For his part, Barker persuaded the borough council to agree to increased financial support, but also, when the county council jibbed, agreed to allow it extra time for reflection.
At a critical point during the negotiations, Arthur Stock, a solicitor who was one of the subscribers' committee members, suggested that Alley should be asked to visit Gisborne and talk to the county council. This he did on a hot January day in 1956, while Stock, Dr Singer (chairman of the library committee), Barker, and Cowey waited anxiously outside. Alley succeeded in convincing the council,98 and Stock laid on a party that evening to which he invited some of his friends, including 99 who had captained the All Blacks in South Africa in 1928.
Cowey remained in Gisborne until 1958, when she moved to an 100
After Alley's successful discussion with the Cook County Council, Cowey asked him how long he thought it would be before all counties were persuaded to contribute to library service, since it seemed to her, even then, that the regional co-operation that was regularly discussed in NZLA meetings was a long way off. In reply, Alley delivered himself of one of the Delphic utterances for which he was well known, quoting from Ecclesiastes: 'To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.' The Gisborne exercise was a success, but it depended on a number of very favourable circumstances which came together at the right time. It was a demonstration of what could be done (though on a much smaller scale than Trudgeon and Bertram had envisaged), but it was not to be repeated.
The close attention Alley paid to the
Service to the people of New Zealand through a public library system of which the
With Alley as convener and Bagnall as secretary, the other members of the book resources committee in the 1955/56 year were 1 At its meeting on 1 September 1955, which was a fairly typical one, this committee received reports on the union catalogue, the Union List of Serials, the Index to New Zealand Periodicals and the national bibliography, and discussed aspects of inter-library loans, the obtaining of important serials and works in sets not available in New Zealand, and the tracing of unlocated university theses.2
Bagnall was directly responsible for a growing list of activities. Many of them had resulted from NZLA initiatives; others arose from discussions
The union catalogue, which was begun in 1941 as a consequence of the establishment of the Central Bureau for Library Book Imports and in association with the book resources committee, had grown steadily as libraries sent cards for new acquisitions, but the addition of entries for libraries' earlier holdings had had to wait until post-war conditions made it possible to mount a determined effort. In May 1950 the book resources committee reported that photographic equipment provided by the Carnegie Corporation had enabled the holdings of the central reference collection of the Wellington Public Library and the Victoria University College library catalogue to be included, and that Auckland, Christchurch, and Dunedin catalogues would be tackled when an operator was appointed.3 In March 1952 Bagnall reported that 28,117 cards had been added during the preceding year, but commented that 'At this rate of progress many years will pass before the estimated total of a quarter of a million outstanding non-fiction titles will be added to the catalogue. Until this is done the catalogue and the operation of the inter-library loan scheme will not be fully effective.'4
The union catalogue was the largest of the National Library Centre's bibliographical projects at this time, but it was by no means the only one. After taking over the union list of serials when 5 The Index to New Zealand Periodicals, another project which was started in Dunedin, was compiled regularly by the National Library Centre and published by the NZLA until Alley persuaded the minister of education in 1956 to allow the NLS to assume responsibility for publication as well as for editorial work, in order to relieve the NZLA of financial responsibility for it.6 Bagnall also prepared the second edition of Harris's Guide to New Zealand Reference Material for publication by the
As if all this was not enough to keep him occupied, Bagnall published three histories of Wairarapa towns during this period – Greytown in 1953, Masterton in 1954, and Carterton in 1957; edited an edition of R.A. Cruise's Journal of a Ten Months' Residence in New Zealand; and continued to accumulate notes for his great Wairarapa history (1976) and other historical work which lay beyond the horizon. And he was starting to compile the retrospective national bibliography, the five (in six) volumes of which are now known in the scholarly world as 'Bagnall'. He was an example to us all.
In the 1950s, when the concept of on-line access to a central database was not remotely thinkable, a central catalogue on standard-sized cards was by far the most efficient way of recording national library holdings and of providing access to them, but maintaining it and checking inquiries against it were fairly labour-intensive operations. From time to time it was suggested that there should also be regional union catalogues, but the logistical problems and the cost of creating and maintaining these could not be justified when the aim of a national union catalogue was so difficult to achieve. So there had to be one national union catalogue in Wellington, maintained by the National Library Service, and it was to the NLS that the 'interloan libraries' – i.e. those which did not work through the CLS – sent request cards for books for which they did not know a location. The NLS would add requests sent on by CLS offices, would supply those titles which it held, would send cards to holding libraries if the union catalogue revealed a holding, and would list the residue of books which had not been found in its weekly Book Resources circular so that holdings could be reported. This is the system which was set up in 1943, and it worked as smoothly as the current technologies would allow.
There is no way of knowing what proportion of the library system's interloan traffic was channelled through the National Library Centre, but it was probably a good deal more than half of it. An analysis of requests received by the centre,7 including those sent on by CLS offices outside Wellington, from September 1950 to March 1951 showed that, of 10,168 items supplied, 1705 (16.8 per cent) were supplied through interloan by libraries other than the NLS, the other 83.2 per cent being supplied from the NLS collection. The total number included a high proportion of requests received from medium-sized and small libraries linked with the CLS, but it is interesting to note that
Of the 161 items supplied through interloan to university libraries, 68 came (not surprisingly) from other university libraries, but 20 came from public libraries, 28 from government department libraries and 45 from 'other' libraries, which included those of the two agricultural colleges and the two state libraries other than the NLS. The 152 items supplied to large public libraries included 58 from other public libraries (including 19 from libraries smaller than themselves), 35 from universities, 23 from government departments and 36 from 'other' libraries.
Another analysis which was carried out at about the same time was a sample check of 2000 cards in the union catalogue, primarily to determine the degree of duplication of holdings and the distribution of unique holdings.8 Since the systematic inclusion of early holdings was just beginning when this analysis was being done, separate tables in the report focused on titles which had been published since 1941, when the major libraries began sending cards to the union catalogue. There were 1086 of these, of which 533 (49.1 per cent) were held by only one library. Of these 533 unique holdings,
This was a fairly startling result, which reflected in part the very unsatisfactory state of university libraries at the time, but it also emphasised the value to the library system as a whole of the collection which was being established under Alley's policies and the extent to which it was absorbing a good deal of the pressure of the interloan system.
For several years the NLS had bought, for its own collection, individual titles which had been requested and which the book resources procedures had failed to turn up in any library in the country. The question of how best to fill gaps in the holdings of periodicals and works in sets was more complicated, and possible answers to it exercised librarians' minds throughout the 1950s (and, indeed, beyond). In August 1950 the book resources committee 'considered the desirability of drawing the attention of libraries to the need for completing gaps in the holdings of important serials as disclosed by the checking of the Union List of Serials', and asked its secretary (Bagnall) 'to advise libraries regularly of serials which should be considered for acquisition'.9 This was the first step in the evolution of an
Within the National Library Centre, records were compiled of titles of this kind which interloan requests suggested should be part of the national library resources. A sample checklist of such material was placed before the book resources committee in August 1955,10 when it decided to begin work on the compilation of a list of works valued at more than £50 each, with a view to seeking funds for their purchase.11
While work was proceeding on the completion of a major list, Bagnall raised with Alley the question of one particular title. 'Some time ago,' he wrote, 'you stated your opinion that we should participate actively in the plugging of national gaps of significance, chiefly through microcard and microfilm editions; if necessary, you added, some "bread and butter" purchasing might be waived.' He then proposed that the Royal Aeronautical Society Reports, 1–23 (1866–93), and Journal, 1–15 (1897–1911), should be bought, at a total cost of £117 10s., adding, 'The present case seems quite a good one.' Alley replied: 'A.G.B. Your recommendation agreed to. I am glad to see this.'12 The purchase was made, and was notified to libraries in Book Resources.
Why this particular title was singled out for special attention is one of those little mysteries that the files produce – maybe Bagnall knew someone who had been frustrated by lack of interest elsewhere – but it did set a useful precedent, and perhaps it spurred on the book resources committee to continue with its wide consultations and discussions, leading to the preparation of a list which would require about £30,000 – a considerable sum in those days. In February 1957 the council of the NZLA decided that, when the list was completed, an approach should be made first to the government for funds for purchase, and, if that was unsuccessful, to some foundation or other body.13
At this point alarm bells rang at Victoria University College. Writing to 14
The registrar of Victoria University also got involved. At its meeting in August 1957 the book resources committee recommended that the NZLA council '1. Inform the Registrar of VUC of the terms of reference of the Book Resources Committee and its relevance to this matter; 2. That in order to allay anxieties which appear to have arisen the Registrar be informed, (a) that the grants are to be non-recurring, (b) that the institutions accepting periodical material will be expected to continue subscriptions, (c) that it is contemplated that the material thus deposited will remain permanently in the library of deposit.'15 Miller undoubtedly had a hand in this clarification of objectives.
This story of the gaps to be plugged and the plugging of them is a long one. We had better leave it at this point, and take it up again in a later chapter.
During the period from 1952 to 1954 it was 16 and was able to think in terms of the kinds of policies which would engage their attention. He was also determined to get things moving.
At the meeting of the revived national library committee of the NZLA which Perry convened in August 1952, both Harold Miller and Graham 17
Alley had good reason to be gloomy about his accommodation problems, since the rapid growth of the collection and services of the National Library Centre, crammed into old buildings and assorted basements and other odd spaces around Wellington, had created conditions which one would have thought only the most dedicated of staff could have tolerated. Books were piled on the floors; staff worked cheek by jowl; and it was very difficult for outsiders to gain access to a collection which was becoming one which often repaid careful browsing. In the years that followed it is not surprising that the need for better – even slightly better – accommodation for the National Library Service sometimes distracted attention from the more strategic needs of the state library system, or that it was difficult to sustain the morale of the staff of the National Library Centre.
At this meeting there was plenty of goodwill, but also many unstated reservations. The committee prepared a remit which was duly passed at the NZLA conference in February 1953, recommending that the council ask the government to appoint a parliamentary select committee 'to consider the need for a national library building with adequate storage for future national needs, the elements such a library should contain, and how far existing state libraries and the national archives can, without detriment to their particular functions, be brought together in such an institution'.18
It is obvious from these discussions, and from the wording of the remit, that the serious business of deciding just what librarians and the NZLA meant by 'a national library' had hardly begun. It was perhaps premature to ask for a full-scale official inquiry at this stage, and yet if a request had not gone forward it is very likely that nothing would have happened. The NZLA council did decide to approach the government on the lines proposed by its committee,19 but its standing executive committee deferred 20 Since Perry had been again appointed convener of the committee and no one was anxious to stand in for him, this meant another delay of several months, but it also allowed time for some necessary reflection.
In April 1953, before Perry's departure, the Wellington branch of the NZLA staged one of its discussions of current issues in New Zealand librarianship, this time on the national library proposal.21 In an outline which he had prepared in advance, Perry listed arguments in support of the scheme: economy of administration, convenience of the public, physical safety of stock, and a unified purpose. Difficulties he saw were the need to safeguard the identity of the major existing state collections; the absence of an agreed association policy; a defeatist attitude on the part of librarians; and an absence of conviction on the part of the government. Some initial discussion concerned the national archives, but the meeting did not appear to disagree with the view of the national archivist (
Among other speakers, Bagnall thought that the merging of the several institutions would not necessarily destroy their intrinsic functions, and that some functions and responsibilities could be shared, with a resultant saving. Taylor thought the
Alley said that he favoured a conservative approach to individual collections. He distrusted efficiency by mere amalgamation; there was a weakness in bigness, not least from the point of view of the user, who was often dauted by size – a familiar fact in public library experience. He was unconvinced of the need for merging collections, but the need for buildings was urgent.
Leatham added to his remarks at this meeting that the heads of the three New Zealand Libraries in late 195322 and which provoked reactions from both Wauchop and 23 and some warning shots had been fired, in a more or less friendly way, during the Wellington branch discussion. When the NZLA approached the government in November 1953, after Perry's return from foreign parts, it therefore did so only in the terms of the brief conference resolution, so it is not surprising that the prime minister, 24 Alley would undoubtedly have been consulted by the minister of education over the advice that he had been asked to give to the prime minister, and would have been aware of the fact that the question of defining a policy now had to be faced.
At about this time, in fact, Alley seems to have decided that the national library proposal had to be taken seriously, since it was not going to go away, and that, since the way in which it was handled would affect all that he had built up, he should try to ensure that its course was directed by hands he could trust. Typically, he probably felt that very few hands other than his own were completely trustworthy, and, equally typically, he began to entertain suspicions of Perry's motives and intentions, suspicions which Perry sensed and decided to do something about. During the conference of the NZLA which was held in Nelson in February 1954, Perry therefore talked to one of Alley's younger colleagues, who, he knew, was in Alley's confidence, setting out his own interest and motivation in his leadership of the national library campaign and stating firmly that he had no personal ambition in the matter. It was clear that he was quite sincere in what he said, and also that he hoped the conversation would be reported to Alley, which duly happened. Shortly afterwards, Alley invited Perry to meet with him and they had a long discussion, after which Perry told the go-between both that they had reached complete understanding and how impressed he was by Alley's fairness and by his judicial attitude.25
Perry then told the secretary of the NZLA that some time would be needed to reach agreement on a reply to the prime minister, and said that 26 When the committee was reappointed for the ensuing year, Perry remained a member but Bagnall became convener.27 Perry's handling of a difficult situation had been remarkably successful. Equally remarkable was the fact that from this time Alley and Perry worked together on the national library question amicably and effectively, though Alley often spoke of Perry in private as 'a lightweight', as he did of several other notable people.
It took six months for the national library committee to prepare a reply to the prime minister's request for a less vague and fairly detailed proposal. In the letter which was sent to Holland on 3 August 1954 the NZLA deferred to his view that a prime minister's consultative committee would be the best way of attacking the problem at that time, and set out the current functions of the three state libraries and the problems facing each of them (especially with regard to accommodation). 'The most obvious need,' it said, 'is for a national library building in which all or a major part of these existing collections can be housed adequately and safely and the necessary services performed efficiently'; but it did not attempt to prescribe 'detailed proposals regarding the extent to which the existing state libraries would be included and their consequential administrative relationship': that would be a matter for the consultative committee to examine.28
During this period there were many discussions, both within the NZLA and within the various government departments, of the issues raised by the national library proposal. Positions were defined and hitherto unconsidered problems examined; memoranda were written and filed; stands were taken and lines were drawn, even if only in a tentative, preliminary way. Controversy loomed just over the horizon. One or two comments are worth recording at this point. 29
Alley, in responding to a request from the NZLA's committee for a statement, said: 'I have assumed … that the N.L.S. could occupy its part of the new building and that other libraries could occupy theirs, without any attempt to form what we are often told is a superior creation – "a larger administrative unit." … I still doubt the wisdom of attempting any fusion other than at the level of a. merging of unused WGa and WTu 30 and b. the provision in the new building of a very well planned, spacious cataloguing room … The library of Parliament or legislative reference service must be retained as a service unit, with whatever stock and staff the chief librarian requires.'31 Wauchop, while welcoming the idea of bringing together the three services into one building, added, 'It is one thing to ask the institution longest established to become an integral part of a larger establishment and quite another thing to ask it to strip itself of its functions and collections.'32
On 6 October 1954 the prime minister directed the Public Service Commission to take the necessary steps to have an inquiry initiated into the representations made to him by the NZLA on the need for a national library. The commission responded by setting up a committee, chaired by
After Alley stood down from the honorary secretaryship of the NZLA in February 1952 he ceased to be a member of the council, and he waited for two years before allowing his name to be put forward for election as an ordinary member. He was then duly elected – one of nine who were chosen by the personal members of the association from 12 candidates – and rejoined the governing body in February 1954. From the point of view of most members of the association very little changed during the intervening period. Alley's mana within the association was such that he was automatically consulted about or directly involved in most matters of importance in its operations. He had, of course, retained the convenership of the book resources committee because of its special position in relation to the government, but he also continued to act as convener of the library training committee, and he was a member of several other key committees, including finance and, after it was reconstituted in 1955, national library (now convened by
A committee which Alley was particularly interested in was one that was set up in 1952 to consider the question of the establishment of a register of qualified librarians. Convened by Who's Who in New Zealand Libraries), and Ron O'Reilly, with 33 After deciding that there would not be much point in merely compiling a list of people with library qualifications, 34 to prepare a set of rules, which, after final drafting by the association's old friend T.D.H. Hall, and a postal ballot of association members, which revealed strong support,35 was adopted by the annual meeting on 25 February 1955.36
The registration rules required all applications for associateships and nominations for fellowships to be referred to a credentials committee, consisting of five members selected from the fellows of the association, for recommendation to the council. In order to enable a credentials committee to be set up, rule 4(iv) provided for the council, at its first meeting after the adoption of the rules, to grant five fellowships 'from names brought before the Council by members thereof '. There was a potential for awkwardness in this, but after the council had held a secret ballot, 'the local authority members present to scan the papers and report whether any nominees had received enough votes to enable a clear decision to be made', H.W.B. Bacon (past president of the NZLA and a Petone borough councillor) reported that five names had been overwhelmingly favoured. These five – Geoffrey Alley, 37 Alley was appointed its convener, and it began its painstaking work.
It is typical of Alley's administrative principles in matters of detail that he took steps to ensure that the fee of three guineas charged under registration rule 10 did not disappear into the NZLA's consolidated fund. On his motion, the council decided that the fees should be kept in a special fund or account and used for grants to assist librarians visiting or studying overseas, to enable tutors to travel to assist training course students or to enable such students to attend conferences, or to subsidise publications of general professional interest.38
At this point it is necessary to deal with a matter about which much can only be inferred from inadequate personal knowledge and later speculation, since Alley acted, as he often did, without telling people (even those most directly concerned) precisely what his intentions or reasons were. He seems to have decided at the beginning of 1955 that it would be to everyone's advantage if he were to give up the convenership of the library training committee of the NZLA and move
The usually serene and gracious Fleming was furious. After the council meeting she told Alley it was the dirtiest trick he had ever played. He took this impassively, as a forward in a line-out can take grievous knocks as long as he has been able to secure the ball. 39 Shortly afterwards Fleming wrote to after the committee had met in Wanganui [on 21 February] but I had not entertained the proposal as a serious one otherwise I would have raised the question of constitution of the committee at the meeting myself …I did consent to accept office next year if he and the committee were agreed on the proposal, but my final word to him, said just before the Council met and which he unfortunately did not hear, was no. I feel very strongly that I and the committee have been treated in a high handed manner.'40
In his reply Collins said: 'Mr. Alley can be disconcerting, can't he? His rugged readiness to do what he thinks to people without minding the consequences to himself leads him also to act sometimes without seeming to mind how other people will react. But, even though he can perturb or annoy me in relatively small matters, I am prepared to forgive him almost automatically because of his magnificent leadership, imagination and execution in really big matters. Probably you, and most of us, feel the same, except momentarily.'41
Collins was one of the library world's kindest and most congenial members, one of those who had served on the Long March with Alley and had many shared memories of hurdles surmounted and objectives attained. But times were changing, and some of Alley's characteristics were not so easily accepted by more recent recruits. In 1946, when Alley was at the height of his influence, the NZLA council included 15 librarians (in addition to local authority members), of whom a powerful core of 10, 42
Comments like this, and incidents which affected a limited number of people, were warning signals, but in the mid-1950s Alley was for most people still the outstanding leader, the rock on which their profession was built, the lock who held the scrum together, the Great White Chief, as some called him. 'GT was an exacting boss,' according to 43 Jones has also remarked that Alley was charismatic for many women,44 and it was notorious among those who knew him reasonably well that he tended to be more at ease with women than with men in his professional world, whereas his best friends outside that world tended to be men. He also had an eye which roved widely, but Pat Alley instances two women, 45 46
By the mid-1950s big things had been achieved in the New Zealand library system, but there was also a pervasive sense of stagnation. There was unfinished business, particularly in the organisation of a comprehensive public library service, the secret of which, as people felt rather than thought,
It is not necessary here to go over the inadequacy of the New Zealand local authority system again, except to remind oneself that this was the fundamental problem which had determined how the CLS system had developed and which would need to be overcome if it were to be rationalised. It was a problem which enthusiasts for change tended to overlook as they fixed their eyes on well-organised (or apparently well-organised) regional systems in countries which had quite different local government structures. And there was another factor by the mid-1950s which was not so obvious. This was that, by then, Alley was justifiably proud of the quality of the service he had created and increasingly resistant to changes that might harm it without providing a better substitute. Discussions on regional library service therefore often tended to become tussles between enthusiasm for an ideal which had not been tested by exposure to a severe political climate, and determination to preserve what had thrived in spite of that climate.
'Regional library service' was, in fact, the mantra which underlay much of the discussion of public library service at this time. It described the heaven that the faithful looked forward to, the promised land on the other side of the desert. Alley made the first students of the Library School enthusiastic for it; 47 and thereafter drilled her students in its catechism; 48 while Alley referred, in an article on the CLS, to a survey being carried out in the South Otago region by 49 The NZLA history, published in 1962, said: 'So although the development of public library service had proceeded on the same lines for nearly twenty years – 50
A most thorough examination of the public library problems of the time was given by 51 in which he said:
We don't want regional library service for the sake of itself, but for the quality of service that can be given; quality of service depends primarily on two things and they're interdependent – and that is a wide range of carefully selected books, and a trained qualified staff working in the libraries to ensure their best and most effective use. In regional service, the wide range readily available can only be there if the service is based on a large public library – large in our terms anyway – one which can carry of itself a fair range, and which can act as a centre for request service, for making regional stock mobile rather than static, and for giving a far greater measure of direct guidance and advice to the small libraries … than is possible under the present four-monthly visits of the CLS van, all too brief anyway.
Wylie's reference to the CLS, together with an account (deleted from the published version of the paper) of how Lower Hutt had taken over part of an adjoining county which had included a CLS group and substituted a much better service, incensed Alley. This was a pity, because Wylie was a much clearer thinker than many others who discussed regional libraries, but Alley did not forgive or forget: in 1956, in an article in New Zealand Libraries, after describing Shearer's survey in South Otago, he wrote: 'I think in his address at Nelson two years ago [Mr Wylie] tended to write off the work of independent libraries in the country areas, in many of which librarianship is going on at a good level … I would sooner live in Inchclutha [in South Otago] than in Taita North – which is in Hutt City – from the point of view of library service.'52 This was the Alley who, when provoked, sentimentalised the undoubted qualities of the good folk
In February 1956, when 53 He invited Dunningham, Helen Cowey, 54 The working party, which met on 27 and 28 August 1956, prepared an interim report55 in which it recommended that the NZLA 'should move towards the strengthening of the libraries in the secondary cities' to the point where, with government cash subsidies, they could provide the whole range of books appropriate to their regions and give service not only to their own cities but also to their neighbouring areas; and that it should seek legislative changes to facilitate the formation of library federations by contiguous local authorities, to which the subsidies would be paid.
In his presidential address given to the Rotorua conference of the NZLA on 26 February 1956 Dunningham said:
The aim which we have had before us since the publication of the Munn– Barr Report in 1934 is the development of district or regional units of library service, each strong enough to give the sort of service which can be expected in a city of not less than 50,000 population. Since 1934, we have assumed that this can be done through district or regional co-opeeration between local bodies. We have also accepted a recommendation of the Munn–Barr Report that a first step towards this district or regional organisation is the establishment of a centralised service and a centralised request service. The Country Library Service has, I think, been extremely successful in achieving this. Almost all boroughs are now receiving assistance from the
Country Library Service … We have been less successful with counties. If we are now to involve counties we will, I think, need to take the next step which the Munn–Barr Report recommended.56
A major session at this conference was one on library co-operation, which was chaired by Alley and for which three members of the working party had prepared papers.57 58
This was more than just a bit of conference excitement. Alley had long ago taken against Wylie, and it was obvious to those who were present, including the association's honorary secretary, who was sitting next to him on the platform, that he had deliberately decided to put Wylie down. 59
The conference was asked to 'endorse in principle' the report of the working party, but after discussion this was amended to: 'That this Association approves the principle of library co-operation in regional areas with Government assistance, and recommends the Council to continue the investigations of the 1956 Working Party through an appropriate committee of the Association, and authorizes an approach to the Government for expenses for the purposes of the investigation.'60 61 Alley had cleared the question of expenses with his minister, and had also prepared a suitable list of members for the council to appoint to a new committee on regional library co-operation. 'In those days,' Sullivan has said, 'he could get Government assistance for special NZLA committees, but he also insisted that he should have some say in the personnel of any committee set up in this way.' On this occasion the list included himself (as convener), Barker, Cowey, Dunningham, 62
On their way back to Wellington after the conference Alley, Bagnall, and McEldowney stayed a night at the Wairakei Hotel. During the evening they went to the nearby thermal area, where preparations were being made for the construction of the geothermal generating plant which began production in 1959, and outside a huge shed in which there was a loud noise of barely-constrained steam encountered notices telling them not to enter. To Alley notices of this kind were an invitation. He walked in without hesitation, to see what was being done with his taxes. You have to admire bloody-mindedness of this kind, when it is properly directed.
In his annual report to Parliament, Alley said: 'It will be upon the solution to the problem of library co-operation among local authorities, and in particular on the active participation of counties, that the future development of public library service and the efficient administration of Government assistance will depend. Government assistance to library service, whether in books, staffing, or money subsidies, or combinations of all three, must always be planned to encourage local effort and activity, and to strengthen it where it is co-operatively based.'63
The committee reported back to the NZLA council in June 1957,64 pointing out that CLS support had been used by boroughs but not by counties, and proposing that the government be asked to accept the idea of expanding its assistance to ensure complete coverage of all types of community. It endorsed the principle of government subsidies being paid to voluntary federations of local authorities, which would take over many of the services previously provided by the CLS, but favoured a gradualist approach, so that CLS aid-in-kind would still be available where federal district schemes were not formed; and it stressed that incentives to cooperate should be strong enough to overcome inertia. This report, after some amendments suggested by the local authorities section of the NZLA had been made, was published in New Zealand Libraries65 and as a separate pamphlet, and provided the text for further action and discussion in 1958 and beyond, to which we shall return in due course.
At about the same time that Co-operation: a new phase was published and released for study in the NZLA, the proposal for a national library, which had been the subject of a report to the prime minister by the committee which had been established under J.K. (later Sir Jack) Hunn by the Public Service Commission, was referred by Parliament to a special
When he was asked, in October 1954, to chair the committee 'to examine proposals from the New Zealand Library Association' for a national library, Hunn was at the take-off point for his distinguished career as a senior public servant. After 12 years in the Public Trust Office, he had been on the staff of the Public Service Commission since 1946, and in 1954 was appointed a public service commissioner. He had had a brush in 1950 with the kind of problem that he was now about to face when, in an inspection report on the 66 A note on the commission's file copy of this reply indicates that Hunn refreshed his memory of it on 16 September 1954.
Members who were appointed to the committee to assist Hunn were
The underlying situation that the committee faced was a complicated one which the NZLA had not, for obvious reasons, been able to spell out. The three state libraries, each in a different department, ranged in age from 80 years (the
Of the three chief librarians, Alley, the head of the largest unit, was widely perceived to be the leading one, and this had been recognised in his salary grading,67 but the others were understandably reluctant to join him as junior partners. The campaign for a national library, which Alley did not initiate and was not at first keen on, was seen in some quarters as NLS empire-building, to be opposed on those grounds alone. Furthermore, Alley himself had tended to obscure the real position by such actions as failing to appoint a Librarian, 68 This was ironical in view of the fact that Geoff was scornful of the cult of personality that had grown up around Mao Tse-tung and Rewi's acceptance of it,69 but it affected Geoff badly in those times, before Rewi, in a remarkable reversal of reputation, became a national icon.
The committee also had to give some thought to the philosophical question of what a national library was: whether, in essence, New Zealand should go on pragmatically building on the past or whether it should start again from scratch. In his autobiography Hunn wrote: 'Librarians differ in their concept of a "national" library. Overseas it is usually a State reference library, such as the 70 A later commentator has made a similar point in saying that national libraries 'are monsters: that is, artificial creations, 71 These two statements reflect typical New Zealand attitudes, but there were other people who joined the discussion with the great domed reading room in mind, in which those who really knew how to use libraries would work undistracted.
Hunn would of course have been aware of Alley's standing from a public service point of view. He was also aware of the opinion of Alley held by 72 and who was keenly interested in the national library proposal.73 'I do know,' Hunn wrote later, 'that 74
The annual reports for the March 1955 year of both the NLS and the General Assembly Library included brief statements of their current functions.75 76 which could have been calculated to offend. Among those who responded to invitations to comment, 77 Beeby said that he was much more concerned that the functions of a national library should be properly carried out than he was about the erection of a building. He was doubtful about the success of any attempt to bring the three libraries under a single unified control, and said that, while the NZLA was able to speak with some authority, 'its very nature precludes it from being a satisfactory means of co-ordinating the State libraries or of advising the Government'. He suggested setting up a committee of the three state librarians, with, say, two senior public servants, to advise.78
During the first stage of the investigation the Public Service Commission committee made no contact with the NZLA, presumably because it did not 79 about nine months after the formation of the committee, a fact which was noted rather plaintively by Perry in his records, but it is clear from its content that by this time the committee had gained a good understanding of the proposal and felt itself in a sound position to discuss it with the NZLA on terms of equality. It asked, in particular, for comments on functions, additional to those performed by the three state libraries, which might be handled by a national library, what organisation or authority should control it, what type of administration would be needed for its day-to-day running, and where, for preference, it should be located, and it said that it would like to discuss such matters with association representatives, on the basis of written views.
The national library committee of the NZLA worked quickly to prepare a response to this request, in a statement80 which was then approved by a postal ballot of members of the association's council. This was a much more detailed and focused statement than any that the association had produced earlier, answering the questions put to it by the committee and presenting the rationale for the answers at some length. A summary at the beginning of the document stated that:
Supplementing this document, the association prepared another, at the request of the committee, arguing the case for the national library to be created as a separate department and answering some further questions, one of which dealt with 'the possible difficulty of getting Parliament to agree to a change in the control of the General Assembly Library'.81
The committee also, at this stage, met with several prominent librarians to discuss its thinking with them. Among them was Harold Miller, who raised what was to become, for a while, the most prominent objection to some aspects of the NZLA's policy. Miller, who was a member of the association's national library committee,82 had not disguised his preference for a type of national library of the kind that Hunn called, in his autobiography, 'a State reference library … providing books for research within its precincts'. When he was interviewed by the Public Service Commission committee and presented his views, he was asked to set them down in writing. This he did in a letter,83 of which he sent copies to other members of the NZLA committee. He gave strong support to the need for better accommodation for the state libraries, but said, 'I differ from the NZLA Committee in that I favour a Library that will be (what in fact national libraries are in other countries) an organization to meet the needs of research, whereas the Committee wants a library that will mainly look after the needs of the general reader.' He then went on to describe the kind of collection the national library should hold (which was in fact the kind of collection that would be achieved by the amalgamation of the Alexander Turnbull Library, the 84
Mr H.G. Miller, Librarian, Victoria University College, has courteously sent me a copy of his letter to you of 31st August in support of his statements at the interview with the Committee. It is inevitable that a question of this kind should disclose some differences of opinion and that all interested parties could not be expected to view the primary aim in the same light. However, apart from debatable issues I feel bound to comment on the misunderstanding revealed in Mr Miller's letter regarding the stock and
functions of the National Library Service now. Before doing so I would refer to Mr Miller's interpretation of the NZLA Committee's policy. In paragraph (b) he states that the Committee does not favour an organization to meet the needs of research but wants a Library 'that will mainly look after the needs of the general reader.' The Committee, I am sure, from its discussion of this point and the framing of the recommendation, is convinced of the importance of the research needs to be met from a
National Library and the deduction that it is to become a general reader's library is Mr Miller's own.
After referring to Miller's description of SLS stock as 'school-books', he continued:
It was never suggested in any context that this collection and the
Country Library Service field stock should form part of theNational Library headquarters stock which is what Mr Miller is concerned about. The concept that in certain respects theNational Library should complement the stock of the university libraries as far as practicable is one with which I personally and I am sure all members of the Committee would agree. To a not insignificant extent this is increasingly done by the National Library Service both in general acquisitions and through the Library Association's Co-operative Purchase Scheme…. I do know that many members of the academic staff at Victoria College have on numerous occasions expressed satisfaction at what is available. This conclusion is perhaps represented by the fact that Victoria College borrows more books from this Service than any other university library.
Miller published an expanded version of his statement in New Zealand Libraries in November 1955.85 This drew dissenting opinions from Bagnall, Perry and 86 Miller's stand was supported by Frank Rogers, an Englishman who had been Librarian of the University of Otago since 1949 and, having done much to raise the profile of archives work in New Zealand, had been president of the NZLA in 1955/56. When Rogers said in his presidential address,87 'I agree with Mr Miller', he was about to migrate to Australia, leaving Miller to fight his own battles. Miller had spoiled what might have been a case worth serious consideration by displaying a vast ignorance and incomprehension of what was actually being done by libraries outside the small and rather ineffectual 'learned' libraries of the day, so that his expression of his views did not carry much weight at this time. But in the years to come, when dissent on the national library proposal developed on other grounds, some of the things he had said were
When the Public Service Commission committee got down to drafting its report it embarked on another round of consultations. At an early stage Hunn showed a draft to 88 saying, 'I would have thought, though I have not read it, that the case put forward by the NZLA would have contained the soundest ideas.' McIntosh suggested that the draft should be shown to Dunningham: 'He is the most widely experienced librarian in NZ and the most fertile of ideas. I don't think he is as good an all round administrator as Alley, but the two of them are … as able a pair of librarians as you would find in any country today.' He also urged that the draft should be shown in confidence to the NZLA: 'After all the Assn. started this and it would be wise to get their full co-operation … Librarians, like any other group, are a fairly divided body and contentious in their attitude.'
McIntosh, in this letter, gave a warning about the question of parliamentary privilege and prestige and about 'irrational views likely to be taken by Parliamentarians', and added, 'In addition, nowadays, we have the personal attitude of the Speaker, about which I am not prepared to put myself on record.' The Speaker,
On 1 February 1956 Hunn, accompanied by A.B. Thompson, met McIntosh and Alley to discuss the draft and noted their views on a number of issues. Both felt that the past history of the 89 opinion (90
The draft was also made available to the NZLA's committee, which agreed that it represented general agreement with the association's submissions and suggested only minor changes (which were accepted) – for instance, that in a statement that 'the Victoria University College folk thought the 91
The final report,
[N.Z. Public Service Commission. National Library Committee] Proposed National Library 1956. Report of Committee set up by Public Service Commission to examine proposals from the New Zealand Library Association to the Prime Minister. Wn, Public Service Commission, 1956. (Bagnall N3064)
92
was completed in April 1956 and was sent to the acting prime minister at the end of May.93 Its main conclusion was: 'There is a need for a
The report favoured the amalgamation of all the functions of the existing state libraries but with provision for safeguarding special aspects of each library's identity. Regarding the Alexander Turnbull Library, it noted that 'there was a general consensus that a National Library in New Zealand would be incomplete without the Turnbull stocks', and recommended that the original collection and natural accretions have their identity preserved as 'The Alexander Turnbull Collection'. With regard to the
There followed a lengthy period during which the various interested parties raised points and jockeyed for position. In particular, the Speaker insisted that the parliamentary library committee should have time to study the report before it was released to outsiders, so that, although Cabinet approved in principle some early moves towards its implementation on 21 August 1956,94 there was a long hiatus before the council of the NZLA was able to see it.95 During that period, however, both Bolt and Alley before the drafting of a statute.96
The delay was caused partly by a resolution of the parliamentary library committee which was sent to the prime minister on 11 March 1956 but did not become public until September. Reporting that 97 Hunn said later that the suggestion that further information would be needed to arrive at a sound decision was 'a piece of political sophistry. The fact of the matter was that the Legislative Assembly Library was fighting a rearguard action against losing its independence, and this placed the parliamentary Library Committee in an awkward position. They did not wish to abandon their own library to an unwanted liaison so they stalled for time.'98
The government eventually decided to agree to the parliamentary library committee's request for the national library issue to be examined by a select committee, but it did so in a more positive way than some of the committee's members might have wished. On 24 October 1957, on the motion of the decision of the Government99 to establish a 100
Details of the membership and chairmanship of the select committee were not settled at this time, since a general election was due in less than six weeks, but the prime minister wrote to the NZLA, enclosing a copy of the terms of reference of the select committee and suggesting that the association might prepare its views for submission to it.101
The general election which was held on 30 November 1957 resulted in a change of government. The Labour Party won 41 of the 80 seats in Parliament, and
When the Alleys moved to Upper Hutt in October 1946, Geoff and Euphan were both aged 43, Judith was 14, Ruth11, Rod eight and Pat four.1 Their new home was 20 miles from Wellington, not too far to detach Geoff from his library activities but near enough to the rural world to restore his association with it. Ebdentown Road was on the northern fringe of Upper Hutt, and the two acres of land at no.56, which surrounded a spacious and gracious wooden house with a verandah,2 bordered the Hutt River. The land was relatively undeveloped and was big enough (but not too big for someone with other responsibilities) for Geoff to see in it the potential for creating a New Westcote.
The Hutt Valley is divided into two sections at the Taita gorge. The borough of Upper Hutt, which was incorporated in 1926, has its headquarters about four miles further up the valley, but its boundaries take in most of the valley floor back to the gorge. Its population, which was estimated to be about 4000 in 1939, had risen to 5500 by 1946 and was increasing at an accelerating rate. It was still predominantly a rural service town, but it also had, within its boundaries or on its outskirts, a
Upper Hutt was then, in fact, in the early stages of becoming a satellite suburb of Wellington. It was a stimulating place to live in, but its growth was beginning to cause many problems which, 60 years later, are perhaps not so apparent to the inhabitants of the city of 38,000 which now thrives there. To begin with, transport in 1946 was designed mainly to provide 3 and there was of course no public library.
The climate of the upper Hutt valley, separated by hills from the coast and from the Antarctic blasts, is quite different from that of Wellington. It has fiercer frosts in winter and hotter days in summer. Much of the land, being old river bed, is stony, but there are also areas where centuries of floods have deposited good soil. The Hutt River,4 which flows along the base of the western hills in the upper valley, is normally small and wadeable (though with a good flow) but it is an important source of water for the Wellington region, and it is capable of turning on spectacular floods.5
For several years from 1947 Geoff worked heroically to convert his new property into orchard, vegetable, and ornamental gardens, holding up the evening meal until there was no light to work by. Thinking back to that time, Rod said, 'Thank God we escaped daylight saving – as it was the evenings would drag on interminably for us ravenous young ones.' In a remarkably short time (but a long time – perhaps seven or eight years – for a small boy) Geoff formed an estate which was to grow into a rather wild, intriguing, productive, and unique garden, with a distinct personality. He could not have done it without his strength and stamina, nor without his determination to create something that would make the land bear fruit. There was also a touch of fanaticism in the way in which he allowed the estate to use up every bit of available time, and the lives of both Geoff and Euphan were circumscribed by the fact that they had no car until mid- 1953, when an Austin A40 was acquired, so that the siren calls of interests outside Ebdentown Road could be only faintly heard.
At the beginning Geoff was not, in fact, much of a horticulturalist. He had basic gardening knowledge from Westcote and had struggled to make things grow in the stony land near Lumsden, but he was not well prepared for his new challenge. The enthusiasm was there, but the knowledge was not. The gap was filled by voracious reading about all aspects of gardening,
Long-term planning involved especially the orchard, which Geoff located in a relatively difficult patch of ground known as the Hawthorn Paddock. Inherited from the previous owner there were plum trees, and a remarkable cooking apple which no one could identify but which bore heavily. He added many more trees, especially pears, of which he is said to have established 17 different varieties, as well as peaches and nectarines. In the early days of his apprenticeship he dug massive holes in this paddock to receive the first pear trees and was surprised to find, when they were delivered, that they were standard young trees with a root ball of no more than a foot (30 centimetres). The backfilling with soil from the fertile lower flat would have been very good for the trees, but it was not in the initial plan. The ignorance which this episode reveals is astonishing, but equally astonishing is the speed with which Geoff moved on to advanced work with fruit trees. Not only were the techniques of pruning and budding and grafting learned very quickly, but Geoff also developed methods of dealing with the ground around the trees which were designed to conserve minerals and make them available, and also to improve the structure of the soil.
As texts for his orchard endeavours Geoff took two small but authoritative, clear and wise books by Peaches, Apricots and Other Stone Fruits. Of the second, Dessert Pears (Hart-Davis, 1956), he wrote the following note for the NLS booklist, Books to Buy:
The author is a fruit grower with long experience and an unorthodox approach to many problems. He has written successfully about stone fruits and figs, and now has added an equally provocative book in a field in which very little good material has been written. Mr Brooke is a believer in herbage as a means of building up soil structure and supplying plant materials. He is sound on orchard management, harvesting and selection of varieties.
6
The purpose of the vegetable garden, as well as that of the orchard, was to ensure that supplies for the house would come from the garden in sufficient quantity to guard against any possibility of famine. Potatoes, for instance, were grown in enormous quantities and, after digging, were
In the pleasure garden Geoff 's greatest love was probably for roses, including a fine specimen of 'Dainty Bess', of which he wrote in 1970: 'I got it first when I went to U. Hutt from Wgtn in 1946. In one dreadful summer Dainty Bess was the only (almost) rose that wasn't ruined by rainstorms – its single clarity and angelic quality made it unforgettable.'7 But the camellias were also planted and tended with pride, as were many small plants, dainty perennials and shy bulbs.
At the front of our house in Upper Hutt there grows a rose called 'The New Dawn'. A slip of it was given me by Alister many years ago. It's a rambler, a very vigorous one indeed, a delicate pink. It's good to have it. Then in another part of the place there is a pear tree with a piece of the Doyenne du Comice pear from his home in Wesley Road. He gave me these cuttings and I managed to persuade one of them to take in a tree of another variety. So we have two varieties, as is quite common, growing on the same tree. It's fine to have this. Bunyard, the great English pomologist, in his book on hardy fruits describes the Comice pear, 'This delicious fruit can hardly be too highly praised and should be grown in different forms and in positions so that its season may be extended.' The rose and the pear, both members of the same family, Rosaceae, give me great pleasure and symbolise something of my long association with Mac.
8
The work involved in continuing maintenance of the garden and the orchard would not have diminished after they had become established. Gardens are not like that, and in any case the work was important for Geoff, who needed to have contact with the land and be part of the cycle of planting, nurturing, and producing. As John Roberts has remarked, 'The one thing that might have really satisfied GT would have been making a smiling farm out of the bush.'9 This satisfaction was not granted to him, but he was able to combine work on his small patch of land with the equally 10
But Ebdentown Road differed in significant ways from Westcote. There, Frederick farmed the 30 acres, while Clara's domain encompassed the orchard and the flower and vegetable gardens as well as all the comings and goings of interesting people and the direction of the family. In Upper Hutt, Geoff really took on the roles of both his parents, while Euphan, who was intelligent and talented and capable, as she had shown in her work with playcentres in Hataitai, was not able to dominate as Clara had done. Geoff decreed (and was not overruled, as many husbands would have been) that the Shacklock range, which could burn both wood and coal and had a wetback, had to stay and that no electric water heater would be installed. He did a lot of work, like bottling fruit or making his Southland rice pudding overnight, that other husbands would have happily avoided, but he did not understand the need to make it easy for people to do a daily round of domestic chores.
The river-bed was an important extension of the estate for Geoff, not only for its supply of firewood but also for recreation and its calming effect, a sort of safety valve within a safety valve. Well separated from housing and other human developments in that part of the valley, it was peaceful and in the late afternoon of a fine winter's day very beautiful and quiet. 'Would you like to go to the river?' or 'Let's go down to the river' were his invitations to join in wood-gathering, which was carried out to an elaborate plan. There were depositories of wood within reach of the property which he would add to as the summer passed, and which he called 'freezers'. Then, close to autumn, it would all be gathered to a point near the house and Mr Jones, whom the children called 'Sawmilly Jones' (but not to his face), would be summoned. With his portable mill, a large, breaking-down saw powered by a Model T Ford motor, Jones would cut the gathered wood into manageable pieces which could then be split over the next few weeks and stacked in readiness for the winter.
Life in the river-bed really was part of Geoff 's enjoyment of life. Often on a weekend morning he could be found walking up from the river, in shorts and with legs like tree trunks, carrying what looked like another tree on his shoulder, and he would invite friends, as a special treat, to join in the search for wood for their own purposes. And there were other things to be found, too. On one expedition he came across a stash of perfectly good pick-heads which he took under his control, and then offered one to a member of his staff, who accepted it gratefully. He delivered it the next
For a host of reasons going back to his childhood, Geoff was a loner, driven by his own vision in whatever he was doing, who had serious blind spots which prevented his seeing a situation as others saw it. He was the one general (it would be too harsh to say, in his own words, 'the one bad general') who controlled the 2–3–2 scrum in 1928 with great success, and during his later professional career he was still the one general whose contribution was admired and supported by those who were happy to be supporters. His attitude to the design, the operation, and the control of his home was entirely consistent with his management of his outside life, and was logical within the terms of reference he had adopted for himself. That it did not seem logical to many of those who were affected by it would probably have surprised him, and in many ways life under his rule was rich and rewarding.
Geoff was not the kind of librarian whose work is an extension of personal book collecting, but rather the kind who builds libraries for the people and joins the people in using them. The impression given by his home was that there were many books in it, but they tended to be books that were there in passing, rather than ones for which every available inch of space had to be commandeered for shelving. Books of his own which have survived in family hands include works by standard novelists and poets, philosophers and political economists. John Dewey, New Yorker (in the days of its glory) and the Economist, and, unlike many other busy people, he returned to Shakespeare and the Bible to refresh his mind.
Both Geoff and Euphan loved chamber music above all other forms of the art. One of the advantages which the ownership of a car from 1953 brought them was that they were once again able to join the Chamber Music Society, attending the concert series which were given in Lower Hutt. Singing around the piano had continued, with Euphan accompanying and Geoff exercising his fine voice. Although Ebdentown Road was not a centre for artistic and literary life as Westcote had been, there was, nevertheless, a quiet but substantial air of culture in its atmosphere.
Clara continued to live at Westcote after Euphan and their children 11
Clara Maria Alley died on 8 April 1952, aged 85, after a painful illness during which cancer had spread to the bones of her spine and pelvis,12 and was buried next to her father, 13 One of her obituarists, who had known her for only five years, wrote that 'Even in her eighties, she was still the student, intensely interested in all that was happening, keen to know what others were doing and thinking … a fine representative of that earlier generation of self-reliant, capable and intellectually courageous men and women to whom this country owes most that is good in its attainment.'14 Rewi wrote his tribute in a 67-line poem, 'The Good Comrade'. These are some of those lines:
To fight for votes for women in the days of her youth was as bad as being a Communist today, almost; but she fought, and kept on fighting until the votes were given; these here who march all these good peasant women are her comrades, they who shatter the tin clay gods throw out the garbage stand up. How often, as a boy has she taken me by the hand drawn me over to show the tracery of twigs against a winter's sky; or the beauty of a rose bud, or the glory of apple blossom standing so firmly, part of the earth herself, and of its gentleness.
Oliver Duff, writing as 'Sundowner' in the New Zealand Listener, said, 'When I heard of the death of Mrs. Alley – mother of Rewi and in so many hidden ways responsible for him – it was like hearing that a tree had fallen on a perfectly clear day.' He remembered meeting her many years earlier, when 'I came away feeling that I had met an ageless woman; a woman neither young nor old, but standing quite still in a pool of serenity and wisdom.'15
Clara passed on to her family an ethic of integrity, industry, and tolerance, but Frederick, who was principled, upright and pretty tyrannical, was also an enduring model, and one who seems to have influenced Geoff, both positively and negatively, more than others in his family. 'I don't think Dad ever realised what a powerful model that old man was,' Judith has said, and it could be interesting to try to determine what contributions his two parents made to Geoff 's character. There are so many contradictions. He was immensely proud of his children, for instance, but found it hard to express his pride. He was very good with small children and would talk with them solemnly and with genuine interest, but his enthusiasm would wane as they grew older and developed their own ideas and personalities. He found it hard to give praise directly to a member of the family, but would tell others about good things they had done. It was not an easy job, being one of Geoff 's children, and yet they grew up as a very close-knit family with a very strong sense of unity.
There was no state secondary school in Upper Hutt when the Alleys moved there, so the young ones travelled by train to Hutt Valley High School in Lower Hutt – even Pat, although
For those who knew of Geoff as one of the pioneers in integrating women into the public service, in placing them in positions of responsibility, and in promoting equal pay, this attitude towards his own daughters would have seemed strange. It was not unusual at that time for librarians interviewing school leavers for library assistant jobs to find some girls who were clearly cut out for university study but whose parents thought it unsuitable for their daughters, but Geoffrey Alley was not, one would have thought, one of those parents. And yet he does seem to have shown more interest in his sons' potential than in that of his daughters. Judith sang at neighbourhood 16 It is typical of Geoff that his methods of training were not those of the gymnasium and the sports academy. He was scornful of the use of lumps of metal; in his day they threw bags of chaff or bales of hay.
Geoff 's easier relations with his sons would have been partly due to the fact that they had joined the family when he was more settled in his career and when he was at home more than he had been earlier, but the strong influence of his own father meant that he not only adopted attitudes which were common enough in his own time but also reverted to those of an earlier generation. When Judith entered teachers' college, as required, she lived with the Somersets (her aunt Gwen and Crawford) in Wellington, and Ruth, in her turn, also found haven with the Somersets. But Judith was then able to come to see her father in a different perspective as she worked from 1957 to 1959, after gaining teaching experience, in the School Broadcasting Service, using the resources of the School Library Service of the NLS and attending meetings, at which he was also present, on children's literature. Ruth, also, saw another side of him when Geoff lent a hand in getting the New Zealand Players theatre company under way in 1953, not least because Ruth was a performer. 'Of all things,' Rod says, 'he had to stump off to a south Wellington suburb to buy a pair of boots that they needed on the eve of their first performance, this in the midst of a pretty nasty muscular inflammation he had then.' Gwen writes of 'our beautiful niece Ruth', working with the New Zealand Players and determined to be a famous actress.17 Ruth's books, published later in her life, which included two on play school ideas as well as several children's books, attest to a marked sympathy between Gwen and herself.
The régime which Geoff established at Ebdentown Road was good – even admirable – in many ways and influenced his family positively even when they were irked by it. But it was primarily his régime. Members of the family certainly appreciated later both the environment he created and the objectives he aimed for, but the need for them to get out into a wider world as they grew up is evident in some of their reflections on their earlier lives. For others, too, Ebdentown Road was something of a hidden kingdom, though those who did penetrate it were entranced by its atmosphere and people. She had known the Alley family for a long time and, quite apart from professional matters, helped the domestic cause by sending reliable supplies of seed potatoes, especially Jersey Bennes and Epicure. She also found in a Christchurch shop a suitable shot for Pat to put when he was under Geoff 's instruction. Another was
Many of Geoff 's professional associates never got near Ebdentown Road. 18 and a list of other absentees would reveal several surprising omissions, among them people Geoff liked and admired. Of the old-time associates, 19
Within the family circle, the Somersets were also important to the Alleys. Crawford, in particular, got on well with the children and with Euphan, whom he regarded with special affection. Despite his severe physical handicap, resulting from the illness which hit him when he was a young man, he had a sunny nature, was full of jolly, even corny, quips (such as 'Tea up before you drive'), and, as Pat remembers him from childhood, was 'someone who would talk to us at a nicely judged balance
Geoff did not like to be described in public as an old All Black, but his rugby memories were important to him and to his close friends. A photograph of the
In 1956, the year of the first post-war visit by a Springbok team to New Zealand, Jim Burrows was commander of the southern military district in Christchurch and would have attended the 1928 All Black team reunion dinner on 17 August, the evening before the third test, which New Zealand won by 17 to South Africa's 10 at Lancaster Park. On this occasion Geoff proposed the toast of the 20 Earlier, on 4 August, he had assisted the flamboyant radio commentator 21
Another of Geoff 's rugby friendships was with Fred ('Lofty') Earl, a forward who played in the Lumsden team which Geoff captained. Fred made his career in the Railways and in 1930, when his grade was fireman, he played for the Alhambra club in Dunedin and took part in two games for Otago.22 When Geoff was in Upper Hutt, Fred was driving the locomotive WAb687 on the Upper Hutt line, and Geoff sometimes rode in the cab with him. Geoff would also, some lunch hours, go through the Wellington railway yards with pieces of steak and some onions and they would cook up a good feed in the sheds. Geoff was deeply shocked when Fred died in 1955.
On the whole the Alleys were not particularly gregarious. Geoff was
Some of these friends became involved in a campaign to persuade the borough council to establish a public library. Among them were Dick and Upper Hutt Times, which had been established in 1949 partly to present a different view on local politics from that of the older Upper Hutt Leader, which tended to follow the borough council's line. The Times was controlled by a directorate, made up mainly of Upper Hutt district farmers and town businessmen, led by Times was the need for a public library and, as the campaign developed, 23
It was not an easy job to get through the defences of the entrenched borough council, which had beaten back several attempts to overcome the reluctance of a majority of its members to establish a public library, including one by a committee of local organisations which had recommended that a library should be the local war memorial, a proposal which was supported by all the organisations concerned except the 24
The decisive push began when, in October 1951, the Times reported that a small temporary building had been offered to the council by a local businessman for use as a public library, and that the offer had been
The February meeting, attended by some 50 people, was addressed by Times, 'ask the Mayor of Upper Hutt if he thinks that members of the Wallaceville Laboratory staff float about in a sort of civic limbo, and don't have homes and families and do not pay rates. Of the twelve members of the Lab. staff who attended the recent Library meeting in St. David's Hall, ten are married and have homes in the Borough, on which they pay rates – and have done so for many years! They are first of all citizens – good solid members of the community. Where a man works does not affect his everyday physical and cultural needs.'25
The mayor also unintentionally helped to swing public opinion in favour of the library when he said at a meeting of the council that he had an interest in a small bookshop in Upper Hutt and 'was in a position to know that there was no widespread need yet for facilities beyond those now in the district'. This gave correspondents to the Times the opportunity to point out that the mayor's interest was in fact in a private lending library, and the editor the chance to suggest that 'any councillor whose private interests may influence his voting should remain out of earshot while the matter is being discussed'.26
The council's committee reported early in April, recommending that steps be taken towards the establishment of a library, including the provision of £2000 in the coming year's estimates. But, since two councillors had resigned and a by-election was to be held on 3 May, the council decided to refer the library matter to a poll of ratepayers to be held at the same 27
The campaign committee was now able to focus its efforts on a specific objective, and in so doing it set out to demonstrate the range of books and services that would be available from a well-organised public library which qualified for assistance from the National Library Service. The Times gave space to extracts from a talk on libraries given by
When polling day came the ratepayers were asked to say whether or not they wanted a free public library. It was a small poll, but the library project was supported by 351 voters and turned down by 258. Of the eight candidates who stood for election, seven had proclaimed as part of their platform that they favoured the establishment of a public library, and the two who were elected were keen library supporters, described by the Times as 'forthright men endowed with commonsense and the ability to express their opinions fluently and with a solid background of business experience [who] will be an asset in raising the borough out of the quagmire it is in to the standard of a modern self-contained city'.28
Geoff 's public role in relation to the library campaign was strictly in accordance with the policies that had been accepted by the government for many years. Factual information was provided to organisations and committees which were recognised by the local authority, and assistance such as the provision of books to illustrate the kind of service a public library linked to the NLS could provide was given upon request and not as part of an unofficial campaign. He himself did not figure publicly. His name was 29
After the poll there could be no holding back. When a new initiative is approved amid controversy, it must be established and be operating effectively while enthusiasm for it is still alive, and those who had been involved in the campaign had to get the library up and running quickly. 30 and commuters on the Wellington trains were agreeing that the public library was 'the only good thing the Council had ever done'.31
Because of the very small budget which had at first been allowed for the library, it could not have operated without the assistance of over 20 volunteers, who were recruited and organised by 32 A couple of these were members of the NLS staff, whom Geoff allowed to go home early to prepare for evening duty on the grounds that their work in such matters as selecting books for the CLS would benefit from the experience. 33
At about the same time that the public library was being established, Geoff and some of his friends, including 34 and an election for six members was set down for 23 August. There were 30 candidates. The entire 35 It then transpired that one of the successful candidates was not eligible, since he was not a resident of the borough, and the election was declared null and void. The licence allotted to the trust then lapsed and the whole idea of a trust sank without trace, to the relief, no doubt, of the licensee of the
This chapter is about Geoff Alley's creation of a world that sustained him apart from the world of work and professional achievement. It may be taken to cover this part of his story to about the end of the 1950s, by which time his world was as settled and permanent as any human creation can be. Although family members grew up and moved away, not always with the fondest memories of all parts of life there, and the parents got older, Ebdentown Road became an entity which remained with them.
In many respects Geoff 's life as a busy senior public servant with a suburban home which offered scope for manual work and with some involvement in local affairs was typical of his time and of New Zealand. But the Ebdentown property, in all its size and complexity, was much more than something that the average New Zealander needed just to keep in touch with real life. It was a separate life. It was a sanctuary; it was stress management; it was therapy. After a bad day Geoff would go straight out into the garden, in winter with a torch. After a tough NZLA meeting he would go home and pick peaches. He would think about library problems while working in the vegetable garden. He would often preface a new idea at work with 'When I was thinning the carrots …', and members of the family sometimes heard him rehearsing arguments to be used in difficult professional encounters to come while he worked away in the garden. He did not just plant his fruit trees; he studied the question, sought out the best authorities, made himself an expert on orchards. He shared the enterprise with his cats, of which (or whom) he was deeply fond, and members of the family were also dragooned, perhaps less willingly than the cats, into support of it. And, despite apparent privations, there was a sort of luxury in the frugal conditions he preferred because, though frugal, they were based on a plentiful supply of the good things of life.
Visitors who saw Ebdentown Road when the ambience that Geoff created had matured have commented on a 'large orchard and garden; many very large apple and pear trees bearing different varieties; some lawn at back and front; other large European trees, two of which had a hammock slung 36 and a 'rambling white house in the middle of a large untidy garden'.37 It is easy to imagine the lord of this manor cramming himself into his Austin A40 to set out on one of his rare excursions, aiming to be back as soon as possible.
Geoff made himself into a great gardener and a great grower of things and, as Judith has said, 'the old place had some great magic about it'. Once, when sending a Christmas card which bore a reproduction of a painting by Balthasar Denner (1685–1749) entitled 'Stilleben mit Äpfeln und Pokal', she wrote on it, 'The apples, wine and nuts remind me of just the "snack" Dad would love.'
Many of those who cherished nostalgic memories of the first Labour government – and librarians tended to be among them – thought that the second Labour government, which took office at the end of 1957, would return New Zealand to the road that had led towards the promised land. Alley was not one of them. He was as dismayed by his assessment of the overall quality of Labour's parliamentary membership as he had been by his perception of the form of the
1 and that in his work he could scarcely see the problems for the files.2 3
A prime minister of this kind could have been propped up if there had been enough sound and sturdy props to support him, but the parliamentary party by this time was shaky. One of Fraser's good qualities, which was also an unfortunate one, was his loyalty to his old associates. 4 In the later years of the Fraser government a number of very good young people had joined the government caucus, but Fraser was often uncomfortable with them and he failed to ensure that they got safe seats, so that a number of those who should have been ready for Cabinet posts in 1957 were not there.
The Nash government was also hamstrung by serious economic problems which were partly outside its control. The 1957 election campaign was dominated by the need to deal with the prospect of double taxation during 1958, when the old end-of-year income tax system was to be replaced by PAYE. It was really a contest between National's bribe and Labour's bribe, and Labour's, which included billboards offering a £100 rebate (with a very small 'up to' before a very large '£100'), was enough to secure a very small majority. This could be excused as political gamesmanship, but a more serious problem was an overseas exchange crisis which neither party had said much about during the campaign. Members of the staff of the 5 and the storm hit before
The two major issues which faced the library world at the beginning of 1958 were the proposals that had been promoted by the NZLA for the establishment of a national library and for the development of a regional organisation for the provision of library service. In the case of the national library proposal, the establishment of a parliamentary select committee (referred to in documents as 'the National Library Committee') by the previous government was confirmed in February 1958, under the chairmanship of the 6
Each of these proposals was therefore safely on its way to serious discussion, but, regardless of any changes in library service that they might lead to, life had to go on in all parts of the existing system. The Country Library Service had settled into a pattern of working which was strongly appreciated by readers in rural districts and smaller towns and for which a viable alternative was hard to imagine in the absence of the creation, in a reformed system of local government, of authorities which were capable of taking over the functions of the CLS. As Helen Sullivan has said, while the staff of the CLS understood that, ideally, the existing system of library provision in these areas was an interim measure, 'The discussions within the NZLA about the development of regional library service and impatience with the continuing service of the CLS often showed a misunderstanding of the value of this economical solution to the special problems of providing access to library service for all New Zealanders. Many of the overseas patterns of regional library service were cumbersome and no doubt costly to administer.'7
The National Library Centre of the NLS and the book resources committee of the NZLA, steered by Alley and 8 An approach was made to the government along these lines, but, alas, the proposal never got off the ground. Other existing operations, such as the School Library Service and the Library School, pressed on regardless of the great plans for the future.
On 15 July 1958 the book resources committee met Keyes D. Metcalf, a former director of 9 the National Library of Australia had invited him to advise on the planning of its new building in Canberra. On his way to Australia he spent two weeks in New Zealand as a guest of the government, visiting university, public, and special libraries, as well as reading recent reports on New Zealand library matters. In his remarks to the committee10 he raised a number of questions which were likely to become increasingly urgent as New Zealand libraries developed. After describing his own thinking on total national library resources, he said: 'I think you have gone a good deal further along in New Zealand than we have in the States, partly because your total funds have been more meagre and you have had to play together more than we did. It took us too long to come to the broad point of view. But if you can agree that what we are trying to do is to increase the resources of the country as far as possible then you can look at it in a different light than if you look at it from the point of view of your own library.' He saw great problems ahead for New Zealand university libraries: 'You have a country large enough for one good university that has four universities, each one naturally wanting to become a great university. Are there funds available for you to do it? Can you build four great research libraries in your university system? From what I have seen and heard it seems to me doubtful if you can, and if you can't what are you going to do about it? That is your problem.'
After this meeting Metcalf went on to Australia. He never visited New Zealand again, but New Zealand's libraries and librarians had joined his many other personal interests. From the local point of view, his personality and his way of thinking influenced many of those New Zealand librarians who were exposed to them.11 Although he had been in charge of one of the world's greatest libraries, he thought frugally, and so, in talking to librarians who were perforce frugal, he was able to help them raise their sights in aiming for the future. His approach, which was, essentially, to use meagre resources to get the greatest benefit for the greatest number of people, was especially close to Alley's way of thinking.
Alley was elected vice-president of the NZLA at its conference in February 1958. He was nominated by 12 In June13 One has to remember that hostility to Rewi, and, by association, to all the Alleys, was a political fact for quite a long time. Rewi wrote that when he came back on a visit in 1960 'I was a kind of criminal, very suspect',14 and the
Parliament's select committee, the national library committee, began its consultations in May 1958. Its membership consisted of six Labour MPs (15
The committee was charged with reporting on the ways and means of carrying out 'the decision of the Government to establish a National Library', which, on the face of it, was a fairly straightforward task, but its members would have been aware of the fact that a number of difficult questions concerning the organisation and administration of a national library had not been resolved simply by the government's decision. The tough questions were related especially to the Alexander Turnbull Library and the General Assembly Library, around which two quite separate groups of defenders assembled, whose views would have to be considered. (Hunn's committee had of course already said that the special aspects of each library's identity should be safeguarded, but who would want to acknowledge that when there was the chance of a cause to battle for?) In the background was the fact that Alley had clearly become the most influential of the heads of the three state libraries, and some critics feared that he would force the other two to adopt what they imagined to be his ideas and policies.
In the case of the 16 with Alley's blessing. Harold Miller at Victoria was the probably unintentional
Protectors of the General Assembly Library were potentially a greater problem because of the sensitivity of members of Parliament to threats to parliamentary privilege, which could always be used, with or without reason, to turn a debate or damn a proposal. 17 All of these parties were subject to sudden change, and to them could be added the possible effect of a backbencher or two intent on making a mark. Constitutional privilege is a very important principle, but even those who do all they can to try to preserve it can be thrown on to the defensive if it is part of some politician's agenda that they should be.
The reaction of the parliamentary library committee to the Hunn report, which had led to the government's making a firm decision to establish a national library but to refer matters relating to it to a parliamentary select committee in October 1957, has been noted in chapter 10. Before that date, however, Robert Stout, a medical officer in the Railways who was also a book collector and president of the Evening Post deploring the possibility that the fate of such a remarkable library as the Turnbull might be decided on the recommendation of a non-parliamentary committee: 'Any policy that may diminish its standing,' he wrote, 'could rebound to the nation's discredit far more than the possible efficiency of a great composite organisation.'18
19 The annual report of the NLS simply said that the Hunn committee's proposal 'merits the most careful consideration'.20 These are but a few of the ranging shots that were fired at that time. Members of the national library committee would have been well aware that they had a delicate assignment.
At the first meeting of the committee, on 7 March 1958, the chairman had suggested that it might not be necessary to call further evidence, since the inter-departmental committee's report was the result of very full investigation from all sources.21 None of the other members supported this view. Instead, the committee embarked on a series of meetings at which it
Harold Miller reiterated his view that a national library should be a reference library, like the Library of Congress and the British Museum, and that the present National Library Service should continue, as a separate organisation, as a national lending library co-ordinating inter-library lending and looking after the Country Library Service and the School Library Service. 'The needs of Parliament and the Public Service,' he said, 'will not be sufficiently met by a small reference collection, but will require a large collection of material on political and economic and sociological and historical subjects, which it should be an important part of the National Library's work to maintain, and which should be available when wanted and not dispersed about the country.' A national library should stand for something in the public mind, 'and it will hardly be so regarded if the stock is largely made up of books for school children and works of fiction'.
Alley, in a letter which supplemented his verbal evidence, said that a national library should be established 'in the interests of economical and efficient administration and the use of our national resources', and added that, provided existing services were safeguarded, and provided the country was not deprived of the nationwide access to books it had at present, the National Library Service 'could form one unit of a national library'. He was sure that safeguards for the Alexander Turnbull Library and the General Assembly Library could be provided for, and that both would gain from closer association with each other and with the wider stock of the national library.
Submissions by the NZLA22 were presented by
With regard to the
On the Alexander Turnbull Library, the NZLA said that it was 'of course' undesirable that its rare books and other similar material should be lent, but that other national lending functions of the national library should be retained in order to maintain services to scholars and advanced students.
The committee had had before it the report of the Hunn committee, and several of its members had been members of the parliamentary library committee which had discussed this report at length. During its own proceedings it had heard at least a good sample of reactions from both supporters and opponents of the national library proposals. Although its focus was officially on the ways and means of carrying out the government's decision to establish a national library, it could have reported against the decision or watered it down by recommending that its more contentious elements be removed. It did neither of these. The crucial recommendations in its report23 were:
- That as an initial step the three existing State libraries be grouped together in a central organisation with a chief executive and other necessary officers, and that such organisation be placed within the jurisdiction of the
Department of Education and under the control of the Minister of Education.- That the National Library be left to develop gradually by and through flexible administrative processes and with the aid of a suitably constituted advisory committee.
It acknowledged that a building for the national library could not be provided immediately, but it recommended that urgent action should be taken to provide better accommodation for the National Library Service. In doing so it strayed into areas of detail in which it began to flounder, putting forward a scheme for the construction of a building for the NLS on a site at the back of the
In introducing the report to Parliament on 19 September 1958,24 Carr said that it had really been drafted by Algie, and Algie, after saying that the report was a good one, strongly recommended it to the sympathetic attention of the government. 'We have been very reasonable,' he said, 'and not laid an unnecessary burden on the shoulders of the Government but have put before it a thoroughly practicable, reasoned proposition.'
Alley wrote to the minister of education on 2 October 1958, drawing attention to the national library committee's first recommendation and recommending that a national library be established administratively under the minister of education, and that the Public Service Commission be asked to proceed with the appointment of a national librarian responsible to the minister of education. A ministerial paper along these lines was immediately prepared for Cabinet, but it disappeared into the maw of Treasury. Meanwhile, reactions to the committee's report began to emerge in the outside world.
25 noted that the committee had reached conclusions and recommended action which was 'not … markedly different from the proposals which represented majority Association opinion'. The NZLA made a similar comment in its annual report for 1958, but acknowledged that the report was 'only another step (admittedly a big one) in the direction of a 26 27 Such announcements often prove to be over-optimistic.
The Department of Internal Affairs, in its March 1959 annual report, agreed that there was a need for a national library, but disagreed with the proposals set out in the report. The national library should act as a reference and research institute at a scholarly level, it said, and the national lending service was 'properly the function of local authorities and should remain so.' Furthermore, the establishment of a national library would be premature unless simultaneously accompanied by the provision of a modern building.28 29
Below the surface there was a great deal of activity, much of it designed to ensure that no activity occurred. After the paper proposing the appointment of a national librarian had been sent to Treasury, Nash discussed it with Alley on 5 November 1958 and asked that it be re-submitted on a new basis leaving out the 30 Clearly, the prime minister was not looking for trouble. Treasury, after sitting on the paper for five months, declined to support the proposal in a report in which its misrepresentation of the national library committee's report was so blatant as almost to excite admiration. Although the first recommendation of the select committee dealt with central organisation of the national library, it said, this did not signify that it was the first priority. In Treasury's reading, the most emphasis was given to the housing of the National Library Service, while the national library should be left to develop gradually.31 Alley commented that Treasury seemed to have missed the significance of the proposal as a whole, which was not simply to give the country an essential copingstone to the organisation and use of its printed resources but to effect economies and improve efficiencies in administration. The point about 'gradual development', which was to give scope for tact and discretion in breaking down the barriers of independent policy, had been entirely missed by Treasury.32
During the next year or so Cabinet deferred making a decision, there were occasional discussions between interested ministers, Hunn did a stint as acting head of the 33 But inaction continued.
And Alley – well, Alley had a lot of other things on his mind, though he was careful to maintain the proprieties in dealing with matters concerning New Zealand Official Yearbook, he said that 'NLS couldn't possibly be a party to a move to replace WTu [the 34 In the meantime, there was the question of regional library service to consider.
After the minister of education had suggested that the NZLA should await the report of the Royal Commission on Local Authority Finance before providing more information to the government on its request for assistance in promoting the principle of co-operation in organising a regional approach to public library service, Alley withdrew from the convenership of the association's committee on regional library cooperation in favour of Dunningham. Dunningham, with Hubert Brown, a Dunedin city councillor who was also chairman of the association's local authorities section, presented a submission35 to the royal commission which argued for federations of local authorities, similar to large city systems, each with a central library and many branches, facilitated by government cash subsidies on local expenditure. The Municipal Association supported the NZLA to the extent of agreeing with the idea of a government subsidy to local authorities for library purposes, and the royal commission also reported favourably, adding that it commended 'the suggestion of the Libraries' Association for the co-ordination of national and local library services [but that] this is a matter for discussion and decision among the parties concerned'.36
Meanwhile, the NZLA had suggested that two pilot schemes could be used to test the proposals, and the National Library Service had prepared a detailed scheme based on 37 Government consideration of the proposal for a pilot scheme did not take place until late in 1959, after some other events to which we should now pay attention.
A special job which Alley took on when he became vice-president of the NZLA in February 1958 was the convenership of an activities committee. A committee of this name had been established in 1955 to consider the effectiveness of the association in realising its aims and to recommend appropriate action, including amendments to the rules. It had not reported and had been allowed to disappear, but the idea had not been forgotten.
Alley threw himself into this task, amassing a great deal of historical information, and prepared a draft report in a series of topical sections which he discussed with members of the committee in correspondence and in several meetings. This first draft,38 which went to 34 pages of foolscap, was (and still is) a valuable historical document, not only because of the information it contained on the association and the development of its policies, but also because of the informed commentary which Alley and other members were able to add. Having taken the work to this point, Alley retired from the committee in August 1958 and was replaced as convener by 39 Perry simply filed this letter.
Perry then steered the activities committee through a conference discussion in 1959, the preparation of a further long document, the sponsoring of papers which were published before the 1960 conference,40 and a consolidation of the rules of the association which included changes to those which governed the election of councillors and officers, the stated objects of the association, subscriptions, institutional delegates, voting methods, and the governance of sections.41 These proposals, none of which made fundamental changes, were accepted by the annual general meeting on 19 Febuary 1960.42 Another proposal, intended to reorganise and strengthen the professional membership of the association by converting its branches into branches of its professional section,43 was put forward by
In presenting the activities committee's proposals, Perry said that the work which had been done by the committee under Alley's convenership had been 'just amazing'.44 This was a fair and deserved comment. Alley had taken a moribund committee and made it work, and in doing so had done much to create a full historical document, which no one else could
In February 1958 (how that date keeps cropping up at this stage!) the four university librarians, who had been asked by the senate of the University of New Zealand in 1957 to recommend space formulae for the planning of new library buildings, decided, after this experience of working together, to establish themselves, with their deputies, as a standing committee of university librarians (SCUL), modelled on (but smaller than) a similar organisation in the 45 Alley reacted vehemently to the news of the birth of this new arrival, maintaining that no organisation but the
The chairman of SCUL, Harold Miller, applied to the University of New Zealand for approval and funding for regular conferences, but the request was turned down in view of the ability of SCUL's members to attend NZLA meetings.46 At that time, before the establishment of an independent University Grants Committee in 1961, the government's link with the University of New Zealand on routine matters was through the officer for higher education (
Shortly after he began his attachment to the Commonwealth National Library in Canberra, Keyes Metcalf agreed with the Librarian, Harold L. White, that he should conduct an advanced seminar for senior librarians 47
After discussing the matter with Alley and Perry, and then polling members of the NZLA council on possible participants, Sandall nominated himself and Alley, as senior librarians, together with 48 The corporation responded with a grant of $US1400.49 Alley's attendance was approved by Cabinet, at a cost to the government of £150.50 At a late stage Metcalf said that he hoped that Dunningham and 51 but by then the list had been settled. In any case, Dunningham had almost finished his career, and Alley, whose choice probably prevailed, was clearly looking to the future; and that future would not, in Alley's eyes, have included 52
Planning for the advanced library seminar was based on Metcalf 's known ability to guide apparently informal discussion between members of informed groups of professional librarians in such a way as to draw out and perhaps reconcile differing points of view and to lay the basis for long-term thinking. He was also the unflamboyant but impressive kind of New Englander who could impose his personality without appearing to do so. In his introductory memorandum White said: 'Dr. Metcalf wishes to avoid technical details and will attempt to deal with basic objectives 53 The topics set out in a brief 'Proposed Schedule' included acquisitions problems, cataloguing problems, public service/use of the library, personnel problems, space problems, and planning for the future.
The New Zealanders all allowed time in their itineraries to visit libraries, mainly in Sydney and Melbourne, before going on to Canberra. Alley and McEldowney travelled by sea (in the Union Steam Ship Company's trusty old Monowai), which enabled Alley to recall the sea voyage to South Africa in 1928; the others flew by DC-6 (six hours to Sydney). Either way it was a short journey, only 1200 miles, but for librarians it was a journey into the unknown. Difficult as it is to comprehend nearly 50 years later, at that time Australian and New Zealand librarians knew practically nothing of each other or of each other's libraries. A note by 54 would have been the only glimpse of life across the Tasman that the New Zealanders had had, while the Australians would have been even less aware of bibliographical life in the Shaky Isles.
On his first morning in Sydney, as he set out to visit 55
The seminar was hard work, but no publication emerged from it. As Metcalf wrote to the participants later, 'In my opinion it was simply not the kind of seminar where the written record would be worthwhile. We purposely and deliberately had a wide open discussion which didn't always keep on the track.'56 But during the discussions Metcalf ensured that topics which were in the members' minds but had not previously been
From the point of view of the New Zealanders, the differences between the two countries in the ways in which their library services had developed were enlightening. Much of the discussion was devoted to disputes which had arisen between the Australian university libraries and the state libraries. These arose from the increasing importance of the university libraries and a perception, by some state librarians, that these upstarts were encroaching on their preserve. Feelings had got rather out of hand, and one of Metcalf 's achievements was to help to make it possible for the temperature to be reduced in a discussion which some have described as cathartic. For the New Zealanders this was really a local problem, though instructive, but in other matters different ways had developed of dealing with common problems. In education for librarianship, for instance, Australia had followed British practice in conducting centrally controlled and examined in-service training, while New Zealand, after Mary Parsons, was committed to the American tradition of the graduate library school, supplemented by lowerlevel in-service training. The New Zealanders were less than impressed by Australian public libraries, which seemed to operate in isolation without the co-operative approach that they were used to, and found it significant that they were barely represented at the seminar. But on the other hand, the development of reference and research libraries, among which the state libraries formed an important group, was far more advanced in Australia. On points like these participants cross-examined each other, both in the meetings and outside.57
Of relations between Australian and New Zealand librarians it can be said that the seminar created a sharp boundary between the pre-Canberra and post-Canberra eras. Each group learned from the other, but it was even more important that they got on so well together, so that a sense of being a common group, participating together in trying to achieve common aims, 58
Alley himself did not take part prominently in the seminar discussions, and some Australian librarians have remarked that he made very little impact on them.59 Nor did he take a leading part in the close relationships which developed generally as a result of the seminar. But, in addition to attending a special meeting of the librarians of state and national library systems,60 he did form close friendships with three of the participants:
61 At the time of the Canberra seminar he was associate Librarian, and about to become the librarian, of the Fisher Library, University of Sydney.
Of the three, Metcalf was the one with whom Alley formed the strongest friendship, one which lasted until death parted them. Born in 1889, the 17th of 18 children of a father whose own birth was in 1822, he grew 62
Keyes graduated AB from Oberlin College in northern Ohio, where he distinguished himself on the football (gridiron) and track teams. In vacations he worked as a hired hand on hill farms or, one year, 'as an axe man, the junior member of a surveying party that was locating ten miles of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul, and Pacific Transcontinental Railroad in Montana's Bitter Root Mountains'.63 For a career he decided upon libraries, following the example of other members of his family. His first job, in the Oberlin College Library, led in 1911 to his becoming a member of the first class of the Library School of the New York Public Library, and then to positions of increasing seniority in that library until 1937, when he went to Harvard. In the New York Public Library and the other great library institutions of New York he worked with people like Minnie Sears, Isadore Mudge, and 64 This, still later, was another link between him and New Zealand libraries.
Metcalf 's career, like Alley's, had this strong element of real life in it which enabled them to put the academic world in perspective. With similar experience, similar temperaments, similar attitudes towards public service, and an appreciation of the needs of readers from all walks of life, they understood and appreciated each other. Metcalf, 'quiet, even-tempered, patient, and unhurried',65 was able to see the qualities that Alley's demeanour sometimes obscured and to appreciate his work; 'I think he provides the best rural library service in the world,' he told an Australian administrator.66 For Alley, Metcalf became another mentor on the same level as 67
68 had started to investigate the possibility of appointing a suitable American librarian to carry it out. When Metcalf was in New Zealand in July 1958, Sandall and Alley discussed several names with him, and these discussions continued in Canberra in December. Metcalf recommended Osborn, because of his earlier experience of working with him on similar projects, but pointed out that he might not be able to undertake the task immediately, in view of his imminent assumption of the University of Sydney librarianship. Despite this small problem, which, annoying though it was, would have been less serious in its effects than the precipitate engagement of a less experienced surveyor, the NZLA council agreed to invite Osborn to carry out a survey, an invitation which Alley, by now president, conveyed to him in March 1959. Osborn was deeply appreciative, saying, 'I enjoyed our contacts so very much in December that I can think of nothing finer than an opportunity to work closely with you', and remarking in passing that he had taught New Zealand history at Harvard. He suggested October–December 1959 for the operation.69
When Munn and Barr carried out their survey in 1934 there were very few special or research libraries in New Zealand.
The purpose of the survey is to inquire into and report upon the nature and extent of the resources of printed and associated near-print, manuscript, and audio-visual material in all types of New Zealand libraries supported directly or indirectly from public funds.
Other paragraphs referred to the adequacy of such resources, ways of increasing them, and action needed to ensure their co-operative availability and use.70
The survey was carried out under the aegis of the book resources committee of the NZLA, which, of course, was closely associated with the National Library Service. Alley got ministerial approval (giving an assurance that no additional expenditure would be involved) for him to give Osborn 'any facilities and information he may need for the study',71 and then, with the approval of the NZLA council, assigned 72 in time for it to be printed and presented to the NZLA conference in February 1960. As Bagnall described the operation, 'Although statistical data was available, the emphasis was that of a personal overview of a wide range of institutions and their holdings. It lacked, for instance, the analytical depth of McEldowney's narrower but more intensive survey of university library resources twelve years later.73 It nevertheless had the advantage of good timing being in phase with other committee proposals … The 31 wide-ranging recommendations covered not only the basic financial and organisational needs of the system as a whole but also those of school, university, special, and public libraries and the need for a national library'.74
Osborn and Bagnall were a good team. Bagnall knew as much as anyone about the whole range of library resources in New Zealand, and had strong views on them which were mainly in tune with Osborn's ideas. Osborn was experienced in quickly assessing the strengths and weaknesses of collections and was naturally conscious of his own standing in the field. An interesting example of their interaction occurred over 75 But 'the cruellest blow' remained in the report (page 30), in a chapter headed 'Long-standing Weakness of the University Libraries', albeit with an explanatory note.
One of the other committees whose work coincided with Osborn's survey was the government-appointed committee on New Zealand universities chaired by David Hughes Parry, whose report, dated 8 December 1959, was to lead to the expansion of the role of university education and research, including a transition from a single University of New Zealand with constituent colleges to separate universities dealing with the government through a University Grants Committee established by statute. When Ross Rowley, who had been assigned by the 76 Alley followed this conversation with a letter to Rowley (based on a draft by Bagnall), saying that 'Dr Osborn is very strongly of the opinion that a 77 Other points which he made in this letter were that the development of a national library should not prejudice the development of university libraries; that a national library board would replace the book resources committee of the NZLA; and that 'No plans for improvement in the university library field will be effective unless the quality and quantity of staff is improved. The loss of such a figure as
The Hughes Parry committee included a useful section on libraries in its report,78 which Alley later attributed to Osborn's on-the-spot presence.79 It urged, among other things, that the professorial boards assume more responsibility than they had hitherto, 'to ensure balanced growth in the university libraries, reflecting both the growth in student numbers and the diversification of programmes of study', and recommended that its proposed Grants Committee should establish a standing committee on library resources, with wide terms of reference.
In a review of Osborn's report which was published in the Library Journal,80 Keyes Metcalf said, rather disingenuously, that, having had the pleasure of seeing Osborn in action in 1958 in Australia, he had not been surprised to learn that he had been selected by the NZLA to make its survey; and he ended his review, which ranged over the history of New Zealand libraries since Munn–Barr, by predicting that the Osborn report would be another landmark if the impetus provided by it should result in prompt action, 'particularly in the development of a national library system and in more adequate university libraries'. In fact, the report itself did not make a huge impact, though it did provide useful quotations for special occasions, such as the presentation of submissions to the Industrial Development Conference in 1960. The time for broad general surveys had really passed. More important in 1959 was the fact that Osborn, who was an impressive figure with an impressive record, was available to be introduced to people who were involved in planning the future of education, and those who were in the middle of the long journey towards a national library. It is unlikely that the Hughes Parry report would have had such an important influence on the universities' attitudes towards their libraries if Osborn had not been available to talk to its authors. For librarians, Osborn was a concrete reminder of the emphasis on research and scholarship that came from the Canberra seminar.
Work which could be carried on within the National Library Service, or by the NLS in conjunction with the book resources committee, continued normally at this time. Bagnall was able to report in 1959, for instance, that work on the section of the national bibliography covering the years 1890 to 1960 was about half done, though he did not mention, as Alley did elsewhere, that, because of his other commitments, he was doing the work 'outside normal working hours'.81 'Work is still at the stage of large-scale netting,' he wrote, 'although naturally the fish being caught are smaller and the examination to determine their status takes longer.'82 Work was also proceeding, with the co-operation of many librarians throughout the country, on the list of important works in sets and runs of periodicals which were not held in any New Zealand library, for which the NZLA had decided to ask the government for a special grant. Limited to items which were valued at £50 or more, and totalling about £30,000, which was about two and a half times the total annual book and periodical budget for a university library at that time, such a grant, under terms which would have placed each item in the library that was most suited to hold it, would have been an imaginative and effective way of breaking down many obstacles to research, but when Alley placed the list and the association's request before the minister of education he got nowhere. The problem seemed to be that the minister was shaken to find that so many of the titles were in foreign languages. Alley managed in 1960 to squeeze one small allocation, of £2000, from NLS funds for the purchase of some items,83 and a small sum received from lottery funds was applied to the same purpose, but apart from that the project had to be dropped.84
A similar lack of understanding was encountered when the government imposed severe restrictions on the importation of gramophone records after an economic crisis developed in 1958. On this occasion the minister of customs thought that production capacity in New Zealand was more than sufficient to produce all the country's needs, and it took 18 months, and the help of Professor Fred Page of Victoria University, to persuade him that the production capacity would not produce records for which there was very little demand but which musicians and musicologists needed to have.
And, of course, there was no progress at this time over the question of a national library. The recommendations which had been made by the national library committee were placed before Cabinet at regular intervals, together with other informative reports,85 but a decision was regularly deferred. Confronted by the adverse Treasury report, by differences of opinion over which department a national library should be attached to, and by difficulties raised by the various interested parties, no one was prepared to take the decisive step of implementing the committee's crucial
Towards the end of 1959 Alley became involved in a controversy over rugby relations between New Zealand and South Africa. In planning an All Black tour which was to take place in 1960, the 86 he declined to do so.
Alley was one of many prominent people who associated themselves with the protest. After he spoke at a meeting in Lower Hutt he was told by the Citizens' All Black Tour Association 'how heartened we were by your statement … last week'.87 His friend Jim Burrows told the association that he was not able, as a serving officer, to take part in a deputation to the Rugby Union, but 'In a private capacity I have been able to take some action however, and will continue to do so.'88 Since the Rugby Union declined to receive a deputation at this stage, the association then decided to arrange for one to meet the prime minister. This meeting took place on 26 February 1960, when 51 people, including church leaders and representatives of many organisations, asked Nash and 89 This protest did not succeed; the 1960 tour went ahead as planned, helping to build up a head of steam for future occasions.
In the week before the meeting with Nash on rugby matters the NZLA held its jubilee conference in Dunedin, the city which had taken the initiative in 1910 in calling the meeting of library authorities which established the Libraries Association of New Zealand. The conference was opened by
In his presidential address90 Alley recalled the earliest years of the association, when
Guests at the conference dinner included Falter Tom and the Water Boy, and the prime minister, Service settled in such a way as to pre-empt plans for a national library. Others, of course, would have been delighted.
Immediately after the NZLA conference the proposals for a pilot regional scheme based on 91 It was presented to a meeting of local authorities on 31 May 1960, after which a detailed survey of the reactions of individual authorities was begun. But by then there had been some temporary but dramatic changes in the management of the NLS.
On Saturday 26 March 1960 Pat Alley, aged 18, represented 92
Many cars, including those of the A40's vintage, did not have seat belts in those days, so Alley's instinctive reaction was to throw a brawny arm across 93 The other driver and his passenger were both severely injured, and the passenger, who had gone through the windscreen, died later in hospital.
Alley was kept in Hutt Hospital for seven months, Pat for seven weeks (much longer than would have been normal later). On the day following the accident, when three of the priests visited him, Alley remembered that St The Bible Designed to be Read as Literature. And he formed a strong friendship with Fractured Woman – thought that might be appropriate.'94 But mentally, the discovery that he was not invulnerable was a blow to his pride, and physically he was never able to recover the ability to work on his estate as intensively as he had done. Pat recalls finding him at home two days after getting out of hospital, superphosphate on his crutches and in a foul mood from frustration, and Rod noted that after 1960 'the whole pace and tempo of what he could do out there changed hugely'.95
In 1960 the alcoholic content of accident victims was not routinely checked. The other driver was convicted of dangerous driving and penalised fairly lightly, but legal negotiations got Alley a large sum in compensation: about £5000 or £6000, which would have been about three times his annual salary. He had to undertake to refund the Public Service Commission 'sick pay from any sum paid by way of compensation'.96 He used part of the money to buy paintings for the hospital ward and a piano for the nurses' home, and he invested the rest with the help of a stockbroker who lived in Heretaunga and rode the train into Wellington often with him. They sat often in silence reading the Economist or the New Statesman, but members of the family remember this as one of Geoff 's strong friendships.
Alley's accident was dismaying for his friends and colleagues, not only because of the injuries to himself and his passengers but also because those who had been associated with him for a quarter of a century in reforming New Zealand's library system feared that his removal would jeopardise important projects which had reached critical stages. Among these, of course, were the campaign for a national library and the impending attempt to establish a pilot regional library scheme. As we shall see, his absence, or sidelining, was less disastrous than many thought it would be, and it is interesting to consider why this should have been.
In the first place, although Alley's name and mana were associated with the library profession's major projects, he was one of a relatively small but very talented and experienced group of senior librarians who had been instrumental in developing a comprehensive library system for the whole country in the context of the
A second factor, which was equally important, was that, after working closely with him for 15 years, 97 and these qualities, much like his own, had drawn them together.
This initial meeting was followed by visits to each authority by J.E.C. (Courtney) Shearer, a CLS field librarian who had a way with councillors, librarians, and town clerks, but was inclined to be sanguine in detecting difficulties. He explained the plan in detail and made arrangements for other meetings between local representatives and senior NLS people. The aim was to persuade enough of the authorities to agree to take part in the pilot scheme to ensure that it would be possible to organise and present a viable operating district service. By the end of the year 15 of the authorities (1 In a way this was an encouraging response to what Bagnall called, in his account of the campaign,2 'what was to most a novel and complex proposal', but only in the neighbourhood of 3 Since Alley's acceptance of government support for the scheme was tactical in the first place, it is not surprising that there is no evidence that he tried to avert this decision.
There were, of course, many post-mortems, including Bagnall's account of the attempt, cited above, which included 'Observations and Comments', and a more detailed internal report4 in which he said, 'So far as stock is concerned the C.L.S. system of exchange meets very well the impossibility of small libraries covering the full range. If this were all that were at issue a good case could be made for more C.L.S. branches'. 5
These comments are all compelling, but the real question that must be asked is whether the proposals were sensible in the first place. The overriding problem in providing for library service coverage in New Zealand was still the fragmented nature of the local government system and the associated difficulty of getting voluntary co-operation between small authorities whose attentions were focused, perforce, on roads and bridges and water supplies. The Country Library Service was a pragmatic device for overcoming these difficulties and, because of Alley's belief in the fundamental intelligence of New Zealand people, had provided a popular, challenging, and much-appreciated service. It was not perfect, but how were the public to know this when they liked what they currently had?
In his thoughtful analysis of the failure of 'the attempt' Bagnall suggested that some organic modification to the original plan was likely to be the most fruitful reaction. He reported that within the CLS there was 'a feeling that more effort should be put into revising and extending our own patterns of distribution, which after all are much the same as they have been for over twenty years. It is not unlikely that somewhere along the line there are points where changes could be made to make regional development a more logical extension of what is being done now'. This kind of approach, though on a larger scale than Bagnall suggested, might have been the best way to proceed, but it would have needed the kind of long-term vision 6 But there was no one who could take up the challenge, and in any case, although he could express sensible views of this kind in meetings, the incumbent Alley had by now reached the stage of being very suspicious of proposals made by others for changes or improvements to his 7 but which was part of the way of life, valuing people above theories, which represented the New Zealand of that time.
It is very likely that faults in the planning of the 8 His main long-term concern, as he lay in his hospital bed, was that the campaign for a national library should not be frustrated by ill-planned, short-term decisions or by lack of vigilance in the lobbies. In August 1960 9 Alley followed this discussion by writing to the chairman of the Public Service Commission (10
It was probably too early to expect anything to happen as a result of these discussions, but in any case there was another change of government in November 1960, when the
When he was in Australia, Keyes Metcalf had decided that he should try to break the deadlock caused by Alley's reluctance, for various reasons, to accept offers of a travelling fellowship to visit the 11 A couple of months later Metcalf spoke to 12
Stackpole wrote in November 1959, saying that, as a result of his discussions with Metcalf, he hoped that it would now be possible for Alley to accept a renewed offer of a travel grant, and asking him to say when and for what length of time he would be able to get away.13 The car accident occurred before Alley could do this, but in November 1960, having arranged matters with the Carnegie Corporation (including a grant of $US6000)14 and worked out an itinerary with Metcalf 's help, he applied to the Public Service Commission for seven months' special leave on pay, 'for the purpose of visiting the 15 Initial reaction was swift and unfavourable. An anonymous minute-writer thought the application should be declined because of the time that Alley had had off duty following his motor accident, and that 'the matters he intends to investigate are problems which could be solved by correspondence or by architects'. Another noted that the commission 16
Geoff and Euphan sailed from Wellington in February 1961 in the Dutch liner Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, and arrived in New York on 17 March. 17
At the NZLA conference in February 1962 Alley spoke of academic and research libraries, which, he thought, were increasingly occupying the centre of gravity of American librarianship. He spoke of the great numbers of well-planned library buildings he had seen, as well as a few outstandingly beautiful and excellent ones; of the 'whole-of-life' (i.e. public) library sector, of which he was surprisingly critical; and of what he thought was the outstanding lesson from the libraries of the 18
The North American sector was followed by a trip to the 19 cooked in a special way. Soon afterwards Geoff flew back to New Zealand, while Euphan stayed in Britain for a while before returning by sea.
While Alley was overseas, New Zealand Libraries of national library developments in Canada and Australia, and noted that 'New Zealand seems to have ground to a standstill'.20 Just at this time, though, the new government decided to establish a Royal Commission on the State Services in New Zealand, which provided another opportunity for library interests to urge that the decisions already made 'in principle' to establish a national library by the amalgamation of the three state libraries should be implemented. The royal commission, which was established in July 1961, was chaired by the
The NZLA's submission to the royal commission was prepared by a subcommittee of the council consisting of 21 The sub-committee decided, after very full discussion in which Cole was asked to scrutinise every point in the light of its possible effect on the 22
The Public Service Commission also supported the thrust of the recommendations of the two official committees, though it now thought that the national library should be in Internal Affairs rather than Education,23 a view which it presented to the royal commission at a hearing in August, when Bagnall wrote to Alley, 'The reasons advanced for Internal Affairs are presumably 24 Alley, in his own submission, agreed with the Public Service Commission's submission that the administration of the national library should come first, but not with its new-found enthusiasm for the 25 Treasury's contribution was to stick to its interpretation of the recommendations of the national library committee (the parliamentary select committee), and especially to its wish for a building for the National Library Service before all else.
The NZLA's submission was presented to the royal commission by 26 Referring to a Treasury statement that the concept of a national library was still not clear-cut, for instance, Bagnall pointed to substantial agreement by the Hunn working party and the select committee, which had been endorsed by the NZLA, the NLS, and (in substantial measure) by the Public Service Commission, and asked, 'Could Mr Taylor tell us in what further respects the concept of a first stage in which these reports are in agreement envisages the appointment of a National Librarian to work out the developmental details beyond that point?' In his replies to this and other questions, Taylor focused on Treasury's objections to going ahead with a national library building. When Bagnall referred to a statement by the Public Service Commission
Perry then homed in on the same points. 'I take it,' he said, 'that while Treasury sees objection to recommending an immediate appropriation for housing, Treasury has no objection to the setting up of that committee [as recommended by the select committee] and the appointment of a National Librarian.' To this Taylor said: 'I think it is the cart before the horse. I think the interests of the three libraries, the way that it is going to come together and be integrated should be settled before you get a 27 said, Over my dead body would the
After Perry had tried to get Taylor to accept the select committee's recommendation on the early appointment of a national librarian, commission member
|
Turnbull: | 'Mr Taylor, this inter-departmental [Hunn] committee or working party … it did not have any representative of local authorities, did it?' | |
Taylor: | 'No, I don't think so.' | |
Turnbull: | 'Who did it make its report to? Do you know that?' | |
Taylor: | 'No, I don't know the answer to that one.' | |
A voice: | 'Through the Chairman of the Public Service Commission to the Prime Minister.' | |
Turnbull: | 'Do you know if it was supported by the Public Service Commission?' | |
Taylor: | 'I would think that is a certainty because it went through Cabinet.' | |
Turnbull: | 'And it was approved by Cabinet?' | |
Taylor: | 'Yes, in principle.' | |
Turnbull: | 'Now, the Select Committee … I presume that made its recommendations to the House, did it?' | |
Taylor: | 'Yes, to the House.' | |
Turnbull: | 'And did the House just receive it or adopt it? Do you happen to know?' | |
Taylor: | 'No, I don't know what they did with it.' | |
Turnbull: | 'Do you know whether Cabinet endorsed it or approved it?' | |
Taylor: | 'No, I don't know the answer on that.' |
During the rest of Turnbull's examination, Taylor agreed that someone needed to make definite recommendations, but stayed with the idea that Treasury should solve the problem. Much of his argument was against going ahead with a building.
Writing to 28 brother was in the box presenting the Treasury case and C.S.P. succeeded in showing that they were agin apptmt of National Librarian and agin a building now and that their only solution was to leave the whole thing to Treasury which caused some amusement to those present including the Royal Comm. McCarthy and 29
In its 470-page report,30 which it submitted on 28 June 1962, the royal commission, dealing with the national library question on pages 141–2, said that the evidence it heard had supported the conclusions reached by 'these two well-qualified committees' (Hunn's and the parliamentary select committee) and stated, firmly: 'Though a single building is necessary to the fully effective working of a degree of autonomy stated in paragraph 153 and the status of a Permanent Head.' The degree of autonomy defined in paragraph 153 was made up of 'direct access to the Minister of Education (as the Director of the National Service now has), to the status of a permanent head was defined as being appointed under a procedure which the commission was recommending for permanent heads, the appointment being not subject to appeal.
The report of the Royal Commission on the State Services of New Zealand, like the reports of previous inquiries which had dealt with the national library proposal, set off a flurry of correspondence and memowriting within the public service, but this time, possibly because of the positive tone and directness of the royal commission itself, most of it seemed to be designed to get things moving. It took a little while for the wheels to begin turning, and there are some other matters which we should now consider before going on with the national library story. But portents of things to come can be seen in a couple of reports by Public Service Commission officials. 31
Three weeks after the date of Robertson's report, 32
Two of Alley's oldest associates died in the early 1960s. 33 Alley, in the memoirs he dictated in 1980 before the devastation that Carter refers to, had described Shelley as 'the sower of seeds', and that is how he would have remembered him in 1961.
The other state librarian of the time of Alley's early career, 34
In 1961, the standing committee of university librarians, which had weathered the storm which its creation in 1958 had raised, asked the new University Grants Committee (UGC) to establish the standing committee on library resources which the Hughes Parry committee had recommended.35 The UGC supported the idea of such a committee 'as an advisory committee to the Universities', but suggested to the equally new Vice-Chancellors' Committee that it should establish and maintain it. So the Standing Committee on Library Resources came into being, with terms of reference which were wide enough for it to consider anything that might affect university libraries.36 Its membership consisted of the Librarian and one academic from each university institution, and the NZLA was invited to appoint another member. Deputy librarians were later permitted to attend meetings, provided they didn't expect to receive expenses. When J.T. Campbell, professor of mathematics at Victoria University, convened the first meeting of the standing committee on 23 August 1963 Alley was present as the NZLA's nominee, having been appointed because of his convenership of the association's library resources committee (the old book resources committee re-branded). He remained a member of it, in one capacity or another, until his retirement at the end of 1967, but he never seemed to be really comfortable in this group, even though he was used to working with its members in other contexts.
Another organisation with which Alley had a rather unenthusiastic relationship was the National Council of Adult Education, of which he was, nevertheless, chairman for a year in 1959/60. He had regarded the council, to which he belonged by virtue of his position as director of the National Library Service, as unwieldy and ineffective in trying to run adult education through other bodies. He had also been disappointed in the failure of most of those who were concerned with the adult education 37 It also led to Alley's ex officio membership being dropped, but this did not worry him. 'It is with relief that I personally contemplate the proposed change,' he wrote to 38 John Sage, who was now the honorary secretary of the NZLA, pointed out, in an analysis of the draft bill, that the association should consider its possible effect on libraries: 'The library-centred provision of adult education which was envisaged in the 1945 submissions has not come about but nevertheless libraries have played a useful part in collaborating with the work of regional councils.' Alley commented on this: 'Council doesn't matter. Present one ineffective and the proposed one is obviously so.'39 But it was not his concern now.
In 1960 Alley appealed against his salary grading, which at that time was £1860, or about 82 per cent of the salary of an assistant director of education. Despite a recommendation by the director of education that his salary should be raised to £2000, the matter was deferred pending a decision on a national library and the appointment of a national librarian. He appealed again in 1961, but because of the events which had kept him out of action this appeal was not heard until October 1962. By this time his salary was £2300, or 77 per cent of the salary of an assistant director of education.
In presenting his case in 1962, in an eight-page submission, Alley drew comparisons with university librarians, who could be paid up to £2350 (the equivalent of senior lecturer in charge of a department), and city librarians (including Wellington, where the salary was £2430 plus a car allowance of £100). 'Since the National Library Service has more staff,' he wrote, 'wider responsibilities, greater expenditure than the four university libraries together … there should be recognition in its salary structure of this fact…. A reasonable comparison would be that of the Librarians of the National Library Centre and the School Library Service with the University Librarians.' In explanation of his action in appealing Alley said, 'This appeal has been brought not for personal reasons but because there would appear to be no other way of repairing the very serious harm that has been done and will continue to be done, if proper recognition, by way of reasonably competitive salaries, is not made in the National Library Service.'40
The Board of Appeal heard Alley's case on 28 September 1962. Tom Clifford (the Public Service Commission inspector) appeared for the commission, and 41 Clifford wrote: 'When I discussed the appeal with 42
The appeal was not allowed. Clifford gave his view, in his report, that 'In comparison with City Librarians and University Librarians Mr Alley is not well paid … Mr Alley is running his service,' he went on, 'with direct access to the Minister pretty well as a self-contained unit. He is thoroughly conscientious, at times as awkward as only an All Black lock can be, but I have the feeling that a little recognition now would do a power of good.' Clifford could not do anything to overturn the decision of the Board of Appeal, but he recommended an increase, personal to officer, to £2450 from 1 April 1962, and the commissioner agreed to this. This put Alley back to 82 per cent of the current salary of an assistant director of education. It did nothing, of course, for the library profession as a whole; it was a grace and favour increase which did not apply to the position.
After the NZLA celebrated its jubilee in 1960, Alley remained on its council for a year as immediate past president. He retained his close interest in the association, and he was always a powerful figure who was consulted and relied upon, but in many areas of its work he was no longer directly interested, and in some areas the new generation of senior librarians was developing attitudes which differed from his. He gradually reduced his membership of council committees, until, by the 1964/65 year, he was a member of only the hospital library service, the library legislation, the library resources, and the public library service committees, a group which reflected many of his long-term interests while not compromising his position over matters, such as the national library proposal, in which he could not risk conflicts of interest.
In 1960 the NZLA bought a property to which it transferred its office. Since Alley became its honorary secretary in 1942 the office had been housed, rent free, by the CLS/NLS, but its location there, which
The NZLA, in this period, was still an active organisation. In 1961 it established an award for the written record of notable library work which it named after 43 and made submissions to the Royal Commission on the State Services not only on the proposed national library but also on service personnel policies, when it argued that professionally qualified librarians should have the same degree of recognition as other professional groups in the public service.44 In 1961 and 1962 it put its views on school libraries and school librarianship to a commission on education in New Zealand which produced a good set of recommendations,45 of which a reviewer (a concerned teacher) said, in welcoming them, 'but it is up to us to see that they are not lost sight of as were so many of the library recommendations in the [1944] Thomas Report'46 (they were, on the whole). Submissions on a copyright bill were made in 1962.47 Committees established to formulate policies on music library service and on library service to Maori reported in 1963.48 These are but a sample. It was a productive period for the association, in which the tradition of active involvement by senior members of the profession was still strong.
The problems which the Library School experienced in recruiting suitable graduates for its professional course continued throughout the 1950s and into the 1960s. In the five years from 1958 to 1962 the number of New Zealanders accepted for the course was 67, the low point of 10 being reached in 1962. In these same years 10 Asian students added to the cultural mix and no doubt broadened the New Zealanders' horizons, but the school was always vulnerable to questions about its viability. The Asian students, and those who had attended since 1952 for a six-week period to complete part II of the NZLA certificate course, enabled the school to maintain a reasonable level of activity, but the number of professionally qualified librarians being produced for New Zealand libraries through the main course was dangerously low for a period when libraries of all kinds seemed likely to have greater demands placed upon them. But then, in 1963, the school was able to assemble a professional class of 19; in 1964 the number rose to 21, and in 1965 to 25 (excluding Colombo Plan students). That particular crisis was over.
Looking back to that period, it can be seen that one of Alley's most 49 When the number of people wanting to enter the profession rose, the school was there and able to take them. It had established a tradition of teaching; libraries were accustomed to looking to it for professional recruits; it had enabled the library world to organise itself generally on a professional model, even if, in some quarters, this model was not completely understood. It had also begun to produce by-products which were the results of research. Since its early days it had made available for consultation some of the students' bibliographical and administrative studies, and in 1960 it started publishing some of the more notable ones.50 In 1961 it convened a study group to consider questions relating to the free-and-rental policy in public libraries, which also produced a useful and provocative publication.51 With limited resources and a small staff who had to work under standard public service conditions, the school could not branch out too enthusiastically in these ways, but what it was able to do set objectives for the future.
There were, however, a number of problems looming over education for librarianship which were just becoming apparent in the early 1960s, but which were eventually to lead to differences of opinion and difficult negotiations over the better part of a couple of decades. In the first place, the professional course of the Library School, which had to be regarded as the core of any programme for library education, had passed through a period in which it was a miracle that it had survived at all, but now needed to be developed to cover the varying needs of a growing profession, including provision for advanced study and research. Its existence had been safeguarded, to some extent, by the school's acceptance of responsibility for the conduct of part II of the NZLA certificate course, but the addition of a lower-level course had inherent dangers for the main work of the school, which became more ominous when recruitment to the certificate course began to increase after 1956: the number of certificates awarded, which was 24 in 1957, had risen to 38 in 1960. As well, the increase in the number of students was causing difficulties for the NZLA in organising teaching for part I of the certificate course, which was still conducted by correspondence by volunteer tutors. In effect, the whole structure of education for librarianship needed to be examined at this stage, and the situation was not helped by the fact that the NZLA's education committee included several members with a strong interest in long-term planning
In 1961 52 which decided to consult the director of the National Library Service before approaching Victoria University of Wellington, which was considered to be the most appropriate home for a library school because of its interests in public administration; but the prospect of a co-ordinated approach was hampered by the discovery that Alley had independently raised the matter with the university, which had indicated that the question of a library school might be considered during the next university quinquennial funding period of 1965–69. The NZLA council then asked its education committee to formulate a detailed basis on which the association could support the setting up of a university school. The document which was then produced53 said that the association believed that the present Library School would be able to meet the challenges of the future, but that it also believed that a university school would be able not only to improve the quality of library education but also to raise the status of librarianship as a career. This document became the starting point for future discussions which will be taken up in the next chapter.
The question of the rapidly growing NZLA certificate course was being tackled at the same time. A report written in 1961 by the honorary secretary of the NZLA said: 'From time to time it has been suggested that the Library School should take over some of the burden of conducting the [NZLA] Training Course. This proposal has appealed as an easy way out, but needs to be considered in relation to the effect on both the School and the Association.'54 After wide consultation within the association, the education committee recommended that the Technical Correspondence School be asked to undertake the tutoring for the course, but this was anathema to Alley, who immediately prepared a proposal that the Library School should take over responsibility for the conduct of the course, running it as a full-time course totalling about 12 weeks spread over a period of up to three years – that is, as a block course encompassing both
In explaining his proposal regarding the certificate course, Alley said: 'The Association's Training Course cannot be replaced by one for "technicians", i.e. people primarily equipped to carry out technical processes such as preparing and checking orders, maintaining serial records, verifying entries, routine cataloguing, and similar tasks. An overwhelming majority of students work in public libraries, and they need an understanding of librarianship. While the development of special options should permit more advanced technical training for those who choose it, the greatest need will remain for the training of intermediate level librarians who are working with their public; they do not require advanced training, but they are librarians, not technicians.'55 He also added, referring to a suggestion that intermediate education should be continued by the National Library Service, that, since the Library School was the library education division of the NLS, its transfer to Victoria University would leave the NLS without the facilities for library education.
The NZLA was placed in an awkward position by this proposal, which Alley had produced so remarkably quickly. Its council formally accepted the offer in February 1964, but in doing so it placed on record its 'firm opinion that such action should not prejudice negotiations with the Victoria University of Wellington for the transfer of the Library School to the University'.56
On the question of a national library, on the other hand, the senses of purpose of Alley and the NZLA still coincided at this time, though it had become necessary for Alley to cease to be actively involved on behalf of the association. After the report of the Royal Commission on the State Services had been digested, there was a discernible turning of the tide in government waters. Politicians were showing signs of interest in what might lie ahead, and the public servants who advised ministers began to suggest that it might be time to catch the wind of the royal commission's recommendations. Alley was increasingly called upon to draft reports and memoranda for his minister which were aimed at achieving the objective of a national library, and it was essential for him not to be seen as promoting the views of an outside body. It was fortunate for the NZLA, in these circumstances, that it had the services of members like Perry and Collins who were able to carry on the task of presenting its views. At the same time, however, the growing sense of purpose on the part of those who were setting forth towards the goal of a national library was awakening those
At the 1962 annual general meeting of the 57 He received a good deal of vocal support for his views, particularly from fellow Wellington bibliophiles, whose proximity to Parliament magnified their effect, and the
On 11 December 1962 the minister of education, 58 In preparation for this meeting 59
After Tennent reported to the Cabinet,60 and after T.P. (Tom) Shand, chairman of the Cabinet committee on government administration, had declared that he had sympathy for the establishment of a national library and that he would support any reasonable move in that direction,61 Holyoake asked Tennent to prepare a paper for Cabinet seeking approval in 62 and after further discussion Cabinet resolved, on 17 October, to grant this. Six weeks later the prime minister announced that a national librarian would be appointed and that an inter-departmental committee would consider the steps to be taken to implement the government's decision. In making this statement, Holyoake stressed the government's intention to safeguard the integrity or character of the three institutions involved, and said that the committee would make recommendations on such matters.63
The president of the NZLA, 64 These views reflected the opinions of most members of the association, but they were not shared by all of those who were associated with the Alexander Turnbull Library. Both the Librarian and the Department of Internal Affairs had consistently said that, while they supported the concept of a national library, they did not consider that there was anything to be gained and thought that there was much to be lost by incorporating the 65 and the
In August 1963
In 1963, also, 66 Before he suffered his accident, his had been the clear head which was needed by the
At this stage, immediately after the government's decision that a national librarian should be appointed, those members of Parliament who had opposed the inclusion of the
At the end of November 1963 67 suggesting that, since the way was now clear to call for applications for the position of national librarian, consideration should be given to an appropriate salary and to a specification for an advertisement, and that these questions should be discussed with the permanent heads of the Education and Prime Minister's departments, 'and perhaps with Internal Affairs'. He added that
After noting that the salary for the position of director, National Library Service, was £2340 (though 'the present incumbent' had a personal grading of £2450 [which was soon adjusted to £2480]), Heggie listed some positions 'of somewhat comparable nature', namely the head of child welfare, chief inspector of post-primary schools, and surveyor general (all on £2620), and the director of civil aviation and director of the Meteorological Service (both on £2800). He concluded that £2450 or £2620 would be appropriate, and the position was advertised on 25 January 1964 at £2480–£2620. These levels were 83 and 87 per cent of the salary of an assistant director of education.
While the NZLA was naturally delighted that the decisive step of appointing a national librarian was going ahead, it was very disappointed by the salary level that had been assigned to the position. On 21 February 1964 it sent this telegram to the prime minister from its annual conference:
The Conference of the New Zealand Library Association today resolved as follows. It regards the status accorded to the newly created position of National Librarian as inadequate in view of the importance to library services in New Zealand of having this key position worthily occupied. By setting the salary at £2,480–£2,620, those responsible have shown a misapprehension of the qualities required of a national librarian, the function of a national library in industry, culture, and education, and the
status of libraries and librarians generally. In no other country known to the Association, and certainly in no other Commonwealth country, has a comparable position been so poorly graded. The Association also notes with concern that the advertisement for the position appeared only in New Zealand and that full details were not given in the public press. The Association calls upon the Government to give the position of National Librarian the status which was recommended by the Royal Commission on the State Services, and to advertise it widely, both in New Zealand and overseas, in terms which will attract the best man it is possible to obtain. 68
Despite a further approach by the NZLA later in the year to the prime minister, who asked the 69 the protests had no effect at all. The State Services Commission had its own way of working out priorities and relativities, and the association was in a weak position to bargain because all senior library salaries in New Zealand were paid from one public purse or another and none of the others was paid as much as the salary decided upon for the national librarian.
The selection panel which interviewed applicants for the position of national librarian was chaired by 70 'This,' the announcement said, 'is the first step in the Government's plan to establish a 71 which seems to have included the 'special to officer' supplement, since the salary given in the public service list for 31 March 1964 was £2480. Three years later Alley's salary, as shown in the list, was £3100, which was 84 per cent of the salary of an assistant director of education (£3700).
During March 1964 Dominion columns on the 'Sad Fate of Famous Turnbull Library',72 which was followed by a public meeting, but a newspaper survey of eminent citizens' opinions, including those of the mayor of Wellington and 73
Alley received many letters of congratulation. To Stuart Perry, who was one of the first to write to him, he said, 'Your letter was characteristically speedy and spontaneous. Well, here we go then and who knows what will come of it? But we can try now. I haven't any foolish idea of its being something I can do alone, because we have had so long since the midthirties in working things out together.'74 To Jack Hunn he wrote: 'Your committee did a tremendous amount in clearing away irrelevancies and in cutting a path. Later committees have not done a great deal more than endorse your findings.'75 Replying to Dorothy White he said, 'Life will be brimfull of disappointments, no doubt (because nobody pretends it is going to be easy or that some of it may not be possible), of trivia and irritations, and perhaps of some sense of achieving. Saw Denis Glover the other day … and he was pleasantly – to me – helpful about it.'76
When A.G. Rodda was interviewed in connection with this book, he remarked on the fact that at the time of the appointment no one but Alley was in real contention, and his interviewer said that he thought all the best people would have hoped that Alley would be appointed.77 There is some support for this contention in a letter which Perry wrote to the 78
For the better part of two years following his appointment as national librarian, Alley was preoccupied by the problems involved in implementing the government's decision to establish a national library which would include the three existing state libraries: the
In one sense the way ahead might have seemed clear. Hunn's report of 1956 had recommended the amalgamation of all the functions of the existing state libraries, but with provision for safeguarding special aspects of each library's identity. This recommendation had been accepted by the government of the day, and had been endorsed by a parliamentary select committee in 1958 and by the report of the Royal Commission on the State Services in 1962. At all stages there had been very open discussion of the proposal and the question of safeguards for existing services had been regarded as a priority by those who were promoting it. There was virtually unanimous agreement that New Zealand urgently needed a properly constituted, housed, and funded national library, but – and here's the rub – groups associated with the General Assembly Library and the Alexander Turnbull Library maintained, while expressing strong support for the concept, that the national library should not include one or other of those units. To a casual observer the way across a glacier might seem clear and without hazard, but an experienced mountaineer would know that beneath the surface there were crevasses. There could be crevasses beneath the smooth surface that the glacial progress of the national library proposal presented to the innocent eye, and it was knowledge of this probability that had led both Alley and the chairman of the
By his appointment Alley had become the government's chief adviser on the process by which a national library should be brought into being.
In announcing Alley's appointment on 19 March 1964, the prime minister said that further decisions on the national library would not be taken until the report of an inter-departmental committee was received. This committee, which came to be referred to as the Officials Committee, had been set up by Cabinet when it decided in October 1963 to go ahead with the establishment of a national library,1 and it was now activated, in consultation with Alley, by the 2 It was chaired by 3 and this project engaged his personal interest.
At its first meeting, on 29 April 1964, the officials committee decided that, although it had been asked to report on several matters, including accommodation relief for the National Library Service and a site and building for the national library, many of these would depend on statutory support for the administration, which at that stage consisted only of a recently appointed national librarian. It thought, therefore, that its first 4 to discuss (a) the way in which various existing state library services could be carried out from, or in association with, the national library, (b) the safeguards which would be necessary in order to preserve the character of existing collections, and (c) ways in which necessary functions of a national library not currently being met could be discharged. At the first meeting of the four librarians5 he produced a paper on questions which should be considered in detail, including functions to be provided for, safeguards for existing services, and the possible integration of existing functions. This paper included the following brief statement of how the job of the national library might be described:
The task of the
National Library is to collect, preserve, and make available for use as much as possible of the world's recorded knowledge for the benefit of mankind. It should inform the people of its holdings and facilitate their use. It should supplement the collections and further the work of other libraries in New Zealand, taking the lead in efforts to provide New Zealand scholarship with sources of the highest quallity. It should stimulate and enrich the cultural life of New Zealand and its cultural interchanges with other nations.
This passage is worth quoting because, although many later discussions resulted in amplifications, refinements, and clarifications, it remained the permanent basis for the objectives that Alley aimed for, and, in due course, in expanded form became section 6 of the 6 Support for his department's position came mainly from a limited number of people outside government circles.
7 Nevertheless, the concerns raised by Wilson had the potential to have a strong effect on some members, who were of course not bound by the opinions of the Speaker.
Graham pointed out at the first meeting that the committee was not competent to question the Cabinet decision, and Muir completed the statements of position by saying that 'Treasury had no views – was interested in cost only'.8
After further discussions with both the group of librarians and the officials committee, Alley was able to present to the latter the preliminary draft of a bill, which the committee received at its fourth meeting on 27 July 1964.9 He said that it had been prepared more speedily than he would have liked, but it was, in fact, advanced enough for the committee to be able to consider it expeditiously.
While these discussions were going on, the library resources committee (the old book resources committee) of the NZLA tried again to revive the project for acquiring major works not held in any New Zealand library (described in chapter 12), which had been a particular interest of Alley's. In 1963, after representations by the association and one of its prominent members, 10 and an approach to the minister of education for £20,000 to be added to the National Library Service estimates for 1964–65 for the purchase of works in sets, to be placed in the libraries which were most appropriate to hold them, was also unsuccessful.11 Some progress had been made with the acquisition of material included in the original list which had been promoted by Alley, but the effort needed to extend the operation could not be made at this time, and a full-scale assault on the problem of filling gaps in the national resources had to wait until the 1970s.
In another modest move, the ability of the National Library Service to 12 This small initiative, which librarians were able to undertake without having to convince others of its merits, was a direct result of the Canberra seminar of 1958 and, in New Zealand, of the emphasis which Alley had placed on the work of the NZLA's book resources committee since 1941. And at about the same time Alley reviewed Library Buildings of Britain and Europe (published by Butterworths in 1963), which touched on another of his enduring interests.13 After noting what he saw as the English ability to organise and make available the work of other people, he said that in the small world of professional librarianship the value of this book, which drew heavily on the
The draft bill which Alley produced for the July meeting of the officials committee provided for the national library to be attached to the
At first, the concerns of this kind which the committee focused on were those which related to the 14 This provision was then written into the bill.
At the next meeting of the officials committee, on 10 August 1964, Wilson reported that the library committee of the House was not satisfied: 'I gather they are suspicious of this Committee,' he said, and he added, 'I am not certain myself that the 15 After this meeting, Rodda and Alley decided that they had better meet the library committee of the House themselves. In order to clarify the situation regarding the possible secondment of staff to the 16 Lake said that the SSC decided who worked in which department; the SSC, not the department, seconded officers; and the seconded officer came under the authority and direction of the permanent head of the new department and could not be removed from there except by the SSC; the Legislative Department was under the Speaker, and its permanent head was the Clerk of the House, to whom the seconded officer was responsible.
The implication of these notes was that the answer to Wilson's concerns lay in the way in which provision for the secondment of staff from the national library to the 17 So, on 20 August, Rodda, in his role as deputy chairman of the SSC, wrote to the Speaker saying that 'My Committee … through 18
On three occasions Alley and Rodda met the library committee of the House, together with Wilson, who was always there ex officio.19 On the third occasion they provided answers to written questions, of which the following are examples:
- Who will decide what books to buy for the
General Assembly Library ?- The Chief Librarian will decide in accordance with policy laid down by the Speaker [and] will also be on the committee for book buying policy for the whole of the
National Library .- If the General Assembly Library staff come into the Public Service, will the
National Library or theState Services Commission be able to appoint or remove staff without consultation?- Assurances were given at the meeting [of the four Librarians] of 7 May 1964 that staff would not be 'drafted', nor staff movements made without consultation.
Three days after this last meeting, the Speaker dictated to Dollimore, Clerk of the House, a letter which said: 'Mr Speaker has authorised me to inform the Committee that he is now quite happy with the progress that has been made towards integration. He also directs me to inform the Committee that the Library Committee has unanimously endorsed the principle of the integration of the 20 When this letter was received by the officials committee Rodda 'stated that no change in the procedure was contemplated and reminded the Committee that the General Assembly Librarian's prime responsibility to Parliament was provided for in the draft Bill'.21
It was now possible for the officials committee to complete its report for submission to the chairman of the Cabinet committee on government 22 signed by all its principal members, concerned the integration of the three state libraries and the need for legislation to give effect to this, and the draft bill, as far as the committee had been able to develop it, was forwarded for further refinement with a recommendation that it be introduced as early as possible in the 1965 session of Parliament. In a general comment, the committee said that it considered 'that the right degree of integration of the three libraries will be achieved gradually. The provision of a suitable building will do a great deal for it, but until that is brought about a considerable degree of integration can be achieved by merging supply, staffing and other services. Only by taking the first steps can the proper relationships between the various parts of the
On 23 October 1964 the Cabinet committee on government administration, with a number of officials present including members of the officials committee, recommended that Cabinet approve in principle the draft Bill and take various other related steps. The Cabinet committee's report was received by Cabinet four days later,23 and it did seem that the whole officials committee process was coming to a smooth and successful end. But …
On 22 October the minister of internal affairs, 24 and on 16 November Cabinet referred back to its committee on government administration its recommendation concerning a national library.25 This was the start of the most public part of the controversy over whether there should be a national library and, if so, what form it should take. Before taking a deep breath and plunging into the torrent, however, we should now deal with some other matters that Alley was involved in, which were difficult enough on their own but could be overlooked in any account of this period of his career.
In August 1964 Alley wrote to the 26 and recommending that the commission invite the chairman of the University Grants Committee to appoint one or more of his officers to meet with an officer or officers of the commission and himself, to work out a joint scale for library staff to be agreed upon by both authorities.
The 'decision of the Government' was actually a resolution of the University Grants Committee which had not been vetoed by the government, and it had been promoted, within the UGC, by members who were concerned that New Zealand had not adopted a professorial 27 and most of the universities were known to be inclined to adopt the top figure. Alley rightly saw that in this case there would be pressure for other library salaries in the universities to be adjusted as well. His stated concern was that the available pool of professionally trained librarians in New Zealand was 'too small for any one sector to try to overcome its staff shortages by out-bidding the other sectors'.
A copy of Alley's letter fell into the hands of 28 and this turned out to be true, in this matter. For many years, until the late 1970s, university library staff, who at that time never thought of taking industrial action, found it impossible to get anyone to talk to them, even, about salaries.29
The attitude of the
The unexpected action of the University Grants Committee in relation to university librarians was therefore a major break-out which, from the point of view of the
On an earlier occasion, writing to the 30 In his 1964 letter he said that 'One University Librarian, two deputy University librarians, and at least ten heads of department at present employed in university libraries had their basic professional experience in a state library, and the National Library Service contributed most of these.' His aim, as he told Collins, was to try to get better conditions for state librarians; the aim of the 31
In 1961 32 As we have seen, although the royal commission had recommended that the position of national librarian should be graded at the same level as an assistant director of education, Alley's appointment to it was at about 15 per cent below that level. The stabilising effect was preserved, but one does wonder at the determination with which this objective was pursued.
At the lower reaches of the library community, down among the library assistants, the same sort of bloody-mindedness was displayed, supported by a perception that library work was women's work. Implementation of the Government Service Equal Pay Act 1960 must have imposed a heavy burden on hard-worked SSC staff, but library staff, at least, could be dealt with without too much trouble. There is a note in the file devoted to library pay rates which says: 'All library assistants are female but when the Equal Pay Determination 49 was issued we made no change in their rates on the grounds that existing rates would have applied to males also – in effect, that they already had equal pay.'33 There is an air of clever dishonesty about this which, one has to remark, says 'Wellington', and which the rest of the country finds rather unendearing. It was overturned the next year, when extra steps were added to the scale for library assistants, bringing it back into line with the clerical scale,34 but the fact that it had to be contested indicates an attitude to library work which had to be overcome before sensible discussion of library salaries could be undertaken. Long before this time it was believed by library staff at all levels in the National Library Service that equal pay, which Alley insisted upon and took some pride in, was all very well, but it was equal pay on women's rates.
It is exceedingly tedious to have to be forever conscious of salary scales and relativities, and it tends to give outsiders the impression of an occupational group with an enormous chip on its shoulder. It also creates situations in which various sub-groups are tempted to try to undermine each other, gaining a few points but losing what is more important, a sense of solidarity. But these problems can more profitably be seen as impediments which the whole group should work on together in a wider context. In one sense, Alley's suggestion that an attempt should be made to work out a joint scale for state and university library staffs had some point, but it was a defensive reaction to a particular situation and it was put to the wrong people for the wrong reasons and could only be counter-productive. At this time the library profession was working in an environment in which libraries had
The immediate problem facing the library profession in New Zealand in the 1960s was quantitative, but underlying it were a number of qualitative considerations. On the supply side, after noting that the Library School had estimated that there were three positions offering for each of its graduates, 35
These comments were made some two years after 36 which had been held to try to work out ways of equating American and British qualifications, and which agreed on a standard based on a university degree or diploma followed by a professional qualification granted by an appropriately accredited library school, or (in the case of the UK) the associateship of the Library Association. As McEldowney pointed out,37 the New Zealand school would not have qualified for North American-style accreditation at that time, since, quite apart from the quality or lack of quality of its programme, it was not 'a professional school 38
There was considerable interest in a paper by 39 This statement was especially apposite because it had been suggested that university librarians wanted a university school in New Zealand so that they could corner its output. 40 commented: 'Upon the essential core of general and special education must be superimposed some professional training which draws constantly upon a wide and developing range of technical skills. What gives success which can be instantly recognised when seen is an individual amalgam of personality, training and judgement which in its highest application is essentially an art.'
An amalgam of all the ideas which emerged during these years did not necessarily indicate that a library school must be established at Victoria University of Wellington, but it did point in that direction, and an increasing number of the senior librarians of the day were keen to pursue the possibility. 41 was prepared by a committee consisting of Brian O'Neill (convener), 42 was now not inclined to join them. The Library School which had been created within the National Library Service, and of which he was justifiably proud, had become one of his treasured possessions, a taonga. He did not trust a university to take over its work. Without openly opposing the movement towards a university school, he did not help to
In July 1963, putting up another diversion, Alley suggested that Victoria University should introduce a crash course to make up the numbers required by the university libraries, but members of the NZLA committee did not buy this. One point that was made in favour of the idea was that it would postpone the need to make a decision on the future of the existing school. But, as John Sage said at the time, 'it would affect the present school, deleteriously, and … the universities do not have a "crash" need, but one of continuous and steady expansion'.43
Alley had some discussions with the vice-chancellor of Victoria University, 44 and later in that year he asked for a memorandum setting out the reasons for a library school to be established at Victoria University.45 In July 1964, also, 46
For Alley, his discussions with Williams seem to have been a tactical move to pre-empt the more serious negotiations which the NZLA wanted to take part in. In November 1964 the association's council asked Alley 'to give his opinion on whether a library school should be established at one of the universities and whether he would be willling to take part in discussions with the Vice-Chancellor and representatives of the Association about transferring the present school to the Victoria University of Wellington'.47 Alley replied that 'he could not at present answer yes or no to this question but that he would be glad to have a talk with the Vice-Chancellor and the Hon. Secretary of the NZLA'.48 This did not happen until late in 1965.
McEldowney wrote later that, even with the complications that were involved, including the problem of the certificate course, 'it should have been a simple enough matter for the National Library Service and the University to work out a solution with the assistance of the Association. Things did not turn out this way, however, and the Association found itself faced with the difficult task of trying to persuade not one, but two, 49 For most of 1965 nothing more happened on the library education front – im Westen nichts neues – because all the librarians involved were preoccupied by the vicissitudes of the National Library Bill.
The letter which the minister of internal affairs, Seath, wrote to 50 It has to be remembered that Bagnall, although an officer of the National Library Service, had been a member of the staff of the 51 which Bagnall undoubtedly helped to compose, carried considerable weight as a contribution to the controversy which was developing. A few core samples might help to illustrate this point.
After acknowledging efforts made since 1918 by Internal Affairs to house the original bequest, to add to it and give access to it, Alley said that now 'the Department seems more concerned to retain the the premier research library in the Southern Hemisphere was 'a little naïve' in the face of Australian resources such as the Mitchell Library in Sydney and the National Library in Canberra. Concerning a suggested 'moral obligation to the original donor', he said that Turnbull's intention was unequivocally clear: he left his collection as the nucleus of 'a national collection', and the obligation was to provide the national collection and preserve the nucleus, which was what the national library, governed by safeguards set out in the bill, would do. Seath had referred to 'public protests and representations', which Alley said had stemmed directly from a press campaign organised by
Despite these cogent arguments, Seath was unmollified, and after he 52 on 16 November, Cabinet referred the national library proposal back to its committee on government administration, enjoining it to sort things out with 'those interests concerned about the future of the Turnbull Library' before including the item again in the Cabinet's agenda.
There followed a period of controversy which precluded earlier intentions to introduce a bill to Parliament early in 1965. The 'interests concerned about the future of the Turnbull Library' were mainly the executive of the 53 of the 54
John Sage wrote, as honorary secretary of the NZLA, to the prime minister on 11 December 1964 to say that the NZLA was disturbed by the implications of a report published in the Dominion the previous day in which Glover had referred to the efforts his group had been making to have the separate administration of the 55
Towards the end of January 1965 Alley and Rodda met with Shand to assist him in preparing a ministerial statement, which was published in both the Dominion and the Evening Post on 23 January. In this statement Shand said that the identity and individuality of the Alexander Turnbull Library would be preserved under the government's proposals. 'The whole concept of a 56 Shand also met representatives of the Friends, with Alley and Rodda present, and gave them copies of the 57
Despite these overtures, the reaction of the Friends remained hostile. Many of its records of the time refer to its 'fighting' the government's proposals, and at a meeting of the Friends' committee 58 The NZLA, which of course was more likely to be in favour of the proposals, reserved its response until they could be discussed at its annual conference, which was to take place from 16 to 19 February 1965.
During January 1965 past presidents of the NZLA sent a letter, probably drafted by 59 Apart from this letter, however, the controversy, if it had raged at all, had done so mainly in Wellington. As McEldowney, writing to Bagnall from Dunedin, said, it 'might as well be in Omsk or Tomsk for all the effect it has here'.60 But it became a wider issue when an editorial on the topic was published in the New Zealand Listener,61 and when, a few days later, the matter was discussed at the NZLA conference. In view of the inevitably delayed effect of the editorial, it is appropriate to discuss the second of these events, the conference discussion, first.
There was a major debate on the national library proposals at a full session of the NZLA conference on 17 February 1965.62 Of the 191 members and delegates who attended the conference, not many had seen the draft bill which had been referred to the association by Shand, but so many reports and documents had been published during the long campaign that it would have been surprising if any were unaware of the views which had been put forward by the association, or of the way in which they had been received by a succession of public inquiries.
There followed one of the most emotionally fraught episodes in the history of the
Alley and McEldowney then went over various steps which had been taken over the years to try to ensure that matters of concern were taken into account in developing the proposals. Alley said, in addition: 'In the matter of discussion, could I get on record that the committee that worked on this recommended that the bill be made available to responsible bodies – yes, and that is being done in an interim measure by
Cole then proposed an amendment to the effect that, while supporting the principle of a national library, the association should recommend the fullest opportunity for further submissions and recommendations to the government. This could have been discussed, and probably modified in a normal sort of way, but then Cole made some personal remarks about
The John Cole who spoke at this meeting was a very sick man. His friends, and there were many of them present, were shocked to see him exposed in such a condition. He had clearly forgotten that he was one of the three authors of the submission which the NZLA had made to the Royal Commission on the State Services, and that the other two authors had made it their priority to ensure that his views were embodied in it. Many
Following this discussion, in which several members made the point that approval of the government's proposals should not imply acceptance of all the detail of the draft bill,63 the council sent Shand the following resolution, which had been carried by the open meeting:
That this conference strongly supports the Government in its
National Library policy and expresses its fullest confidence in the measures that are being taken. The conference expresses the opinion that not only will the distinct interests of each of the component libraries be safeguarded and advanced by the steps the Government is now taking, but that the community at large will receive very much fuller and better service when the combined organization comes into being. The Association accordingly welcomes the Government's proposal to introduce a Bill to establish aNational Library .
In transmitting the resolution, the council told Shand that it had been passed unanimously (which was true to the extent that no vote had been cast against it), and that it was considering the bill in detail and would like to discuss it with him at a later date. It set up a committee to draft a submission for Shand and to prepare a pamphlet setting out the association's views for public distribution. The committee, consisting of ex officio, included (deliberately) no member of the staffs of the three state libraries, but it was empowered to discuss matters with them. Finally, the council decided to inform members of the association that the draft bill had been prepared, and that the minister might be prepared to make copies available to interested library authorities if they wrote to him.64 So, with due deliberation, preparations were made for representatives of the NZLA to be able to meet with Shand, a meeting which took place on 2 April 1965.
On the other side of the fence, so to speak, New Zealand Listener for 12 February 1965 provided, and was designed to provide, a focus for public and nationwide debate. Holcroft, a journalist and an admired essayist, had edited the Listener since 1949 and had made a feature of its regular editorials, which he always signed M.H.H. 'At a time when most New Zealand journalism betrayed a narrow conformism,' says Andrew Mason in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, 'Holcroft not only opened up the range of topics considered 65 On this occasion Holcroft's editorial was devoted to the national library proposals, mainly with reference to the Alexander Turnbull Library, which, he said, was 'particularly vulnerable to any threat of subordination'. Of the National Library Service (which he described without mentioning the
Judicious and reasonable, Holcroft was well versed in the arguments that had been put forward by the 66 who were fairly evenly divided, numerically, in their allegiances. A key figure in the eyes of partisans on both sides was
67
Bertram was the only university academic who wrote to the Listener to support Holcroft. Schroder wrote that he had been impressed by the editorial and by letters from Bertram and Glover, but that he was more impressed by contrary evidence, including comments that Bagnall had made at the NZLA conference, by the NZLA's officially recorded opinion, and by newspaper comments by Perry and by 68 From the University of Auckland, a letter to the local paper supporting the proposals was signed by eight more people, including 69 On the
On 23 March Collins (the Peacemaker) met with Glover, Hitchings, and 70 Hitchings said that the present draft bill had only been produced as a result of considerable pain and ill-feeling and was not as put forward in the first draft by Alley and Bagnall. When Glover said that he did not believe a board of trustees could control a national librarian, Collins replied that the board would be there to support the national librarian, not to control him. They were not talking the same language. Feelings remained high, and Cole, writing to Collins after Hitchings had resigned to move to the 71 On the other hand, Winchester, who was to become the acting chief librarian when Hitchings left, replied to a correspondent who was worried about the possible fate of donations that such material would be equally prized by a national library, especially if the Turnbull Library's integrity were safeguarded,72 which indicated a rather more conciliatory attitude.
After Shand had agreed to meet a deputation from the NZLA early in April, Perry set about vigorously getting his committee to prepare a submission to present to him. He asked all members of the council to give him their ideas, and he also asked Alley and others outside the council to comment on particular points.
Wilson sent a comment which was notable as a measured expression of a genuine concern: 'I believe that a 73 This point, which Wilson repeated at various stages during the next few months, was of course taken into account, as were other comments, as attempts were made to fine-tune the bill on its way through the legislative process.
Alley gave his opinions on such matters as the interpretation of a clause in the equivalent Australian act, the appointment of trustees, and the administration of trustees' funds, and he offered the following comment 74
Collins, who had always been valuable for his attention to detail, caused some concern on this occasion by appearing to want to examine every comma in case it should be a semi-colon, but Bagnall said that 'the Committee at this stage should not get lost in the wood … As one of the most distinguished of the 75 The committee finally adopted a view which had been expressed by McEldowney: 'I think we should report positively that we consider that the Bill should proceed, and that, although we wish to make various points and, if possible, secure some alterations, we do not consider that any of our objections are sufficient to upset the whole proposal.'76 Its report,77 which was fairly brief, was approved on 1 April by the NZLA council, which sent it immediately to Shand in preparation for the meeting which had been fixed for the next day. At the same time, the council approved the draft of a pamphlet, prepared by Perry and McEldowney, of which 5000 copies were to be printed and held for distribution at an appropriate time.
The deputation from the NZLA which met Shand on 2 April 1965 consisted of the members of the special committee (Perry, Collins, Wylie, McEldowney, and Sage). Shand had with him the minister of internal affairs (Seath) and two members of his department, as well as Alley and Rodda. Shand conducted the meeting knowledgeably and gave prompt but considered decisions on the points raised by the association, which, in its turn, had concentrated on a limited number of requests for changes to a draft bill which it supported in general. Among other things, the association requested that the national librarian be given, in the bill, the status of a permanent head, direct access to the minister, and the right to appear before the public accounts committee. Shand said it was not usual for such provisions to be written into statutes, but agreed to a suggestion by Rodda that the post of national librarian should be named as one of the 80 or so which were subject to the special appointments procedure for permanent heads and other senior officials.
The NZLA asked that the position of director of extension services, covering both the NLS and the SLS, should be added to those which were 78
Shand also met representatives of the 79
In April Shand also took the trouble to write to 80 to answer questions which Schroder had raised about which department was best suited to be home to the national library It is worth quoting this letter at some length, since it throws light on the thinking of the minister who was most closely involved with the national library project:
I myself do not have any great preferences as between departments, but one can narrow the choice down fairly rapidly to the
Department of Internal Affairs or theEducation Department . The Department of Internal Affairs is a traditional omnibus department, and has many unconnected functions, some of which are of very considerable importance. Bearing in mind the very great importance of libraries in the national education programme, the majority of our advisers felt that the library would be more adequately served in association with Education than by theInternal Affairs Department .Frankly, as Minister deputising for the Prime Minister in responsibility for the general organisation of the State Services, I am most unhappy about the use of the
Internal Affairs Department as an omnibus department and the tendency for functions to remain with that Department long after thelogic of the situation dictates that they should be transferred to another Department. The senior administrative officers of Internal Affairs cannot hope to be competent advisers to their Minister in respect of each and all of their disparate functions. On the other hand, I must confess to be increasingly concerned, or should I say, to have increasing doubts about the capacity of the senior officers of the Education Department to free themselves sufficiently from the problems of day to day administration to give proper attention to the formulation of education policy and particularly to policy in respect of the less publicly or popularly understood areas of education, such as the development of technical and technological education … In practice however, the National Librarian would be in the position of a departmental head reporting directly to his Minister, associated with theEducation Department only for the provision of accounting services.One must take account too, of the likely capacity of future Ministers. I think in the average administration, the man chosen for the portfolio of Education would be much more likely to have an appreciation of the work and importance of the
National Library than would the man chosen as Minister of Internal Affairs.81
In its report for the March 1965 year the 82 Wilson, in his annual report, noted that progress had been made towards the national library, 'though much still remains to be made clear about the part of the 83
In May 1965 the quarterly journal Comment carried an article on the national library question by 84 a respected member of the English Department at Victoria University, who had earlier written to the Dominion on the topic. After remarking that 'The controversy over the establishment of a National Library for New Zealand in Wellington has been conducted, with some honourable exceptions, with so much rhetoric that the public may be excused for thinking it all an affair of the "Cops and Robbers" kind between the Friends and the "Enemies" of the Alexander Turnbull Library', she said that the issues at stake were more serious and less local than that. She set out the long history of the proposal and alluded to the questions which had led to the current controversy. She then addressed the question of the role in the controversy of the
The most vociferous opposition has come, however, from a small group of people who, quite rightly, greatly value the Alexander Turnbull Library, but who, quite
wrongly, interpret this attempt to remedy some of its ills as an outright attack upon it. They fear that in a bigger organisation under theDepartment of Education , the Turnbull Library's individual qualities, courtesy, personal attention, facilities for leisurely browsing, loving care for fine things, will be lost. This fear is, I suggest, an irrational one, for has not the Turnbull always been administered by a Government Department? There are plenty of examples from other parts of the world to suggest that a unique collection such as this can be very successfully sustained and developed under the sheltering umbrella of a larger institution. The King's Library in the British Museum, the Advocates Library in the National Library of Scotland, are two famous examples. Those who instance such libraries as the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York in support of their argument that things should remain as they are, forget that Morgan left a fortune, Turnbull left none. The Turnbull Library is now, and has been for fifty years, supported from the pockets of New Zealand citizens …The fact that the group of wellwishers who banded together in 1939 took a title frequently used overseas in such a connection, 'Friends of the …', has given its spokesmen in the present controversy an obvious linguistic weapon. A 'Friend' can be opposed to an 'Enemy', and it is easy thereby to suggest that all those who do not agree with what 'Friends' advocate must, in fact, be 'Enemies'. This I emphatically deny. Those who, like myself, see the best future for the Turnbull Collection in a full and fruitful association with the
National Library claim to be 'Friends' equally with those who hold different views.
The controversy which had occurred, and might even be said to have raged, since the Cabinet had referred the national library proposal back to its committee on government administration in November 1964 had enabled those who opposed it to make their opposition more public, but it had also shown that it had very strong support from a wide range of highly respected people. To that extent, it had been valuable in helping to clarify problems which caused quite legitimate concern and to suggest ways in which they might be handled. By the end of May 1965 Shand had decided that the time had come to place the matter before the Cabinet again. It was considered by Cabinet on 24 and 25 May, when, despite some objections from Seath, Cabinet decided to send the draft bill to the law draftsman so that it could be introduced in the current session. In telling John Sage, as honorary secretary of the NZLA, of these moves, Alley said that Cabinet's decision had been 'decisive',85 but there was in fact another hurdle to be negotiated. Cabinet wanted support from the government caucus, which
Minutes [sic] of a meeting, 3 June, 1965, 9.15 a.m. of a Committee of Caucus held in Committee Room next to office of
Hon. T.P. Shand , Parliament House. Characters in order of appearance:
Sir Ronald Algie , Speaker House of Reps.- Mr.
E.P. Aderman - Mr.
R.D. Muldoon and
Hon. T.P. Shand (by 9.15 the stated time withA.G. Rodda and G.T. Alley)
|
Mr. D. McIntyre | 9.20 | |
Mrs. E.T. Tombleson | 9.21 | |
Mr. R. Jack | 9.23 | |
| Sir Leslie Munro 9.31 | T.P.S. gave some background – some of it a little wide of the mark – and the first discussion was centred on the part of WGa [the
General Assembly Library ] in theNational Library . The obvious points were made – representation of the H. of R. on Trustees – need for stream-lining service to members – need for satisfying Parliament that it had the service it wanted. Some members showed that they had not grasped the main points of the thing – 'The library service to members might be taken away' – put in the 4th floor of a building in the Govt. Centre. All reasonably enough dealt with. Aderman very helpful & keen on it.Discussion then switched to Turnbull; here T.P.S. gave a wildly generous and wrong estimate of the part played by C.R.H.T. [Taylor] the 'former librarian' of WTu [Turnbull] as he styled him in contrast to the present holder – C.R.H.T. was very keen to see the
National Library established – obviously an extension of the famous take-over attempt.86T.P.S. describedD. Glover as an alcoholic acquaintance of his & generally gave the friends and J.R.C. [Cole] a bad report – with exception ofSir John Ilott whom he praised highly & this gave the opening for a fuller discussion of the Trustees. Who were they and what did they do? This was explained by G.T.A. & relevant parts of the Bill cited. Munro who by this time had arrived wanted to know about them 'Would there be a librarian on the Trustees?' The agreed amendment to the composition of the Trustees was quoted (Royal Society , F.O.T.L. to be consulted) T.P.S. saying he thought there would be fuller discussion about Trustees – (under statement!).Mrs. Tombleson raised the 'wing & separate existence in a N.L. building' nonsense for the Turnbull & this was shot down in flames, I hope, G.T.A. pointing out with
R.D. Muldoon nodding agreement, that two national libraries were more than we could really afford.R Jack raised four points on WGa:
- He had thought the library would be moved! Incredible but he was assured on that.
- He quite saw the need for doing something about the 'vast historical' collections & it was an advantage, he thought, to have them go to a
National Library .- He had still some doubts about the
Parliamentary Library being apartof aNational Library , even when stream-lined. I pointed out it was a question of National resources & Commonwealth [of Australia] precedents didn't really help.- As to staff being seconded. This dealt with by T.P.S. & A.G.R. on usual lines under career service, etc., etc.
A by-product – T.P.S.: 'We expect the deputy N.L. or Assistant Librarian will have a status more than that of any librarian of a major library in the country.' G.T.A.: 'Responsibility but not remuneration' – T.P.S.: 'Ah, yes, we have to do something about that.'
After T.P.S. had given background of last six months & his dealings with F.O.T.L. and N.Z.L.A. ('a hundred members' voted unanimously at the Conference) it was past 10 a.m. Obviously Caucus itself was meeting. Sir Ronald A. then made a neat & timely save & asked T.P.S. whether the meeting had in fact agreed – Every-one except Munro really did – some vocally – Mrs. T., Aderman – but Munro still went on about needing to see draft bill.
Upshot: T.P.S. (Sick & tired of the whole bloody thing) gone to Caucus determined to push through an agreement to the Bill going to Law Draughtsman – expect he will get it through, But – ?G.T. Alley 3/6
87
Shand did get it through, and the draft bill was sent to the law draftsman for knocking into shape while the minister responsible got over his momentary irritation.
At this point, while the law draftsman is polishing and refining, it is timely to remember that normal life was continuing as usual. The vans of the
In June 1965 New Zealand National Bibliography, for which the Government Printer had accepted responsibility for publication.88 As a record of the imaginative assiduity with which the task had been tackled, this article could well be a useful manual, and a warning, for others contemplating similar assignments. A few months later Alley published a review of the Australian Tauber report on Australian library resources – not only the summary report which was generally available, but also the huge three-volume accumulation of detail on which it was based.89 In emphasising the importance of factual reports of this kind in an environment in which, in educational planning, libraries were often 'fobbed off as apparently peripheral', he remarked, 'It was the presence of
For Alley the death, in September 1965, of Euphan's mother, New Zealand Libraries included contributions from Dorothy White, 90 and the NZLA council established a prize which was named after her, to be awarded for work of outstanding merit in classification and cataloguing by a Library School student. Alley wrote of her, '
As the law draftsman's labours progressed, New Zealand Truth (our answer to jesting Pilate) seems to have heard a rumour that something was afoot in the world of government libraries, because it warned that 'politicians could be severely bitten by an empire-building tactic now moving unobtrusively towards fruition … [and that] In addition, because of his increased responsibilities its director will no doubt achieve a pay rise – and later increased superannuation payments.'91 Another, better informed, portent came from 92
The National Library Bill was introduced to the House of Representatives on 20 August 1965 by 93 It was basically the draft that had been put together by the officials committee in 1964, amended in many details as a result of the discussions which had taken place since then; and, of course, by the law draftsman when engaged in his employment. It established, from 1 April 1966, a
It quickly became obvious that opposition of a rather hostile kind was to be expected from some of the Labour members.
Once the legislative programme had been decided, both the major non-government bodies involved started to prepare their submissions for presentation to the statutes revision committee, and it was also necessary for Alley, who as national librarian would be required to provide information to his minister and to attend all official discussions, to be ready to produce documents quickly as they were needed. The NZLA distributed 2500 copies of its eight-page pamphlet, A National Library for New Zealand, to newspapers and a wide range of interested and influential people, and the 94
On 14 September Alley met the library committee of the House of Representatives, whose members, chaired by the Speaker, did not overlap with the membership of the statutes revision committee. The library committee asked, on the motion of Warren Freer, for two amendments to be made to the bill to emphasise its role with regard to the appointment of a chief librarian and the secondment of staff from the public service.95 These requests, which in due course were accepted by the statutes revision committee, would, as Alley reported to Kinsella, 'make more explicit in the legislation what has always been intended should be carried out administratively'.96
Alley also prepared for the minister a set of reference notes for him to use during discussions and debates.97 The first 11 pages of this document consisted of notes, arranged under the clauses of the bill, which were partly explanatory and partly designed to counter anticipated objections. For instance, in response to suggestions which had been made that books from the Turnbull collection would be lent to libraries and the collection would be weakened, Alley wrote (p. 8), 'This is ridiculous. The greatest care will be taken to see that no rare or irreplaceable item leaves the national library building in the ordinary way. The Minister on the advice of the Trustees will make the conditions for use. These will be properly formulated rules for this material for the first time.' In addition to these notes, the document
The statutes revision committee tackled the National Library Bill on 29 September, a Wednesday. Its current members, appointed by the House on 22 June 1965,98 included six National MPs (
The submission of the NZLA99 was taken first, presented by
When the presentation had been completed, several of the committee's members, of whom Edwards was the most aggressive, launched a hostile attack on the integrity and motives of the NZLA by way of cross examination. It was a chastening experience which took the delegation by surprise. Alley wrote to McEldowney afterwards, 'You had a really horrible wicket to bat on, or if another sport is preferred – the boot was being put in, a bit unintentionally, but the effect was the same. Granted that a Statutes Rev Cttee should have the right to probe as and when it wishes, the cruel fact is that a Govt policy decision has been made over the years from S.G.H[olland]'s terms of reference to the '58 Select Cttee to the present Govt's election policy of Aug '63 to PM's announcement of 19 Mar '64 etc etc. And the Govt members should have known some of that, and put their questions in the light of such knowledge, i.e. how effective is the legislation in giving the policy a reasonable chance to succeed?'100
But Bagnall noted: 'W.J.McE. chief spokesman and did not apparently handle questions with his usual verve … GTA very despondent after it – Br B what would you say to the work of twelve years going for naught?'101 On the other hand, members of the 102
Since the committee had taken longer than expected to deal with the NZLA, it postponed the rest of its consideration of the National Library Bill, initially for a week but then until 20 October, which was getting perilously close to the end of the session. Meanwhile, a number of people wrote to the minister of education or to the statutes revision committee to offer their views. From the beginning of September there had been a steady stream of letters from well-known and respected people, such as Landfall),103 most of whom supported the concept of a national library but wanted the A National Library for New Zealand attributed to the effect of their own work: 'Many newspapers which had begun to sympathise with the opponents of the Bill began to support it, and only the Evening Post of Wellington opposed it throughout.'104
Some heavyweight support for the bill then began to appear. The council of the University of Canterbury resolved, on 29 September, to support it,105 and on the same day 106 107 108
At its meeting on 20 October 1965 the statutes revision committee received two documents from the Friends of the Turnbull Library109 and one from Alley, and it also heard reports from the library committee of
The Friends' main submission, dated 1 September 1965 and entitled 'Alexander Turnbull Library: a Plea for Continued Separate Identity', was basically a re-statement of the stand which the Friends had taken previously, with some unfriendly comments about the NZLA ('which has always been the mouthpiece of a few'). Its second submission, dated 20 October, broke some new ground in replying to points which had been made by the NZLA and others. Bagnall, who probably knew a lot more about the
But the committee by this stage seems to have lost enthusiasm for the Turnbull cause. 'Glover,' noted Bagnall, 'applied a lot of histrionics but clearly hadn't read all his proposed amendments.' The committee was now approaching what its members saw as the heart of the matter, the inclusion of the 110 in which, in order that the bill might be seen in perspective against its historical background from the earliest discussions in 1911, he set out in detail the events, recommendations, and decisions which had been made. In his peroration he said: 'What was desirable in 1911, necessary in 1938, had become urgent by 1955. In 1965 it is desperately needed if library development in New Zealand is to regain momentum.'
Quoting Bagnall again: 'GTA read his statement and then Sheat said, "It wouldn't be fair to ask Mr Alley questions." GTA: "Mr Chairman, I would love to be asked some questions," – and then it started – adjourned 5.30, resumed at 7.30, interrupted at 8.15 when P.M. asked for urgency on liquor amendment Bill.' At the deliberation stage, when the bill was
The amendments recommended by the statutes revision committee were not the last to be made to the bill. Alley, who was conscious of the fact that Roy Jack, one of those who were concerned about the constitutional implications of the position of the chief librarian, 111 and the codicil to
The National Library Bill was at last committed on Saturday 30 October 1965. The debate, which takes up 24 pages of the Parliamentary Debates112 and which focused mainly on the question of the
Final week. For each day of the week 26/10, there was an expectation that the Bill would be 'on' with the nagging fear that it would not be able to get through. GTA was worried but buoyed up by the Minister's assurance that the PM had said, 'I want this Bill to go through.' There was the overriding worry that the House had to end soon if the refitting for the Commonwealth Parl. Conference were to be done in time. This came to a head on Thursday night during the News Media Ownership Bill stonewall when at about 1 a.m. on Friday morning
Neill Dollimore 113pointed out to a meeting in the Speaker's rooms of the PM, Nordy,114the Govt whip etc that the session had to finish that weekend if the work were to be done. The PM asked for the co-operation of the Opposition but Nordmeyer said they would co-operate if the Govt. dropped the Library Bill! The P.M., however, would not agree.We were still hopeful that it would be taken on Friday morning – the PM had taken urgency on both bills – but Friday night it was to be – so the Minister and the Govt thought, but the News Media stonewall dragged on. GTA and I were back at the office at 7.30 (he had only been out for a walk – I went home at afternoon tea time) – then the deadly hours of waiting. At about 1 a.m. he went over to the House on a 'recce' and came back an hour later with the suggestion that perhaps we should go over. Bells were ringing he hopefully noted altho' in the Cttee stages they were then only at about clause 10. Walking towards the lobby we met the Speaker who kindly invited us into his room. He didn't think it would get on that night but got tea for us; Neill came in. Neill had located the Fortune–Oram–Wauchop papers about CRHT's 1954 attempted takeover.
115Mr Speaker went to settle down for a nap leaving us in his room. The bells began ringing more frequently. GTA went out for a walk, and Arch Naylor put his head in the door and said we should come along after the next division as they were up to 16. However, shortly afterwards (4.10 a.m.) it was apparently decided that they would take it in the morning – right through. As we were walking back to NLS down the steps of the Bldgs the first light in the sky was showing up behind the Orongorongos and Geoff said, 'Mr Bagnall , this could be a dawn worth seeing'.116
The second reading debate, the committee stage and the third reading were completed on that Saturday,117 and the bill received the royal assent and became the
Congratulations came from many friendly quarters, but both Alley and Bagnall wrote to 118 Bagnall wrote: 'It was encouraging and gratifying to look across the House yesterday and see you there as one who has done so much in this struggle.'119 And to 120
Writing to 121 To
- The logic of the case and the fact that it had been canvassed NZLA and Committees wise for so many years. This may be obvious, it was essential, but it would never have got success.
- GTA.
- The weakness of the other state librarians.
- The fact that in the end through a complex set of factors Govt. was convinced that it was the thing to do and that it should be done now.
- The fact that the Speaker was behind it.'
122
It had in fact been 'a damned serious business', as Wellington said of Waterloo, '… so nice a thing, so nearly run a thing'. When the officials committee had been set up, immediately after the first essential step of the appointment of a national librarian, its decision to concentrate on legislation in order to provide a framework was the correct one, but the operation had turned into something of a nightmare. 123 but it is easy to be wise in retrospect. What is clear in retrospect is that it was the determination of 124
The irrepressible (perhaps even irresponsible) 125 Alley would have understood Glover's thoughts very well, but one can wonder whether he was philosophical enough to appreciate them wholeheartedly. The campaign for a national library had been a bruising affair, and the Year of the Bill, in particular, had left a number of people with hurt feelings – especially those who had never been involved in bruising encounters before.
Perry, writing to 126 It might still be too early for a dispassionate account to be produced, especially by an aged one-time protagonist, but a cool appraisal of the controversy over the inclusion of the Turnbull Library in the National Library by a younger writer, 127
For Alley, a most pressing task in the remaining two years before he retired was to bring the various elements together, in conditions which for many reasons, including serious accommodation problems, could only be described as depressing, to start the process of creating the National Library of New Zealand.
During 1964 and 1965, when the National Library Bill was drafted, refined, discussed, and argued over, and finally passed into law, Alley's role, as National Librarian without a
Once the act had been passed, Alley had the more public role of administering a new organisation which had been put in place and a set of principles and services which had been embodied in legislation, together with the more normal role of discussing policy issues with interested parties and obtaining decisions, where necessary, from his minister, while the politicians moved on to other interesting topics. So, in a way, normality returned, but it was a normality which included some serious problems, and he had only two years to go before retiring.
The most obvious problem was, of course, that the passing of the act made no difference to the fact that the three component parts of the
Nevertheless, many of those who had worked together for three decades to transform the library landscape in New Zealand, and who had formed strong friendships even when they argued and disputed, were still actively involved and ready to help with the implementation of the act which they felt they had helped to bring into being. For Alley's part, he would have been aware of the fact that rallying the troops at a critical time can often be more effectively achieved by a few well-chosen strategic moves than by a display of general, diffuse bonhomie.
One of Alley's first moves was to establish a small Committee of Officers, consisting of the heads of the major parts of the National Library Service and of the General Assembly and the 1 but Wilson accepted the final decision and, in his last report as independent chief librarian of the 2 He was able, in the new environment, to maintain the relationship between MPs and the General Assembly Library staff which he had described as being based on mutual respect and trust. At this point, therefore, the situation regarding the
The case of the Alexander Turnbull Library was stranger. The smoke of battle which covered the streets of central Wellington during the controversy over the bill obscured the fact that all the warring parties wanted the same thing, a secure future for the library which had grown from the kernel of 3 since moving to other work in 1941. As New Zealand's leading bibliographer, as a local historian of note, and as a book collector and amateur printer, Bagnall was pre-eminently suited for the position. Described by 4 by temperament he was also able to remain unruffled – indeed, rather amused – by assaults made upon him by argumentative opponents. He had been one of the strongest advocates for the inclusion of the Turnbull in the National Library, but a better defender of the interests of the
The March 1966 annual report of the 5 Alley, after outlining the preparations for administrative changes which had been completed by March 1966, said in his annual report: 'I wish to record my appreciation of the courtesy and the help extended to officers of the National Library Service by officers of the Department of Internal Affairs and the Legislative Department at that time.'6
These were civilised gestures, but the
The title of the Act was 'An Act to establish the National Library of New Zealand and to make provision for, and when desirable to develop and extend the services provided by or associated with, the
A body to be known as the Trustees of the National Library was established by sections 8ff to provide independent policy comment and advice to the minister of education, to review and report on the implementation of policy (both by the 7 Its membership was to include high-ranking officials from the three contributing departments, two members of the library committee of the House of Representatives, and six trustees to be appointed by the minister of education after consultation with non-governmental bodies concerned with the provision of library facilities for scholarship and research, one of whom was to be chairman. The national librarian was to attend, and could speak but not vote, at all meetings of the Trustees.
The Trustees were not to be a management board, but it was clearly intended that they should have enough prestige to influence the government and the
A major thrust of the act was the creation of an institution within which its separate parts, each with its own special objectives, would together support each other without losing their separate individuality. It could, of course, be said that this approach had been dictated by the controversies which surrounded the development of the bill and by the initial physical separation of the library's component parts, but the idea of strength in diversity is a good one in itself – it requires more imagination and understanding in its management than a monolithic style, but it can protect its individual units against predatory outsiders. 8
Alley spoke of his perception of the role of the 9 Suggesting that it was time to turn from past problems to the present and the future (and 'reminding ourselves that it is not a remote future but the future of the present'), he saw five things that seemed now to be important:
- The National Library will provide a much-needed focus for leadership in the acquisition and use of recorded knowledge in this country;
- It will achieve this to the fullest possible degree only when it is housed in a modern building, but the energy and support needed to realise the physical building must not be allowed to diminish after the completion of the building because only then will the tasks of the library increase as it becomes capable of giving its services;
- Technical advances in handling information and recorded knowledge of which we hear so much will not lessen, they will increase the role which we shall require the
National Library to fulfil;- Community support for all types of libraries – public, special, academic – will be essential for getting the best from the national one; and
- To make the most effective economical use of the facilities which a national library can provide we need a stronger library profession. Recognition by society of the need for the job will imply recognition for the worker.
Referring to the term 'a focus of leadership', he said, 'It is to be thought of as a means of encouraging by example rather than leading in size, or prestige, or vanity, or of imagined importance of any kind.' And, turning to the question of a
The interdependence of all kinds of libraries, and the need for them to co-operate in providing the services needed by their users, is the strongest theme in this paper. The National Library, Alley said, 'should work with and help other libraries, and through helping others help itself, in the task of making the best use of the country's total available resources in printed materials'.
Alley was concerned that the membership of the Trustees of the National Library should be established by the time the act came into force on 1 April 1966, and that the appointed members should be people of high standing and acceptable to all the various groups which had been involved in the controversies of the past. He had mentioned to friends the names of some, associated with the
The council of the NZLA, in November 1965, set up a committee consisting of 10 At this time Bagnall, who was immediate past president of the association, told the council bluntly (and rather undiplomatically) that no librarian could expect to be appointed; and he made it clear that, from his point of view, this was a matter of principle and not merely of expediency when he wrote to Perry protesting at the inclusion of his own name in a preliminary list, saying, 'I would consider it improper even as a superannuitant from the staff of the Library or indeed from any library position in New Zealand, to accept nomination.'11
The NZLA's nominees for membership of the Trustees, sent to the minister in January 1966, were 12 Nominations were also made by the
Appointed members
Sir John Ilott , a member and past president of theFriends of the Turnbull Library and a trustee of theNational Art Gallery .A.D. McIntosh , secretary of external affairs and an honorary life member of the NZLA.- The Right Reverend
A.K. Warren , Anglican bishop of Christchurch and chancellor of the University of Canterbury.- Professor
J.C. Garrett of the University of Canterbury, and a member of the NZLA council.D.J. Riddiford , MP for Wellington Central.Appointed by the library committee of the House of Representatives
R.E. Jack , MP for Waimarino and a future Speaker (from 1967).Warren Freer , MP for Mount Albert.Ex Officio
- The director-general of education
- The secretary for internal affairs
- The Clerk of the House of Representatives.
The sixth appointed member, added later in the year, was
Ilott was appointed chairman of the Trustees, and the 13 The list of names is an impressive one, which undoubtedly owed much to Alley's diplomatic skills. But he made one serious mistake, which was to bedevil relations between the 14
At the same time that de facto deputy, a role which he could not, and would not have wanted to, fill substantively in the new circumstances.
Reorganisation of the functions of the National Library Centre was a more complicated business. Since its inception in 1945 as an instrument for the achievement of the general goals of library co-operation and coordination, Alley and Bagnall, working together and in close association with the NZLA, had created, more or less informally, a core of activities which had become a major part of a future
Unravelling the structure of the National Library Centre while ensuring that changes did not diminish, but rather enhanced, the important role it had had when Bagnall was in charge of it was a challenge Alley had had in mind as the terms of the National Library Bill and the act were developed. Briefly, the major responsibility for national bibliographical control was
In his March 1966 annual report Alley said, rather quaintly, that with the establishment of the 15 In fact, its rump became the Central Division of the National Library, still with substantial responsibilities within the National Library's internal administration, but lower in the pecking order and without the crucial co-ordinating and policy-making functions which the National Library Centre had had in relation to the total library system of the country. These were generally understood to be joint responsibilities of the National Library Centre and of the book (later library) resources committee of the NZLA, and they were of course still necessary, but Alley's plan was that they were to be carried out by the
In preparation for the moves which he planned in the area of national library resources, Alley included in his 1966 annual report an historical account and assessment of the National Library Centre's 21-year record, of which the following extracts illustrate his line of thought:
What the Centre was set up to do, in outline, was to promote through the Association's Book Resources Committee some measure of library cooperation, particularly in inter-library lending and in book purchasing; and, secondly, to maintain certain centralised services on behalf of libraries which are in part bibliographical. It is perhaps significant that the areas in which the Centre was most effective were those in which its own services were the main feature of the projects concerned …
While a high degree of co-operation has been achieved in fields like inter-library loan and bibliographical services, satisfactory solutions to more intractable problems, such as co-operative purchasing and the introduction of a technical service to industry are still in the future …
Library Resources Committee. From its establishment in 1941 as the Book Resources Committee, the Committee has been the policy-making body of theNew Zealand Library Association in book purchasing, coverage of special fields, and in bibliography. In book coverage the Committee had laid down a guiding principle, that there should be at least one copy in New Zealand of every worth-while and significant workpublished in English. With the establishment of the Centre more realistic procedures were worked out for library specialisation and co-operative purchase of expensive marginal titles, while a special detailed programme of acquisition of expensive works in sets and back runs of periodicals was a leading concern of the Committee for many years. In some of these areas useful acquisitions were obtained, but in others the proposals were ahead of the resources then available to the libraries or the association. With the establishment of a National Library the Committee's role needs to be redefined, but the necessity for its continued activity is not in any way diminished, and when the reorganisation of the National Library Centre is completed its work should be much more immediately effective in this field … [and] the
National Library will need to continue the role of the Centre as an intermediary between Government policy and library requirements.
With reference to interloan and reference, the National Library Centre took responsibility for central services of the interloan system, he explained, in two main sections:
Firstly, the maintenance of the necessary location aids such as the Union Catalogue and the
Union List, and secondly, by the development of a strong headquarters collection from which as much of the required material as possible could be lent. The general weakness of library collections throughout New Zealand has made the formation of such a collection, which will be the task of the Central Division of the National Library to continue, an essential element in the successful maintenance of these services. The facilities of inter-library loan are accepted by the everyday reader as a normal prerogative of citizenship, but it is clear that this level of service could not have been developed and sustained without the headquarters collection.16
The importance of the headquarters collection of the National Library Service in supporting the interloan system, to which Alley referred in these notes, is emphasised elsewhere in the report by figures showing that, of 13,299 interloan requests which ended in the National Library Centre in the reporting year, 7276 were satisfied from this collection, and a further 520 items, not found in the records of other libraries, were ordered for the national collection. Without support of this kind, pressure for uneconomic and wasteful charging systems would undoubtedly have emerged before this time.
Some other consequences of the act were handled expeditiously and were noted in the March 1967 report of the Trustees of the National 17 The national librarian delegated to the chief librarian, Alexander Turnbull Library, 'all his powers and duties under the 18
Bagnall left the work of compiling the Union List of Serials and the Index to New Zealand Periodicals, and of maintaining the union catalogue, with the central division, but he took his beloved retrospective national bibliography to the Copyright List. Upon the demise of the latter, which had originated from a recommendation made by Libraries Report, August 1933, Library Trends of January 1967: "In the Pacific both Australia and New Zealand have established good national bibliographies" – and they were referring to the Copyright List.'19
A welcome relief for Alley from the work that had to be done in Wellington, within sight and sound of the Parliament buildings, after the
The University of Waikato originated as a branch of the University of Auckland which had been established in Hamilton to teach a few arts subjects, but by 1965 it was an infant university, though without science subjects. In Palmerston North, Victoria University had established a 20 and librarians tend not to be let into the planning process in circumstances like these.
In 1965 the University Grants Committee, which had paid out some £50,000 to Waikato in small special library grants to meet specific needs, decided to appoint a sub-committee 'to undertake an independent assessment of the reasonable needs of the University of Waikato library to the end of the present quinquennium [31 March 1970] and to report back to the Committee'. Its members were 21 The university prepared a case, supported by lists of desiderata and other details, for a library establishment grant of £260,000 to be spent over the rest of the quinquennium to enhance library support for the schools of humanities, social sciences, education, and commerce, and its Maori Centre.
The sub-committee met in Wellington on 21 February 1966 and then proceeded to Hamilton, where it met the university's library committee and had discussions with library and teaching staff. Back in Wellington on 24 February, it worked out its response to the university's submission. It was a fairly tight schedule, but a result was helped by Nevill's decisive chairmanship and a high degree of unanimity. Nevill sent out a draft report on 2 March, together with 'unexpurgated notes [prepared in the university] of what we are alleged to have said up at Waikato', and the final report was dated 17 March.
Briefing McEldowney at the start of the exercise, formula should be worked out that would produce pretty much what the university had asked for.
The sub-committee found at Waikato a library staff which was established at a suitable level for normal, on-going work but which was having difficulty in coping with purchasing and organising books bought from earlier special grants, and it noted that staff members were regularly working long hours, including weekends. When it met the library committee, it expressed sympathy for the case put forward by the university, but Alley and McEldowney raised the question of the level of staffing needed to handle a grant of the size that had been requested, especially if the money had to be spent within four years. There was some discussion of the extent to which Waikato could continue to rely on Auckland's resources, but Nevill said that, while he accepted that all universities could not have a complete stock of books, the University of Waikato was trying to develop its own character and he hoped its own areas of research could be developed which would be different from those of other universities.
Nevill was particularly worried by the staffing problem and how it could affect the ability of the library to handle a large cash injection. The academic staff at Waikato, he said, were sitting on the best staff/student ratio in the country and were proud of the way the library staff worked beyond the call of duty, but they would not lift a finger to help the librarians. He expressed his views strongly to the vice-chancellor, and he asked McEldowney to prepare a scheme for a similar expenditure to what had been requested but over a longer period, aiming for a collection in the 300,000–500,000 bracket (the basis for a formula), with a level of staffing which would at first be high in relation to the size of the university but which, as the size of the university grew, would not need to be reduced later.
The report which was sent to the UGC22 quoted a statement by Alley: 'My own view is that it is fairly clear that to give reasonable service at undergraduate level, some service at graduate or honours level, and to provide some research materials in selected fields, the Library's holdings cannot be below 300,000 if a reasonably full programme is undertaken by the teaching institution.' The report said that the sub-committee had 'found difficulty in examining the reasonable needs of a new university library over such a short period as the remaining four years of the present quinquennium', and had therefore considered its terms of reference in the context of an appreciable period of growth related to the long-term development of the university, to about 1980. It also said: 'In spite of the assurances given by the University, it is the view of the two assessors that the University does not fully appreciate the magnitude of the task of accession involved.'
The sub-committee then recommended a capital grant, based on an annual accession rate of 18,000 volumes, of £216,000, but that initially only one half of this be paid and that a review of progress be undertaken after two years. It also recommended that provision be made for supplementary annual grants to be made for basic collections at a diminishing rate for, say, a further 10 years.
The return visit to Waikato took place in June 1968, when the subcommittee reported23 that its general impression was that acquisitions in the meantime had been carefully selected, but that 'the views expressed by the two Library assessors [on staffing levels] have not been changed by their recent inspection'. In fact, despite some increase in staffing, there was (as McEldowney had predicted there would be) a one-year backlog of cataloguing. During this visit Nevill had serious, and probably not too friendly, talks with the university administration over the staffing question: certainly there were increases, and some years later librarians in other universities thought Waikato was overstaffed. But a further grant of $200,000 (dollars!) was approved.
It is convenient, at this point, to deal with the same sub-committee's examination, in April 1967, of a request from 24 on this occasion was markedly cooler. There was an air of opportunism about the request, and it was noticeable that the greater part of the amount asked for was to support subjects which had long been responsibilities of the agricultural college. In the end the sub-committee recommended a grant of £91,000, but only £25,000 of this was for humanities and social sciences, and the subcommittee found it necessary to demand an assurance that the extra grant would not be applied to further multiple copies for extramural students.
The unanimity with which the sub-committee had dealt with Waikato was absent on this occasion. Gordon, in particular, was scornful of Massey's concern for its new arts departments, and Alley was, at best, lukewarm. Alley and Gordon favoured a total grant of about £45,000, but the larger amount was carried by the cabal of Nevill, Wild, and McEldowney, though they were not really enthusiastic.
In 1966 there was another incident which seemed to involve Alley. It turned out to have no significance at all, but it did provide a bit of entertainment. It concerned the design for the 20 cent coin which was almost chosen as one of those which were to be introduced when New Zealand converted to decimal currency in July 1967.
A Decimal Currency Board which had been set up to oversee the whole operation invited several artists (and the public at large) to submit designs for the new coins, and by the end of 1965 had chosen a set of six and had them approved by Cabinet and checked for suitability by the Royal Mint Advisory Committee.25 The chosen design for the 20 cent coin, created by 26 There were, however, other, more favourable, comments, and the coinage question seemed to have been settled satisfactorily. But in February 1966 the designs were leaked and published in the press, and there was an immediate furore. It fell to 27
The footballer design attracted particular criticism, probably because many of those who complained were the kind of people who did not like being associated with muddied oafs. It was an All Black, they said, as if that was a criticism. It was modelled on G.T. Alley (South Africa, 1928: obviously a racist), thought others, and many years later this idea persisted. 28 But Shurrock's letter, of course, is buried in Archives New Zealand, where it cannot influence public opinion.
A more significant event was the retirement, at the end of 1965, of Harold Miller from the position of Librarian at Victoria University of Wellington. Five years older than Alley, Miller was another of the generation which was responsible for the flowering of librarianship in New Zealand, but in many ways he stood apart from his fellows. He saw himself as a scholar-librarian, and was suspicious of plans which seemed to him to be based on the needs of public libraries and their ultimate extension, rural library service. He was a sore trial to Alley, who thought he simply did not understand libraries, during the long years which led up to the passing of the
And yet, Miller was liked and admired by most of those he came into contact with. Collins wrote, at the time of his retirement: 'In the Association, Harold Miller played a part which, though not spectacular, was steady. For several terms he was a Councillor or Vice-President, but he always refused nomination to the highest office. On many committees … he helped greatly by his experience and his foresight, and helped sometimes by his opposition … His strong and often unpopular views made him many opponents but rarely if ever enemies.'29 Alley's daughter Judith described him as 'really … one of those nicest characters',30 and that was how many a younger librarian saw him. But there was more to him than that. Reading what he said at various times about such matters as the Central Bureau for Library Book Imports or the proper role of a national library makes one realise that, although he might have been wrong about the intentions of others, he was often right about the principles which he imagined they were ignoring, and he was prepared to take a stand on principle, as he did when he refused, for example, to accept a seat on Victoria's Professorial Board because it was not accompanied by recognition of the librarian as equal in status and emolument to a professor.
When the National Library of New Zealand became a reality in April 1966 the national librarian's office was on the sixth floor of a building on The Terrace in Wellington, isolated from all the component parts of the organisation he was in charge of. This was an unfortunate situation, but it was less unfortunate than alternatives that had been proposed over the previous decade and more would have been, such as a special building to cater for the short-term needs of the NLS. It was, of course, a classic chicken-and-egg situation. Part of the opposition to the establishment of a 31 and the building on The Terrace was just one of many temporary expedients which had had to be adopted by all three.
The officials committee of 1964, in proposing steps for the orderly establishment of a 32 It was a block between the Anglican Cathedral and a building owned by the Catholic church – 'a literary island in an ecclesiastical sea', 33
The importance of pressing on with a building project was emphasised by the fact that s.13(a)(ii) of the 34 The minister had earlier told the Trustees that he hoped that the building would be completed within eight years. Bagnall, always the realist, wrote, in what appear to be notes for a lecture, 'It took 50 years simply to get the 35 It actually took seven years more, to July 1987, for a 36 two oil shocks, Britain's joining the Common Market, persistent failure of an economic miracle to materialise, Prime Minister Muldoon's dispute with the Boilermakers' Union, the establishment of the Parliamentary Services Commission in 1985 and the transfer to it of the
There were, in fact, several problems facing the New Zealand library world by the time of the passing of the
To an outsider, very little change would have been apparent. The Alexander Turnbull and General Assembly libraries continued to serve their appreciative users as they always had done. Libraries of all kinds throughout the country called upon the resources of the co-operative systems which mysteriously produced what readers wanted despite the accommodation problems of which they knew nothing. The Country Library Service and the School Library Service were still comforting reminders that all was well with the world. Within the library circle the 37 and (with less success) technical and commercial services. Led by 38
But by 1965 Perry and Bagnall were the last of the old-timers still to be members of the council of the NZLA, and by 1966 they had gone too, making way for the next wave. Although it was not obvious at the time, the passing of the
When Alley wrote his March 1966 annual report he said, as we have seen, that with the establishment of the 39 but, although the proposal was therefore not new,
It was something of a shock, therefore, when, at a meeting in August 1966 of the association's committee (of which he was still convener), Alley put forward a detailed proposal for the Trustees of the National Library to establish a new resources committee which would replace the association's one in dealing with the planning and implementing of such bibliographical services and arrangements for acquisition and use of library materials as would give effect to the powers and duties conferred upon the national librarian and the Trustees by the act.40 Such a committee would consist of seven or eight members, all of whom would be librarians, and would be responsible to the minister, 'or preferably to the Trustees of the National Library'. It would be chaired by the national librarian. To deal with such matters as inter-library loans and terms of book purchasing by libraries, Alley said, 'the Association may or may not decide to have special or standing committees', but he added that 'Funds formerly made available for expenses of members attending meetings held under the Library Resources Committee's programme could not continue to be provided in Vote Education for NZLA committees.'
The NZLA's committee dutifully asked the council to recommend that the Trustees set up a committee along the lines suggested by Alley,41 and in doing so it recorded its appreciation of the work of its convener, Mr G.T. Alley, during the whole of its 25 years of existence. 'Under Mr Alley's guidance,' it said, 'and largely because of it, the work of the Committee has been of major importance in the library development of the nation.' The committee's tribute was well deserved, but the sudden and unheralded action that led to it had bemused its members, and the council of the NZLA, when it received the recommendation and had had a little time to think about it, deferred its consideration of it until its November meeting. In the meantime the Trustees went ahead anyway with setting up their own committee.
On 11 October 1966 the Trustees of the National Library decided 'to appoint a special committee pursuant to Section 14 of the 42 Six of them were current members of the NZLA's committee (Bagnall, Collins,
This was a very strange episode, in which a necessary change was handled in the worst possible way. The NZLA's book resources committee had been a symbol of the way in which the library profession worked together on many common causes. Alley, an inspiring leader over those 25 years, must have been conscious of the fact that its members were among those who had propelled him into another leadership role. No better group could have been found to work out amicably a new approach in new circumstances. Instead, he sprang a solution on them and bulldozed it through without even a tactful pause for consideration. And then the membership of the Trustees' committee was determined without any outside input. Alley had never been comfortable with the tendency of people with whom he did not want to work to turn up on committees in a democratic association, and he clearly had not learned that the best way to deal with such people is often to get them into the fold. As one commentator said later, 'The Trustees' committee is useful for its purpose, which is to provide disinterested advice for the Trustees, but its members are hand-picked and responsible to no one but the hand that picks them.'43 In effect, and probably because the new generation was inconsiderately putting its own people on to NZLA committees, Alley dumped the NZLA committee and got the Trustees unwittingly to put a cipher in its place.
There was some unease when the Trustees' committee met for the first time on 6 December 1966, and it was not dispelled when a member said that the association would not like a particular proposal and Bagnall said, 'We're not going to be told what to do by the bloody Association.' After a stunned silence, Collins said quietly, 'When you speak of the Association you are speaking of your colleagues,' and the discussion continued, but this is the kind of thing that stays in the memory. Nevertheless, since librarians tend to be reasonable people, not easily fazed, the Trustees' committee was able to do a useful job as time went on. Under its aegis an expensive materials bulletin was established, a union catalogue of pre-1801 books was started, 44 the Trustees reconstituted their committee as the New Zealand Library Resources Committee, which included some members appointed by the NZLA and the universities' standing committee on library resources. But a lot of mistrust between the
The question of the future of education for librarianship, which had lain quiescent while the National Library Bill was overshadowing all other problems, stirred into life with the coming of spring in 1965. On 17 August that year the president (McEldowney) and honorary secretary (Sage) of the NZLA met with Alley and 45 At the end of the meeting, which was an amiable one, it was agreed that the association should think about some problems in detail and that there should be another discussion in about May 1966.
After receiving a report on this meeting,46 the NZLA council asked the education committee to prepare a more detailed document on matters which had been raised in the discussion with Alley and Williams, with a view to producing a statement of policy which the council could be asked to approve as a basis for the next stage of discussion. But this took longer to achieve than had been expected, because of breakdowns in the council's communications with the association's membership. In particular, the council's policy document of 1963, 'New Zealand Libraries and had not been widely discussed. When the education committee circulated a draft document47 for discussion towards the end of 1965, it became apparent that the committee and the council had got ahead of the general membership, and comments received from branches and sections necessitated some redrafting.
At the same time, because of the absence of any helpful response from Alley and Williams, the committee began to think that simple redrafting would not be enough, and that it should extend the scope of its work to 48
The result of the committee's work in the first half of 1966, under the guidance of 49 than had been attempted earlier. Its basic recommendations were that a graduate library school be established at Victoria University, where it would be possible to extend courses and foster research, and that a training division be established as part of the
So far, so good, but when it began to look as if the NZLA was going to produce reasoned and detailed proposals, Alley seems to have decided that things were getting too serious and that the time for amiable discussions was coming to an end. Writing to McEldowney in September, Wylie said, 'Just what the Nat. Libn thinks now I don't know – but he did convey to the committee through Brian [O'Neill] that he flatly refused to attend another tripartite discussion with VUW and NZLA. He recommended going through the Minister and the UGC.50 Council is asking him to reconsider and also asking Williams to attend another meeting … I expect G.T. will continue his blocking game, but the date of his retirement is looming up, and something must surely happen then. The question is – can we wait until 1968 if we hope to get anything done in the next quinquennium? I'm also a little concerned at how we get past Williams at VUW – he seems to be as good a block as the N.L. himself!'51
When the NZLA conference started on 14 February 1967, the 261 members and delegates who attended it had been able to read the policy document and discuss it with their colleagues, and knew that their 52 Because the conference was being held in Wellington, the minister of education,
It may be helpful to you and to the Conference if I tell you at once that the proposals are quite unacceptable to me. The general idea that there should be a Library School in a University in this country has, I know, had some support – and in at least one developed country, the United States of America, education for librarianship is widely available in Universities. But what is appropriate in a rich country of some 200 million people may not be so in a young, developing one of some 2.5 milion. Our universities have many tasks to fulfil, and there are many calls on the available finance needed to enable them to carry out these tasks. I do not think that in the foreseeable future in New Zealand library education should be a function of a university. In my view and in that of many others library education is being carried out well by the present National Library School …
The proposals which I have now seen … involve not one but
twoschools, and the cost … could be as much as an additional £20,000 a year. Two schools are not a possibility in the foreseeable future, and I do not wish the National Librarian to engage in any further discussions of the kind previously authorized.
Dealing with suggestions that a university school would be able to extend its programmes to provide for specialist training, Kinsella said that it would be better to send selected students overseas for specialist training, saying, 'I have noted other unsatisfactory features of the proposals and I am sure that all the implications of all of them have not yet been seen or understood. My advice to you now is not to be in a hurry on this matter.' He did, however, say that he would support the setting up of a small group or working party, on which the NZLA could be represented, to report to him.53
Kinsella would of course have relied on Alley to suggest what he should say, but Alley failed both him and the association by not warning key people what that was likely to be. It was an unusual start to a conference, and the mood of many of those who heard him is captured by a later account (written, admittedly, by a protagonist on the other side): 'The Minister's statement gave great offence, not because of its substance but because of the manner in which it was made. 54
The minister's statement upset many members, but the conference took the sensible course of passing a revised motion, moved by Bagnall and seconded by Perry, 'That the future of library education in New Zealand, with particular reference to the nature and location of the 55 There was a hint of tension during the annual general meeting the next day, when Alley asked why the remit on the future of library education had been put on the order paper for the conference and not on the order paper for the annual meeting, and the honorary secretary, John Sage, pointed out that 'when the question of a library school had last been discussed, during Mr Alley's term as Hon. Secretary, it had been brought before the conference and not the annual meeting'.56
There was a little more sparring over library education in 1967. The conference's resolution was sent to the minister, who replied in September 1967 that he could not agree to the immediate setting up of a working party, since 'For an enquiry to be effective, it is important that the timing should be well-chosen and that the matter under discussion has a high priority in the minds of all those concerned. I am convinced that these conditions would not be fulfilled just now.'57 And the committee of the NZLA's professional section, of which Alley had taken over the secretaryship in 1965, welcomed the minister's suggestion that selected librarians should be sent overseas for specialist training and recommended to the council that NZLA representatives on the proposed working party should be instructed to press for this.58 The education committee, when it was asked to comment on this proposal, replied that 'in its view the major preoccupation of the Association's representatives on the Working Party should be the establishment of graduate library training at a university in New Zealand; and that although it views the sending of a limited number of people overseas for specific specialist training as important, it considers that this proposal should be examined in the context of the development of library education which includes the establishment of the university library school' (moved McEldowney, seconded Leatham). The council endorsed this view.59
There were, of course, contrary opinions, both among those who attended the conference and further afield. Dorothy White, for instance, referred later, in a letter to 60 and Bagnall, in an address to graduating Library School students in 1973, said, 'I have never been able to accept the Association's thesis that a university is the only true home for a school of librarianship.'61 But Clifford Collins, writing to Alley immediately after Kinsella's address, said: 'I don't like finding myself on the opposite side. Yet I cannot reach the same conclusion in the matter of future library school developments … You will perhaps recall that I was at first and for a long time one of those who declared that a Lib. Sch. within the NZ univ. system was not yet a possibility, even if it were desirable; and I remember opposing at an Assn. Mtg., when I happened to be in the Presidential chair,62 those who wanted then to start a campaign to have the LS transf 'd from NLS to VUC. But that was about 16 years ago, and many things have changed, in NZ and elsewhere'. After referring to changes in thinking in other fields, such as forestry training, Collins then wrote, 'I can see why GTA, as Nat. Lib'n in 1967, need not be – should not be – as aggressive in his thinking as GTA, Officer in Charge of C-L-S in 1944/45, but I feel that I could be allowed to follow what I think the earlier GTA with his boldness, farsightedness and courage and with less restraint than those upon GTA now, would have done in the present situation.'63
Kinsella eventually agreed, in 1968, to set up a working party on education for librarianship, which reported to him in September 1969. This thread, which Alley did not entirely drop upon retiring, will be picked up again in chapter 17.
Alley's hostile reaction to the thinking of others on these two issues, including some of his closest associates from the past, could almost have been designed to create problems for the future, and it was bewildering for many who still looked to him for forward-looking leadership. It was an exaggeration of a tendency not to accept criticism or opposition benignly, which had always been one of his characteristics but for which his contemporaries had made allowances. But in the mid-1960s, when the establishment of the 64 In 1928 he had defended the 2–3–2 scrum formation in rugby, in which one lock held the scrum together, saying that 'one bad general is better than two good ones',65 and this attitude was apparent in many contexts throughout his career.
In hindsight we can see that the way in which advances in library organisation had been achieved in the period leading to the establishment of the 66 If only Alley had taken the initiative in 1966–67 and got together a strong working party to work out a new relationship between the
It is unfortunate that Alley was unable, at the end of his formal career, to map out a path for others to take towards the future, but there were good reasons why this should have been so. He was tired, and probably affected by the lasting effects of his car accident. The accommodation problems of the Wellington sections of the old National Library Service were so appalling as to be beyond belief, and had led to the strategic mistake of placing him in an isolated office where he was virtually invisible to his own staff. And he was over-sensitive to what he took to be attacks on his own creations. There had been a serious loss of morale in the central core in Wellington, where there was less of a feeling than there had been in the past that the staff was working under an inspiring leader, or that long-term planning, both within the
It was notorious, in the mid-1960s, that very few graduates of the Library School wanted to work in the 67 Significantly, one librarian who had come to New Zealand from the
Curiously enough, the
In the case of the 68 Brian O'Neill, whose term as director of the extension division was from 1966 to 1971, said, 'I did make efforts to extend services to the medium-sized public libraries without much success. Of course no initiatives or ideas came from the major public libraries. 69 The whole area of library service that involved the CLS was one in which, in Alley's time, big questions remained, but they were ones which could only be dealt with effectively when the local government structure was reformed. When this did happen, in 1989, the questions had changed and the answers did not include libraries – but that was after Alley's time.
The date of Alley's retirement had originally been set at 31 March 1967, but in October 1966 the 70 The obvious person to succeed him, because of his experience in the National Library Centre and in
At the end of 1967 71
Before this parting gesture, Alley went off for a fortnight to Colombo to attend an Asian library conference arranged by UNESCO, for which leave was granted, probably, as some sort of compensation for lack of progress with the building project. It was, he told Keyes Metcalf, 'not successful except in the numerous ways in which such gatherings succeed in bringing library people together'.72 He returned in time for fairly low-key farewells from the 73
The booklet contained reproductions of 20 photographs, ranging
Books spawned by authors and publishers for their own satisfaction, And for those who read them, are gathered by librarians to be recorded, to be passed on to those who Eagerly, idly or from necessity look beyond the title-page, Whether they lie briefly and awry before being worn to ugliness Or are asked to shelf-sit through centuries awaiting the rare purposive haste of scholars, They live only in the hands of their parents, their servants And readers …
The December 1967 issue of New Zealand Libraries74 was devoted to the
What would the small suburban library have been like without the influence, example and supplementary stock provided by a CLS office within a hundred or so miles? Its standards would have been lower for one thing, and its stock so much the less, its range of books so much the more limited. In fact, it is doubtful whether such libraries could have raised themselves much beyond the scope of a bookshop lending library. What would have been the effect on the minds of the people? A much wider gap between rich and poor, between the privileged with the Mudie-like service
from the cities and nothing at all for the under-privileged. It is impossible to overestimate the value of what, under Mr Alley's guidance, the Country Library Service has done for New Zealand.
At the other end of the operational spectrum, Marlborough Express: 'I have had several calls in the last week from senior public servants about to retire. One who will be remembered with affection by many country people in isolated areas is Geoff Alley, the National Librarian, known for many years as the man with the book van of the 75 Shand's reference to Rewi was coloured by his attitudes as a conservative politician who accepted the view that Rewi had connived in knocking over a major domino in the Communists' game, but his reference to Geoff was based on direct and personal experience. Geoff related well to ministers, who recognised his honesty, his great integrity, his respect for their relative roles, and the careful way in which he formulated and carried out policies which they were confident in approving.
When the New Zealand Library Association met in conference in February 1968, a buffet dinner was arranged to enable members to honour Alley and his career. Earlier that day the president, 76
Wylie also chaired a fairly difficult conference session which considered remits on the state of post-primary school libraries, the need for a survey of library service to New Zealand schools, the participation of small industrial libraries in the interloan scheme, salary levels in public libraries, and the perennial question of whether the association should meet in May rather than February. In replying to speeches by Wylie, Margaret Campbell,
It was a mellow occasion, and Alley was in a somewhat cryptic mood of reflective reminiscence, spiced by admonitions from his past experience. Of the tributes paid by earlier speakers, he said that they were so generous that he had to regard them as tributes, not to himself personally, so much as collective ones, since so much of what had happened in the last 30 years had been done with others; in fact, by others. He spoke of those, like
He pointed out that most of his work in the association was in fact done as a member of the Public Service, and said that the example, the inspiration, of many of those in the public service made it for him an honour to be part of it: first, T.D.H. Hall, Clerk of the House of Representatives and an NZLA president, a man who had a feeling for ideas, a feeling for principles and a feeling for the beautiful, who had influenced him as much as anyone to regard the library as 'a local thing'. 'There were people who thought it would be nice to do things as the Post Office did and have all the blotters the same and all the libraries the same. Don Hall had a feeling for the local and it was a considerable influence in the early days to have had his guidance.'
The second example was
For the younger generation Alley had warnings about the pipe dreams of the mechanics and the technicians and the allure of the international super information retrieval centre which would be able to send material every which way, so that 'our kind of library service' would not be in existence – the dream of the mechanic and the humanist's nightmare. For this generation he had three wishes: that they should have unity and harmony, even with diversity; that they should be able to extend themselves and strengthen links with others, with all kinds of libraries, both within their own country and overseas; and that they should live by admiration, hope, and love.77
Retirement is not easy for one who is leaving in other people's hands a structure that he has virtually created and with which he is identified in the minds of his colleagues and the wider public. Alley knew this, and he knew, intellectually, that it was necessary for him to distance himself from the
Of the three elements of the National Library Service which formed the main part of Alley's achievement, the Country Library Service and the Library School were very dear to his heart. Both of them, when the
Writing to Keyes Metcalf, Alley said: 'I am handing over to my successor here. He is 1 This, of course, was copy-book correctness, and it was certainly sincerely meant, but time would tell whether Alley's successors could avoid treating his
By the beginning of 1968, all of the younger generation had left Ebdentown Road. Judith, who was 36, had married
Ruth (32 at this time) had gone to Britain in 1955 after two years as a founding actor with the New Zealand Players. She married Mike Craft, a London dentist, in 1961, and they had two children and adopted another. While working for the BBC (on Playschool) she began to write a long series of stories for children and books on early childhood education which were clearly influenced by her earlier experiences with her aunt,
Roderic (30), who had graduated from Victoria University, had then studied international relations at the
Patrick (26) spent 1968 in the Wellington, Hutt, and Silverstream hospitals as a first-year house surgeon, and in April was one of those who dealt with victims of the wreck of the Wahine. 'I remember,' he has written, 'how distraught Euphan was when I rang Upper Hutt to say we are busy but we are OK. She had the old Shetland love of ships and was sad to see the Wahine end like that. Geoff was dismissive of her. "Only 8000 tons of steel – not a living thing." "But she was a living thing," was Euphan's response. No answer from Geoff. He didn't feel like that at all.'2
Whenever he could Pat spent weekends at Ebdentown Road to recover from house-surgeon fatigue. 'Things were a good deal more relaxed than in 3
All the same, life at Ebdentown Road was not as relaxed as Pat perceived it as an exhausted young house surgeon. Geoff was not a Happy Family man. He was proud of his family, but he was never able to enter into their lives in the easy way that more self-confident parents can do. The Ebdentown Road estate was important to him for reasons which many other men would share – the satisfaction of creating a paradise out of a wilderness and of exercising physical skills – but the satisfaction was, for him more than for other members of the family, a solitary one. And his management of house and home, always dictatorial, as we have seen in chapter 11, became more oppressive when he had more time to exercise it. Euphan, for whom the benefits of having a retired husband were overshadowed by further loss of control over things like the bottling of fruit from Geoff 's trees or the determination of family routines, must sometimes have hankered for his working days. One member of the wider family has said that Geoff 'extinguished' Euphan, but that did not necessarily imply a deliberate hostility, which certainly did not exist. One could truly say that Geoff meant well, and in many ways did well, but life for Euphan was not easy. And she was aware of, and resented, his tendency to form relationships with other women.4
In May 1968 Geoff 's brother-in-law
In June 1968 Alley went to the University of Waikato for what he told Metcalf 'will probably be my last piece of library work in this country',5 namely the return visit of the University Grants Committee's sub-committee on the university's library needs (described in chapter 15). In the same letter he told Metcalf that he was 'looking forward tremendously' to going to London, Ontario, to take up a two-or three-year appointment as professor in the School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) which
If this plan was news to Metcalf in June 1968, it is astonishing that it seems to have been news to Euphan at the same time. Geoff 's admiration for Metcalf and Osborn, and his fond memories of his visit to the 6 In the end it was decided that Euphan would go separately to stay with Ruth in England, and she maintained appearances by saying publicly that she could never have stood the North American winter.
Euphan went first, travelling via the Mediterranean in a leisurely and enjoyable way which was marred a little by a bad dislocation of the elbow in Piraeus. The captain of her ship saw to it that she did not have to pay large hospital bills: 'Well, Mrs Alley, sometimes we have to get things fixed on the ship in a variety of places around the world so the owners are not going to ask too many questions about a hundred and fifty quid's worth of work done at Piraeus.' Every Christmas for years after Euphan sent the captain a card 'In Gratitude for Work Done at Piraeus.'
Some time after Euphan reached London, Ruth became dangerously ill with a staphylococcal meningitis, so that Euphan became concerned with managing the Craft household of husband Michael and four boys. Euphan also suffered an illness, a bronchial infection which she never really shook off, but before she left England towards the end of 1969 she was able to make a trip to Florence, and another, with her sister
Geoff 's journey to London, Ontario, began in August 1968, when Judith and Malcolm took him from Hamilton to Auckland to board the Empire Star. He had sadly left his cat Dywbie behind in Upper Hutt and entrusted his beloved Peugeot to the Taits, who passed it on to Roderic when they, in their turn, left for the University of Hawaii, where Malcolm had been offered a position working as a writer for a state-wide music curriculum. Before he boarded Geoff said, typically, 'Well, I guess there's no turning back now.' His tenure as professor of library science at SLIS, working with his friend from the days of the Canberra seminar, 7
Immediately after he had attended the Canberra seminar, which was 8 Osborn had 'dragged Australian academic libraries into this [the 20th] century'.9 However, these achievements had not been made without a personal cost. As Neil Radford (a later Fisher Librarian) and The Australian after Osborn's death in 1997, 'Osborn would allow nothing to stand in the way of pursuing his vision of creating a great library. He was impatient with what he saw as bureaucratic obstruction in his path and trod on too many powerful toes. Sadly, he gradually lost the sympathy and support of the Vice-Chancellor and senior academic staff. He resigned in 1962 and returned to North America to pursue a new career in educating librarians.'
After teaching for four years in the Pittsburgh Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Osborn had proceeded with his usual vigour to establish the new school at Western Ontario on lines which were innovative and challenging. With the advantage of 'the largest library school budget anywhere in the world',10 he quickly built up a 'demonstration' library of some 40,000 volumes, which included not only the 'best' or accepted books in various fields but others which were not of the same standard, together with examples of poor printing, successive imprints to illustrate developments in production, and so on. He substituted a seminar method of teaching and learning in place of lectures and professional courses as such. In order to assemble a faculty of international stature and experience who could give substance to the seminar method, he approached people known to him in the library field, or in fields related to it, who were close to retirement, and he attracted people from Australia and New Zealand, from France, Great Britain, and the 11
12
Strathern did join the staff later, in 1970. Another New Zealander, W.J. (Bill) Cameron, whom Alley had known in Wellington as a lecturer at Victoria University, was by 1968 already associate dean at SLIS. Jean Whyte, from Sydney, who had taken part in the 1958 Canberra seminar and had been recruited by Osborn to help with the transformation of the Fisher Library, arrived at SLIS at about the same time as Alley did, and, although she remained for only one semester, renewed her friendship with Alley and became a regular correspondent with him for the rest of his life. Another, already at the school, who also became a very good friend and a visitor to the Alleys in Upper Hutt, was
13 It was not long before Alley began to see some of the problems that Whyte understood. In October he wrote to Library Trends or standard texts … There were I think half a million dollars originally in the kitty for starting the school. Should think the largest part of it has gone in the buying splurge.'14
In the same letter to Bagnall, Alley added: 'It is stimulating to have these students, many of whom are in the top bracket of intelligence and potential, to work with. I work on all 7 days, not all of Sat. or Sun., though the seminar method, being tried seriously for the 1st time this year, makes for a good deal more work in preparation. Univ. library mediocre & spiritless. Keyes advised on site & his advice was rejected'. 15
One of Alley's students, 16
In 1969 the students in one of Alley's classes compiled a list of 'Collected Utterances of G.T. Alley'.17 The 86 items in the list are too many to quote in full, but the following is a representative sample:
The whole thing is like an unpruned apple tree, a tangled mass bearing little fruit (one of Alley's favourite quotations). It's easier to wring the neck of a special account. The governor general. It doesn't matter. He hasn't got any clothes on. It sounds a bit like taking up a cross and being determined to bear it. Keep the future viable, keep the ship moving. A blunt instrument is possibly better than none. Mind your own store, tend your own back yard. The distant pastures may be green but, by Jove, it's hard to get there. Auditing is not just something which comes after the horse has bolted. Tuesday morning will occur irrevocably. In any case a pint pot is a pint pot and you can put only so much into it. The three terrors of open access – theft, mutilation, and misplacement.
The simple act of compiling a list of this kind is strong evidence of the respect, indeed the affection, with which the students regarded Alley. 18
Alley very soon gave his revised view of Osborn to Metcalf, who wrote in January 1969, 'I am sure you realize that Andrew is a genius in many ways. He thinks that he is democratic and never quite understands what it is that he does. I am being very frank, but I had a very difficult time keeping him under control in the years that he worked for me and didn't always succeed, but he did do a lot of fine work and inspired a good many young people who were starting in library work.'19 That Alley's concerns about Osborn's administration of SLIS were not without foundation is supported by the fact that the university declined to continue his appointment as dean after his term expired in June 1970, and that when this decision was made Osborn caused difficulties for many of his staff by dropping all his own classes.20 When Osborn left,
Before Osborn left, an incident involving both Alley and Metcalf occurred which threw an interesting light on these two men who had so much in common in their backgrounds and interests, even in their personalities, but who handled some problems with other people quite differently, the one prickly and defensive, the other calm and self-confident. Metcalf was asked to write a letter to be presented to Osborn with other letters at the time of his retirement. He had some difficulty with the assignment and sent a draft to Alley, asking him to comment on it. In his reply, Alley made two general comments: 'First, Andrew has been publicly and unforgiveably vindictive about you. He has denied your professional competence as a building consultant. This happened at a largeish luncheon – about 15 people present – in March of this year. He has repeated these silly statements in other situations. I had the greatest difficulty getting a few copies of your great work, Academic and research library buildings, for the library school's library. Only a fortunate absence of A.D.O. made it 21 Metcalf 's letter, substantially unchanged from his draft, was included with the others when they were presented to Osborn.
In the second half of 1970 Cameron and Alley, despite differences of attitude which derived from their different backgrounds, worked together to restore the management of SLIS to a more even level. Years later Osborn said, 'Somehow or another things didn't work out between Geoff and me',22 but in the ensuing years his seminar method of teaching maintained a remarkable, if modified, hold on life. In a 1988 paper a later dean, 23 In sending a copy of her paper, she also said, 'I would say the library and laboratory have even more importance now than they did in the early days of the School. An indication of this is the large number of professional staff employed there – eight in all.'24 It does seem that, as in Sydney, the good that Osborn did was not interred with his bones, and in fact Cameron's career as dean25 was based firmly on principles which Osborn had not been able to develop fully.
Alley probably rather enjoyed his differences with Osborn, in a somewhat uncompromising way. 26
During his time in Canada, in fact, Alley managed to do quite a lot of things which enabled him to get away from the daily grind of a teaching job. On a visit to New York in December 1968 he visited the 27 In 1969 the Library Association (London) elected Alley, and also 28 meeting in Copenhagen August 26–30 approx. I will be representing New Zealand – pro forma or whatever – but at my own expense naturally.'29 The certificates of honorary vice-presidency were duly presented at the small ceremony, when Alley was introduced by 30
On his way to Copenhagen Geoff collected Euphan in London, and after the IFLA meeting they went on a 'hell of a long tour' of Norway and Sweden, right up to Narvik and down the Swedish side; 'Swedish public libs, fine – univ. libs?? They seem to be very conservative.' He then spent three or four weeks in London, before returning to Ontario to meet a new intake of 213 students,31 and, shortly afterwards, to make a brief trip to Montreal to see Euphan off to Honolulu, where she planned to stay with Judith and Malcolm before returning to New Zealand. In April and May 1970 he made another European trip, to Italy, Austria, and France, seeing 'few libraries but much of the countryside and some wonderful galleries and museums'.32 And in June 1970, when the annual conference of the 33 Following this, he was made chairman of a country resource panel to deal with New Zealand questions, with 34 so it had a continuing life, but it does not seem to have had to act very often.
A major assignment which occupied Alley's attention in 1969 and 1970 was the writing of a paper for Library Trends on the subject of intellectual freedom in New Zealand. As a contribution to an issue of the journal devoted to intellectual freedom in a number of countries, the issue editor, 35
Writing to Bagnall about the Library Trends paper, Alley said, 'I want to avoid the normal American habit of confusing or identifying intellectual freedom with absence of censorship – something more positive seems in order and the academics who scream loudest haven't got a clean bill of health.'36 Bagnall sent him copies of documents on a number of relevant events, including the case of George von Zedlitz, professor of modern languages at Victoria University College, who had the unique honour of being dismissed from his post by a special act of Parliament after his colleagues and the college council had declined to buckle to public hysteria during the First World War.37 Alley also spent some time checking points of detail in the library of the New Zealand High Commission in London after the IFLA conference, when he was able to get a first draft completed, and typed by Euphan. 'I really worked long and hard in my fashion,' he told 38 and, in addition to collecting historical facts, he had given careful thought to laying down some general principles with which he started his paper. 'Although we may think we know whether a society is free or not,' he wrote,
the amount of intellectual freedom present is not subject to measurement. Three guidelines which should be remembered in any general discussion of intellectual freedom can be postulated. First, just as no person is completely free in the material and physical senses, so is his intellectual freedom a relative one, although the society he lives in gets immunity from the commoner forms of inhibition of freedom such as censorship, restrictions on speech or action …
Second, it is only by individual variation, individual freedom and individual growth that a society achieves growth and freedom. We are inclined to overlook this because the measures we insist upon for freedom take the form of actions agreed upon by the society as a whole. But society should provide for the widest possible range of individual differences in growth patterns, so as to enable the individual to develop and thus enrich society itself. The encouragement of a wide-ranging growth has two aspects, one of removing hindrance, the other of providing generously the
various kinds of intellectual food, through schooling, through libraries, and through opportunities for further education after formal schooling has ended. Third, attempts to cut back or prune individual freedom of thought or expression have in an impressive number of cases resulted sooner or later in a gain in intellectual freedom, sometimes of a spectacular kind. John Stuart Mill has challenged the universality of this and has cited depressing examples of apparently permanent suppression of liberty in the wake of persecution. Enough examples of restrictions and suppressions being followed by a greater resurgence of freedom exist, however, to warrant holding this as an important element in the discussion.
After giving examples of various assaults on intellectual freedom in New Zealand, including the von Zedlitz case and the imprisonment of de facto role of censor adopted by the Customs Department over many years. This situation developed because there was no formal structure for dealing with the question of 'undesirable' publications, and it was a particular problem in a small country because most books handled by booksellers were imported from outside. Because Customs officials were by and large not able to handle the complicated issues involved, it led to a number of unfortunate decisions which mobilised several groups to support a movement which led to the passing of the
Roderic married 39
Alley left Ontario early in January 1971, with rather mixed feelings. 40 but he knew that, after their joint effort of restoring order after Osborn's departure, it was probably best for him and Cameron to part company, although he was sad to leave the students. Returning home, though, caused him some trepidation. His personal relationships, by the end of 1970, were in a state of confusion, and the prospect of resuming an ordered existence which he had not always managed very well was not altogether alluring. As it turned out, his decision to delay his return by staying with Judith and Malcolm in Honolulu for a month gave him time for reflection and adjustment. Judith has spoken of a discussion she had with him, when 'He sat in our living room in Honolulu, near to tears, and made amends to me "for having been a mean father to us". I have always felt that this was a turning point in our relationship. I think that time and space away from New Zealand gave him many opportunities to think about the past. I recall saying to him that he did, at that time, all that was possible for us – and of course we all know that in those 1940s years the priority was not really for the support and nurturing of his children, but for the Library.'41
While Alley was in Honolulu, Keyes Metcalf was also there – 'passing through', according to Judith. It was the last time they met face to face. Judith had a happy memory of taking them to a restaurant set in a lush tropical jungle in the Koolau mountains on the windward side of Oahu, seeing them walking together on the beach, and then letting them loose in the stately old State Library in downtown Honolulu. 'It was clearly a very sad parting for them both.'
Alley arrived home in late January 1971, finding 'so much to do', he told 1
It was not long before the Alleys settled down to the mundane but interesting business of living their normal lives. There are references in their letters to their going to concerts and plays (one, a good performance of The Winter's Tale at Victoria University) and Geoff 's lecturing at the Library School, besides his work at home and in the garden. In 1973, when Euphan had her 70th birthday, he gave her a telescope, a thing she had always wanted, she told Joy, and in 1974, when Gwen celebrated her 80th birthday, they assisted at a big celebration for her. 'Geoff 's roses have been out of this world and he had no trouble at all in picking 80 show bench blooms to take to her … the Play Centre stalwarts organized buffet lunch for her. GT came back to Upper Hutt – he is lecturing three times a week until 6th December and a lot of marking and preparation is involved … 2
During the 1970s both raison d' être for the gathering:
I wish you could have seen the look(s) on sons' and daughters-in-laws' faces and 'heard' the silence as the first sips of the Grange Hermitage Bin 95 were taken on Sat Aug 5. Patrick and wife Valerie, Roderic and wife Elizabeth, Euphan and I had a luncheon planned around the wine. I brought it in tenderly, around 9.30 am, opened it most carefully and using a 'decanter' … I brought it to the light of day. Around 1.30 we had finished our 1st 2 courses, soup and a pork dish with wild rice, and I then produced the Grange Hermitage with some good cheese. We had drunk a white wine with the dish. Well, Patrick (aet. 31) stoutly maintains this is the high point of his drinking career! Liz, who is older and quite knowledgeable (accompanied André Simon on his N.Z. tour for the Broadcasting people) was really quite overcome. It was a majestic, yet quite friendly wine, no trace of evil of course. What a country to live in that has such things.
3
In January 1975 Alley reported to Whyte that Keyes Metcalf had sent him a copy of one of the books published to commemorate the centenary of Robert Frost's birth, Robert Frost 100.4 Since he had met Frost when he was travelling in New England with Metcalf in 1961, this gift would have been an acknowlegement of the power that Frost's poetry had for both Metcalf and Alley.
Writing of her own visits to Upper Hutt, Adelman recalled that 'Euphan and I, we found, shared an amused impatience with some of his stubborn, prideful, demanding ways of being. I was fortunate in encountering him first in Canada, where he was, for him, relatively relaxed … I saw the more constrained GTA on several visits to New Zealand, and I observed him either with family or with professional colleagues being much more constrained, pompous, and self-conscious than ever he was in North America.'5
Alley, naturally enough, kept a close interest in the
There are some interesting comments on the state of the 6
In 1970 Dominion which complained that 'the amendment to the Turnbull Library Trust, forced on the Library by the expansionist 7
New Zealand Libraries in April 1972,8 and who had accepted the office of patron of the NZLA in February 1972, would have been well aware of the fact that the appointment of a suitable person to follow Macaskill as national librarian was crucial for the library's future, and he would undoubtedly have seen it as part of his role to discuss the matter with those who would be making the appointment. The person who was chosen for the position was not the correspondent quoted above, who of course might not have applied but who would have been a credible candidate, but D.C. (David) McIntosh, who had joined the library profession in 1951 after a 20-year teaching career, and had then occupied various positions in the National Library Service and the National Library, including director of the Library School, deputy national librarian, and chief librarian of the
Since David McIntosh was due, under public service regulations, to retire in August 1975, his appointment could have been seen as simply a bridging one, giving time for thoughts on the future of the national librarianship to be developed, but, as it turned out, he achieved a great deal in improving relations between the NZLA Newsletter, and he took initiatives in encouraging the discussion of questions of general library interest. In working as he did, he was undoubtedly acting as one of the pair of McIntoshes (who were not personally related), one the chairman of the Trustees, the other the national librarian, in trying to mend fences.
One example of the way in which the McIntoshes reacted to the outside library world is the way in which they responded to McEldowney's report, prepared for the New Zealand Vice-chancellors' Committee, on university library resources.9 After describing the way in which important functions of the NZLA's library resources committee had been supplanted in 1966 by a committee of the Trustees which did not properly represent the interests of the library system as a whole, McEldowney recommended that the vice-chancellors should recommend to the Trustees that their committee be reconstituted to provide for a substantial part of its membership to be filled by persons appointed by such organisations as the NZLA and the vice-chancellors' standing committee on library resources.10 This recommendation was passed on to the Trustees, who agreed to it very 11
McEldowney had also suggested that the Trustees' resources committee should be given a special fund, regularly augmented, to be used to buy important items not held by any library in New Zealand, which would then be placed in the libraries which were the most appropriate to hold them. 'Judiciously applied,' he said, 'expenditures from a central fund could tip the balance between a collection which is merely reasonably strong and one which is so clearly the strongest in the field that it comes to be recognized as the specialized collection on which other libraries will rely.'12 This recommendation represented a revival of the efforts of the NZLA to obtain special government grants to strengthen national resources, in which Alley had played a leading role, and it also arose from McEldowney's observation of the use, by 13
Allowing for the fact that Alley was not one of those people who, in retirement, are only too pleased to have no more responsibility for the work they have been engaged in, his life in the early 1970s was full of interest and personally rewarding. He huffed and he puffed at times over the inadequacies of the younger generation, to be sure, but he was not much more critical than many others. did something, however.' And in 1976: 'The NZLA is quite bankrupt of ideas and their meeting is badly planned, no papers prepared and circulated, no policy really, wining and dining paid for by taxes.'14 He was not pleased by public criticisms of his actions in his last working years, or by developments like the changes to the Trustees' resources committee. He was content with the situation of the Alexander Turnbull Library under
In the case of education for librarianship, stalemate seemed to have been achieved in 1967 when the minister of education, Kinsella, rejected NZLA proposals which would have involved the establishment of a graduate library school at Victoria University and the further development of intermediate-level training within the 15 The membership of the working party, announced on 30 May 1969, consisted of 16 The working party became known as the Graham committee and its report as the Graham report.
Alley, in a brief and rather unfocused submission which he sent from Ontario, wrote that 'The North American policy of concentrating education for professional library work in universities seems not to have been an unqualified success', and, 'My main point would be that to follow North American practice in library education would be unwise at this time.'17 Submissions were also received from a number of other individuals and from library and teaching organisations, many of them presented personally. But one organisation which might have been expected to provide its views in some detail, and did not, was Victoria University.
In its submission the NZLA had slightly modified its earlier stance by saying: 'While the Association believes the weight to lie with retaining if at all possible the connection in a single institution of both graduate and undergraduate library education, it would stress again that its major concern is the establishment of a graduate library school at the university.'18 not want to work in the
Graham himself then produced a solution to the problem which the working party adopted and recommended to the minister. In chapter nine of its report the working party recommended the creation of a New Zealand College of Librarianship as an autonomous institution constituted under its own statute. It would take responsibility for the existing levels of education for librarianship, but would act jointly with the university in providing an advanced course for which some of the work would be done in university departments, and which would lead to a master's degree in library studies awarded by the university. The physical location of the college itself would, it was suggested, be within the new
It would be difficult, now, to establish how this idea was conceived and developed, or what off-the-record discussions took place to ensure that it reached the printed page fully fledged and ready to fly. It was obviously modelled on the College of Librarianship Wales, located at Aberystwyth and operating in close association with the University of Wales, but it would be interesting to know who drew it to Graham's attention, with detailed information about its organisation and method of operating. McEldowney, who had visited the College of Librarianship Wales and had been impressed by it, did not know that a scheme based on it was being prepared until Graham arranged a tête-à-tête conversation with him, filled him up, as he wryly recalls, with whisky, and then produced the proposal, worked out in considerable detail. One can only conclude that Graham had been an active and effective chairman, who had received very helpful advice. And then, when the working party put it to the intransigent
19
In a careful and insightful review of the Graham report,20 R.W. (Dick) Hlavac pointed out that the working party's recommendations were an attempt to produce a solution which was both workable and acceptable to all of the bodies concerned, Victoria University, the NZLA, and the minister of education, and he concluded that it had been only partially successful. 'The tragedy will occur,' he said, 'if, in trying to sort out the particulars of a solution which will be acceptable to both Victoria University and the NZLA, we get bogged down in an unnecessary argument about the relative merits and weaknesses of alternative proposals. For if it takes too much time to re-work out our requirements, everyone concerned – especially Government – will have lost interest and the Working Party will have accomplished nothing.'
For his part, Alley developed his thoughts on the library profession and appropriate forms of preparation for membership of it in an address he gave at the closing ceremony of the New Zealand Library School's 1971 graduate class in December 1971.21 A few extracts from this address indicate that the whole of it would still be worth studying by those who have difficulty in focusing on what is the purpose of their work. 'The elusive "body of knowledge", partly borrowed, that makes up the accepted stock-in-trade of the librarian's calling is in need of continual renewal, addition, and reshaping,' he said. 'Some keen and critical members of the profession look to the formulation of methods of bibliographical control to provide the intellectual content of the body of professional knowledge. No one would question the validity of the belief that classification and cataloguing are intellectual exercises, but are they enough by themselves? Similarly, the traditional view of the role of the librarian as a collector, in various guises, keeps recurring and certainly librarianship involves the formation of
'Will the concept of "service" stand another look?' he asked, and in discussing this question he said: 'In nearly every case the librarian is not the begetter or instigator of the principal subject matter communicated, yet he acts as a key factor in this process even if he is not physically present when the user makes use of materials. For he has designed a service that has brought the two together. His is the part of the honest broker, the intellectual middleman, and this part is insufficiently understood by those who support, use, or design library services.' In looking at the concept of service, Alley referred to three 'obvious but as yet little studied ground rules' – 'Know thyself ', 'Know your materials', and 'Know your user' – and suggested that the last of these was the most difficult and complex and the area in which the profession was falling down. 'I see librarians … as servants of a special kind. As servants of knowledge, they are honoured and dignified by their association with the highest activities of mankind and they do not need to think about subservience or servility.' And he recommended that the graduates should study closely chapter 20, 'Intellectual and Practical Studies', of Democracy and Education.
Concluding, Alley said: 'I was glad to hear while away that the Working Party on library education had recommended that a college of librarianship be established, keeping all phases of library education together in one place. Although I with others thought at one time that a library school in a university should be our aim, I realise now that this would be a backward move, and that the overburdened, overcrowded universities as we now have them are not likely to be able to provide the kind of education that the library service needs.'
This address was given two years after the publication of the Graham report, and things were beginning to move in a different direction from the one that he preferred. By this time Alley was no longer able to influence the course of events, but it was by no means clear what course that they would take.
What should happen about rural library service and service to smaller centres was equally unclear. After the failure in the early 1960s to persuade local authorities in the lower 22 There was, in Alley's view, a danger that too great an emphasis on substituting local or regional control, before the whole local authority system had been reformed, for the centrally controlled
These matters have been comprehensively dealt with by Books to the People. In 1993, when this book was written, she observed, 'It now seems certain that the search by the 23 But in the early 1970s there had been another burst of hopeful activity. The short-lived third Labour government of 1972–75 set out to strengthen the power of the Local Government Commission with the aim of establishing various types of combined authorities; the NZLA made a submission to the commission recommending the integration of public libraries into regional sytems;24 and the 25
The Porirua seminar was not a great success. Alley was one of 23 people who were invited to take part, including members of the Trustees, librarians from town and country and representatives of local government, but there was no specific, concrete project for them to consider and much of the talk was simply repetition of what various people had said over many years previously. The report of the meeting did not create any waves, and in any case proposals for local government reform faded with the election of the Muldoon government in 1975.
Writing later about the seminar, 26 Mary 27
As August 1975, the date of 28
In the meantime, 29 She was then introduced to the selection panel, and after talking to them was offered the position. Ronnie, who had not thought of herself as a possible national librarian, was daunted by the prospect. She refused the offer at first, but, encouraged by senior colleagues, then decided to accept it. Her appointment as national librarian, with effect from 1 March 1976, was announced some time later.30
31 She worked in most parts of the 32 There was no doubt about her mandate. Those who doubted the wisdom of her appointment tended to be those who were suspicious of the Otago resistance to centralising government policies based on Wellington, and Alley was one of the doubters.
33 She was fortunate to have McIntosh as chairman of the Trustees until his
In the wider library world, Ronnie as national librarian was generally felt as a breath of fresh air. She continued ex officio member, meetings of the standing committee on library resources of the Vice-chancellors' Committee, she was the first national librarian who seemed to enjoy the experience and who took an active role in its discussions. Public librarians have said that she gave the same impression when she met their groups. She was well received in branches of the NZLA where, again, she was 'one of us'. In this way she was a success from the start, but she also had to try to deal with problems within the
Early in her time in Wellington Ronnie began a programme of examining the National Library's activities, which was made more urgent by one of the country's recurring economic crises. Among other things, she began to look at the functions of the 34 but it is possible that, tactically, she had failed fully to recognise the sensitivity of this particular issue. When Alley was given a version of what had been going on he was enraged, and he remained in a state of paranoia about Ronnie as long as she was national librarian. He referred to her as 'the disaster from Dunedin', and said that McIntosh was greatly upset by what Ronnie was doing,35 though Ronnie has said that at no time did McIntosh ever indicate displeasure over the issue. Ronnie's motive in raising a number of pertinent questions was to convey to CLS staff that they needed to think about the future of rural library service so as to accommodate changes in society which had occurred or might occur in the future. And her premonitions of trouble ahead were confirmed when
Ronnie also became closely involved in the final moves to establish a library school at Victoria University. In 1977 Gandar, as minister of education, appointed her to the Victoria University council as a ministerial appointee, and just at this time the university established another of its series of committees to try to make progress on this matter. Chaired by 36 Cave later said that 'without the Ronnie/McKenzie alliance it would never have happened'.37
This sudden burst of energy was very satisfactory, even though Treasury's ready agreement with the proposal was influenced not so much by principle as by the fact that the National Library's school was housed in space for which the lease was not renewable after 1979.38 But there were still several unanswered questions which would have to be tackled later. For instance, although Victoria had clearly still not been prepared to accept the concept of an institution dealing with all levels of library education, the arguments in favour of such a solution, including the advantages of a 'critical mass' of staffing, had been cast aside rather than considered carefully and then rejected. The position of the certificate course was therefore ambiguous. It ended up in the 39
In his response to these developments, Alley's paranoia unfortunately reached a level for which a rational explanation is difficult to find, except as a reaction to his loss of control over events which he was no longer in a position to direct. When he wrote to
the dreadful state of Library Association and Nat. library administration. The female person who is 'acting' as national Librarian is, I think, making a nonsense of it. I went to the last diploma-giving of our 34 year old library school last December – was appalled at the crass and stupid way it was handled. Enuf, enuf! Keyes [Metcalf] has a lot of fascinating comment in the first volume of his
Random Recollections of an Anachronism. One of them is that he still thinks the old New York Public Library's library school did better for the students than most of the current library schools, but it is interesting to see his comment nearly 60 years later. I know the local (NZ) move has been a disaster. Instead of a good solid 43 or 44 week year the students are being fobbed off with the univ. 'term' of about 24 or 25 weeks. Of course if there are good people, and there will be, in the class, they will make their own way in their own time.40
Speaking at the ceremony to which Alley referred in this letter, Ronnie celebrated the record of the school which was now being superseded, and of its beginning as part of a remarkable period in New Zealand's library history – an achievement 'which results from the joint effort of a permanent head in strong sympathy with his Minister, in this case the Hon. H.G.R. Mason, Minister of Education, and Geoffrey Alley'. In her peroration she said: 'In its 34 years this Library School has changed our workforce from a well-led but ill-trained group into a strong and competent profession with some notable libraries in its care, and with its eyes on ever-changing future possibilities. Let us not underestimate that achievement.'41 Her implied tribute to Alley reads well in comparison with his comments on her.
Ronnie's later career, which included three years as Auckland's city librarian and five years' teaching at the Graduate Department of Librarianship, Archives, and Records which had been established at Monash University in Melbourne by
The extravagance of Alley's reactions to current events and current people obscures the fact that there was some substance to his concerns. In the case of the Library School he did not allow for the possibility that initial weaknesses of the organisation of Victoria's school might be corrected, or at least ameliorated, and this did happen a little later. Much more important was the fact that there had been profound changes, both in the social and political climate in New Zealand and in the library profession itself, which meant that the context in which the group of strong, far-sighted, and innovative librarians, of which he had been a relatively dominating leader, could make things happen was no longer relevant by the 1970s. By this time a much more diverse lot of younger librarians were taking charge of the library world, without the kind of simple, dedicated focus that their predecessors had had, and without their clear, shared assumptions. It could no longer be assumed, for instance, that everyone would agree on what it was that made a professional librarian, and underlying disagreements on this point alone were beginning to cause some problems. Handling the problems was made difficult by confusion about the nature and standing of the
The NZLA was established in 1910 as an association of library authorities, which were typically represented at its meetings by members of the authorities and their senior librarians. Personal members were admitted in 1935, and within a few years effective control of the association had passed to the senior librarians, several of whom had been selected by the Carnegie Corporation of New York for training and experience in modern library practice; and they had a cadre of subordinate but equally enthusiastic
One of the achievements of the NZLA was to establish or promote local programmes of education for librarianship, at two distinct levels: the certificate, for which the programme was designed for school leavers who were working in libraries, and the intensive postgraduate course offered by the 42 (which will be referred to later), pointed out that the certificate was 'at a higher level than the technical qualifications that are found in a number of different countries of the world', but that 'although on the face of it the curriculum for the Certificate might appear to have much in common with that for the Diploma [of the Library School], there are differences in approach, level, and treatment that are sufficiently significant to justify the description of the Diploma as a professional qualification, but not the Certificate'.
Saunders was writing in 1987, but in commenting on what he described as 'one of the most divisive issues in New Zealand librarianship' he put his finger on a problem which was troubling the library world by the early 1970s: how to define 'professional' in the context of librarianship. The Graham committee in 1969 drew a clear distinction between the professional staff of a library and 'a group of people with an intermediate level library qualification, to provide support and assistance to the professional staff ',43 and it aligned the two levels with the diploma and the certificate, but some members of the NZLA found the distinction unacceptable. These included idealistic young professionals who, affected by current concerns for the underdog, felt that they themselves, with the advantages conferred by a 'professional' qualification, should not claim superiority over those who had taken a different route and emerged triumphant with a lesser qualification which had been salted with experience.
In 1951, of library staff members listed in Who's Who in New Zealand Libraries, 123 held diploma-level qualifications and 35 were qualified at the certificate level (including in each case foreign qualifications at equivalent levels). By 1971 there were 345 at the diploma level and 346 at certificate,
At the same time, there was no longer a clear focus, as there had been earlier, on a limited range of important jobs to be done by the library world. When Alley said that, in the old days, 'we did something', he was right. They did. And the things that they did became institutions, and it was the institutions that went on doing those things, using the energies of those who had innovative drive. That does not mean that there was nothing left to do, but the things that needed doing, or needed to be identified and analysed, tended to be more complicated, and many of the best people had their hands full. It was not so easy for ordinary people to attach themselves to leaders or to become leaders.
Alley himself was not pre-eminent as an ideas man. Many of his achievements came from the ideas of others –
In 1970 J.E. (Jim) Traue drew attention in New Zealand Libraries to decisions which had been made in 1961 by the Library Association (London) on its rules, 'to change from a body representative of personal and institutional members to a professional association limiting voting rights and membership of its council to chartered librarians'. He wrote that there seemed to be 'no good constitutional reason why the Association [the NZLA] should not be more active in directly promoting a sense of professional identity; it has the power and the means but seems strangely lacking in will'.44
Traue's concerns were shared by a number of librarians who wanted to see the NZLA, or at least a significant part of it, move in the direction that the British association had taken, especially by creating a body to
Nevertheless, the question was not dropped. After Traue's paper, which was part of a symposium marking the NZLA's 60th birthday, was published, he was asked to convene a committee on future organisation which included a number of senior members of the association, and whose report was presented in 1974. The report included a proposal for a professional division which would become the association's main policyrecommending body on technical–professional matters, and its chairman, elected by the division's members, would be a member of the NZLA council. Membership of the division, which came into being in 1976, was open to holders of recognised New Zealand qualifications, including the certificate, or overseas equivalents, which was a step in the right direction but sidestepped the question of what constituted a professional qualification. Its committee included a core of members from the geographical area to which the chairman belonged, with additional members from other areas.
After a stuttering start, the professional division developed gradually into the kind of body envisaged by the committee on future organisation, culminating in a two-year burst of very productive activity in 1984–85, when the chair was occupied by
Alley's criticism of the diploma course with which Victoria started its adventure into librarianship, a course of 24 or 25 weeks compared with the Library School's 43 or 44 weeks, was apparently, at the time, fully justified. There had no doubt been constraints of time and other pressures on the new department, but it was tactically unfortunate that Victoria's first move seemed to involve a downgrading of what had been a good introduction to library work. But the establishment of the new diploma was the first in a series of moves which were made fairly quickly, including a master's course in 1981 and the investigation of other initiatives, such as continuing education and the possibility of distance learning.45
Of more concern to many was the apparent ambition of the
In 1981 a joint advisory committee on librarianship, involving the two teaching institutions, the 46 was published in 1987 and dealt especially with the situation that he found then, but he covered, and commented cogently and strongly on, many of the questions which had exercised Alley's thinking for a long time (and it has been valuable for treating these questions in this present work). Described by Ronnie as a report which 'was to have considerable significance',47 it repays study as a commentary on an important part of Alley's career, but it still has potential as a guide for future developments. Some of its recommendations which could not be implemented at the time retain their attractiveness for future action. And another thought – the change in education for librarianship in New Zealand from the National
It is easy to be critical of Alley's reactions to the way the library world developed after his active involvement. In his retirement he became increasingly unhappy as the library profession seemed to flounder under unexpected difficulties, and it was a great pity, both for himself and for the profession as a whole, that he was unable to use his mana to help map out the way ahead. But the fact remains that his qualities were ideal for the period in which he became a leader (a leader among a small group of leaders, and the kind of leader they needed in their time), in a very productive period which consolidated a library system which had the capacity to grow, and New Zealand has reason to be grateful for this. He was a master builder rather than an architect, perhaps, but what he built stayed put.
And now, let us return to Upper Hutt and to Alley's last years.
Upper Hutt, in 1980, was a very different town from the rapidly growing borough of some 5500 souls to which the Alleys had moved in 1946. It had been declared a city in 1966, when its population had reached 20,000, and had already passed the 30,000 mark. It had two state secondary schools, established in 1954 and 1962, and other appurtenances of city status, including a well-housed public library. Road and rail communications with Wellington had been vastly improved, while the rail link with the Wairarapa had been transformed by the construction of an 8.8 km tunnel. It was separated from its big sister, Lower Hutt, by the Taita gorge. The gorge was not a very fearsome one but suggestions that Upper Hutt should become part of a larger city were as likely to succeed as suggestions that New Zealand should become the seventh state of Australia. Ebdentown Road, at the end of which Alley's two semi-rural acres bordered the river, was destined to be renamed Ebdentown Street, after Alley's time there.
Alley's forays during the 1970s into the current politics of librarianship are really more significant in illuminating aspects of his own character and as reminders of the strengths he had deployed in his heyday, than in any effect they had on the course of events – except that it would have been helpful if he had been able to be more benignly interested in what his successors were trying to achieve. The old dog growled and sometimes barked, but no one minded very much In fact, his life became increasingly focused on his family and friends, and on the estate which he had created in Ebdentown Road. For Jean Whyte, who was a very special visitor for both Geoff and Euphan, Ebdentown was a place of peace and rest. 'I spent a lot of time in the hammock in the garden,' she has written, 'and it seems to me now that the days were always sunny and autumn-warm. Plenty of books, fruit from the garden always on the table and no television. Geoff taught me to play cribbage, and we listened to the BBC news and FM music. … Gradually I saw that Ebdentown Road was joining suburbia but the house and its owners remained apart, belonging more to the city than the suburbs but with many attitudes that were essentially rural.'1
By about 1978, when Alley was 75, Whyte thought that the garden was getting too big for him to tend alone. She was undoubtedly right about that, but, as is the way with the owners of fairly wild gardens, it was still possible for him to enjoy many of the fruits of his earlier labours. It produced fruit and vegetables in abundance, and the roses held pride of place in the decorative area. Neighbours were welcome, and especially children, droves of whom, from a nearby school, would flock to see Mr Alley, who would lead them round the garden until is was time for them to go home. Euphan told Joy in 1975 that Geoff 'greatly enjoys the multitude of children who "come down to Alley's"',2 and she reported to 3
Ruth's book for children, Carrie Hepple's Garden,4 which she wrote in the mid-1970s and dedicated to her father, is (allowing for the change of gender) a lovely and affectionate picture of Geoff the Gardener, with his old cat and his grave and welcoming reception of young children. One midsummer evening, we are told, 'they're playing ball on the tidy lawn,/ throwing it over, under and back,/ when suddenly/ smack/ the ball sails over the wall, into Carrie Hepple's garden.' Although they are afraid of Carrie Hepple, without knowing her (except for her 'glittering stare'), they go through to find the ball. First they come across the cat (Old Sausage):
'Oh crikey! What's that? Carrie Hepple's cat.' Still, sleek and lounging (They say he's always scrounging) Not a strokable cat – too old, too growly and spitty for nonsense like that. His eyes, green and golden, watch them pass, as they wriggle and rustle through the long dusty grass.
And then they meet Carrie Hepple, who is not at all fearsome. 'Allow me to show you a curiosity or two,' she says:
It's a curiosity to me, and it may be to you, that the seeds of nasturtium came to the gardens of England in 1502. From Peru.
She then explained about love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena), and she offered them, before they went, a hermit ('You may have four') from the crock by the door:
'A hermit's the name of a special bun' says Carrie Hepple. 'I make them occasionally for fun. Off you go now, there's good people.'
As they went, the children forgot the ball, but:
'Mind your eyeglass!', a voice comes from over the wall, and the ball comes back, flying high as a steeple. 'Oh thank you, thank you Carrie Hepple.'
Euphan's letters to Joy at this time were those of a lively and witty person, but to some extent their tone concealed a continuing and worrying deterioration in her health, which had never really recovered from the illness she suffered in London in 1969. Joy, who described her as 'a gifted letter writer', thought that in her 1970s letters 'she carefully did not expose her true feelings'.5 Other members of the family were concerned that the household régime that Geoff established was too oppressive, though he would probably have thought it was protective. He had always made most of the decisions on household management, as well as undertaking major tasks like the bottling of vast quantities of fruit, but during the 1970s he took over all the cooking and other chores, even to the extent of running Euphan's bath and the baths of visitors. In June 1978, when Euphan's condition had deteriorated markedly, he wrote to Joy, 'I'm really quite extended since E has decided to opt out of everything,' and in September, after she had had a spell in hospital, 'E is making some physical progress – but hasn't mended mentally!'6
During one of her later visits to Upper Hutt Jean Whyte said to Alley, 'You came back [from Canada] – I wasn't sure that you would,' and his reply was, 'How could I not, and leave poor Euphan here where she would not have coped alone?' Whyte's comment on this was, 'But there was more to it than that: more than their shared care for their children, or his confessed homesickness for New Zealand scenery. They looked after each other.'7
By the end of the 1970s Rod was established as a teacher and researcher of political science at Victoria University, and Pat as a surgeon on Auckland's North Shore. Judith and 8
Rod had been able to go to Ebdentown Road in August 1978 to enable Geoff to go to Christchurch for a jubilee reunion of the 1928 All Black team, which was organised to coincide with an Australian rugby visit. 'All 15 of us out of 29,' he told Joy on 28 July. But relief of this kind was infrequent until Euphan had increasingly frequent spells of hospitalisation, especially in Silverstream Hospital, which specialised in geriatric care.
9 Shortly afterwards Euphan wrote to Joy, in very shaky handwriting, reporting on her birthday: 'Roderic and Liz and their family came bringing offerings – many of which the children made themselves, dear souls.'10 Joy annotated the envelope of this letter, 'Last letter', and Euphan's lively commentaries ceased at this point.
Geoff 's older brother Pip died on 12 May 1978, the first of their generation to go since Eric was killed in 1916. Pip was one of the shorter Alleys (5 ft 8 in., which younger readers might recognise as 173 cm), solidly built and, according to Euphan, 'Geoff in half '. After an initial career as a government and local body engineer, he was from 1946 to 1966 on the staff of the University of Canterbury School of Engineering, where he became notable for his work in stabilising soils both for roading and for house building, but he did not get on well with the university administration.11 Like all his brothers and sisters a supporter of Rewi's work in China, Pip became well known as Rewi's special agent in New Zealand, and a member of the Communist Party to boot.12 One of his extracurricular efforts, doomed to failure, was to stand against the prime minister,
Pip's death was a sad reminder that families move on, but for Alley the death of 13
The time had now come for Alley to lose one after another of his old friends and colleagues. 14
In November 1983 Keyes Metcalf died at the age of 94. Metcalf, who had continued working as an adviser and consultant to libraries and library authorities until only a few years before his death, had the kind of professional outlook that accorded with Alley's and the kind of quiet, self-confident temperament15 that Alley would have aspired to. Alley was in awe of him in the same way that he was in awe of 16
17 for instance, this was a thought that would have struck a chord with Alley, though he would have expressed it differently.
At the end of 1980 and the beginning of 1981, Alley recorded a series of taped reminiscences of people (and one institution, the Carnegie Corporation of New York) who had been important in the context of his own career. They ranged from New Zealand Libraries in March 1983 with the title 'Some People Remembered'.18
These reminiscences, which have been quoted frequently in the present work, have been a valuable resource in the absence of the careful and continuing record which Alley never produced, but they need to be treated with caution. In some cases Alley's judgements were unfair, and in others he repeated accepted stories which do not stand up to scrutiny. In the case of 19 but this does not intrude into his reminiscences. Nevertheless, the reminiscences are not unduly celebratory.
More unfortunate than doubts about some of Alley's statements is the 20 and he told her later that he had burned many of the papers that were in it. Pat Alley also had a memory of files that were purged or burned after the tapes had been recorded.21 Other files, not kept in the cabinet, survived and were later retrieved by members of the family. Most people have weak spots, and an underdeveloped archival instinct was one of Alley's.
As his thoughts turned to the past, Alley's interest in current library affairs became less intense. He did respond in 1980 to a letter from 22 – but by 1985, when the 23 he was no longer fighting old battles over again. After the changes sprung on the country by the 'Labour' administration which took office in 1984, the 24 and it is hard to imagine that happening in Alley's time – but the significance of what was happening took time to become obvious, and in any case the Alley time was over.
Alley's interest in rugby continued, in a desultory way, into his old age, but he was never one of the old players who stayed in the public's rugby eye. He did, after all, have a busy career outside rugby, and he was also instinctively hostile, in a way which might be explained by his Irish ancestry, to any sort of establishment which he felt should be reined in, so that the links he maintained tended to be personal ones with old comrades in arms. According to Pat, he would get angry with people who complained that he did not put much back into the game. He reckoned that the players were the people who put everything into the game and that it was not for others to reproach them.25 As we have seen (in chapter 12) he had been a member of a deputation which in 1960 tried, without success, to persuade the prime minister (
In his last years Alley's physical condition became more and more difficult for him. His great body had taken a lot of battering, especially in the car accident of 1960, and the large property, so important to him earlier, had become a burden. With Euphan in hospital for much of the time, he carried on with the help of neighbours and with much support from Rod and his family, as well as having some spells in hospital himself. Writing to McEldowney in 1985, he said, 'I'm an arthritis victim – osteoporosity, a devilish thing to have,'26 and when his old friend Jim Burrows rang in 1986 and asked how he was making out he said, 'I'm still clinging to the wreckage.'27 28
Euphan's last years were spent in Silverstream Hospital, where 29 Alley's last public contribution to the wealth of nations was to write a submission to the hospitals advisory committee to support the retention of Silverstream Hospital as a valuable community asset for geriatric care. 'I am well qualified to make this submission,' he wrote. 'I am well into my 84th year. I have recently been a patient there and for the last two years I have visited my wife who is a patient there.'30
Pat was in Wellington on 25 September 1986 when Geoff died. He had seen his father during the previous day and, seeing that things were seriously wrong, had got Rod and the GP to come. In a letter to Rewi a week later he wrote:
He died as he had lived. Quickly and with dignity. Roc and I were with him and his end was, I think, as he would have wished. At home at dawn and at springtime. No pain or fuss or mess and thankfully not in hospital.
I thankfully had a good few hours with him before he suddenly became unconscious. I told him of our visit to Beijing and what a wonderful host you were. He was interested to hear all about it.
He had in fact been much better up until the last day. His last transaction that we know about was an order (paid for of course) for superphosphate sulphate of ammonia and seed potatoes!
31
The funeral service was held on 29 September at St Michael's Church, Kelburn, on one of the brilliantly fine Wellington days when the town and the hills and the harbour sparkle. There were flowers from Ebdentown Road. The pall bearers were Rod, Pat, Cymbeline ('Fear no more the heat o' the sun') which Geoff had quoted in 1937 in his first address to an NZLA meeting, for Euphan; a passage from Emerson for Judith; and Robert Frost's 'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening' for Ruth. 32
Euphan died peacefully in Silverstream Hospital on 10 July 1987. When Malcolm Tait saw her in May, on a visit from the 33 Rod was with her when she died, and one cannot help feeling that there was some significance in the fact that her old friend
So the old Ebdentown Road establishment ended, to be later absorbed into expanding suburbia, the Alley connection being preserved in the name of a footpath between some of the houses. It was a remarkable venture in its time, but now, Cymbeline can speak for both Geoff and Euphan:
Fear no more the heat o' the sun, Nor the furious winter's rages, Thou thy worldly task hast done, Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages. Golden lads and girls all must, As chimney sweepers, come to dust.
1 NZL, v.45, June 1987, pp.128-30.
2 New Zealand Books, v.9, Dec. 1999, p.12-13.
1 Our Company Before, p.219.
2 Macdonald Dict., CM.
3 J. Vowell, alias Hooker, 'Catalog of the Bishops of Exeter, 1584', quoted by T. Cooper in Dictionary of National Biography, v.1, p.326.
4 See, for instance, a letter from Rewi Alley to his sister Gwen, 25 Aug. 1977, in Sunshine and Shadow, p.84.
5 Macdonald Dict., CM.
6 Church register transcripts, SPP2/390, CP.
7 R. Alley, 'My Father', New Zealand Monthly Review, v.7 no.77, Apr. 1967, pp.16-17.
8 Nursing in Peace and War, p.10.
9 Sunshine and Shadow, p.38.
10 R. Alley, 'My Father', op. cit.
11 R. Alley, Rewi Alley, p.9.
12 Arthur Hunter, in a letter, 1950, quoted by New Zealand Genealogist, Nov./Dec. 1993, p.415.
13 Much of the information that follows is derived from Our Company Before.
14 Ibid., p.163.
15 Later named Kowai Bush.
16 Sunshine and Shadow, p.13. As a matter of interest, the family pronounced the name Roo-i, and continued to do so throughout Rewi's life. This was a period when names were routinely altered to suit the conventions of adopting languages – e.g. Eruera for Edward, Wiremu for William.
17 Nursing in Peace and War, p.10.
18 NA transcript; copy sighted in DUHL.
19 A Short History of the Christchurch Branch of the NCW, p.10.
20 'History of the National Council of the Women of New Zealand', ATL, MS-Papers-1371-187.
21 NCW, Minutes of the first meeting, ATL, MS-Papers-1371-106.
22 AJHR, E-1 (annual lists of public schools).
23 R. Alley, Rewi Alley, p.16.
24 Sunshine and Shadow, p.8.
25 Ibid., pp.39-41.
26 History of Wharenui School, p.6.
27 Design for a Century, pp.126-7.
28 M. Campbell, p.c. 23 Dec. 1989.
29 Dedication to C.M.A. in Nursing in Peace and War.
30 A Learner in China, p.16.
31 NZ Listener, v.26 no.671, 16 May 1952, p.9.
32 R. Alley, Rewi Alley, p.10.
33
34 Sunshine and Shadow, p.32.
35 Ibid., p.42.
36 Something Wrong Somewhere, p.1.
37 Ibid., p.11.
38 Ibid., p.9.
39 Ibid., p.6.
40 Canterbury Education Board, Teacher Record Book 1904-1913, CM.
41 Report by J.B. Mayne, 3 July 1912, Canterbury Education Board, Inspectors' Report Books, CM.
42 Reports by various inspectors, NA Chch, CAMJ CH210, Boxes 50-1.
43 History of Wharenui School, p.6.
44 Sunshine and Shadow, p.17.
45 Ibid., pp. 16 and 90.
46 A Learner in China, p.14.
47 J. Roberts, p.c. 6 Sept. 1990.
48
49
50
51 R. Alley, 'My Father', op. cit.
52
53 Ibid.
54 'Back to the Land!'
55 R. Alley, 'My Father' op cit.
56 Information supplied by the Southland Land Registry through DUHL.
57 AJHR, H-23 and H-23B.
58 Information from the present owner, W. Wicks.
59 Interesting comments on this point from
60 R. Alley, 'My Father', op. cit.
1 Sunshine and Shadow, p.65.
2 Wharenui School, enrolment records.
3 CU, Rewi Alley papers, Box C.
4 History of Wharenui School, p.31.
5 On the Ball, p.46.
6 Plaque in Wharenui School Rewi Alley Memorial Library, opened 4 Dec. 1971 (date on plaque, 1970).
7 Sunshine and Shadow, pp.108, 128.
8 Letter from Chief of N.Z. Defence Force, 1 June 1993, McEldowney papers (home).
9 NZEF record form, N.Z. Defence Force file (
10 Church Register of Baptisms, All Saints, Lumsden, in the Parish of Waimea, in the Diocese of Dunedin.
11 Mrs R.R. Menlove, née Johnson, p.c. 8 May 1991.
12 Sunshine and Shadow, p.109.
13
14 The New Zealand Division, 1916-1919, p.43.
15
16
17 Order of Service, CU, Rewi Alley papers, Box D.
18 Ibid.
19 Sunshine and Shadow, pp.98, 101, 109.
20 Letter from Chief of N.Z. Defence Force, 1 June 1993, McEldowney papers (home).
21 R. Alley to
22 Register of Baptisms (cf. n. 10).
23 R. Alley, Rewi Alley, p.29.
24 Nursing in Peace and War, pp.82, 93.
25 A Learner in China, p.20.
26 Pathway Among Men, p.15.
27 The Years Between, pp.41-61.
28 The Biography of an Idea, p.17.
29 Plain Living, High Thinking, pp.46, 118, 120.
30 Sunshine and Shadow, pp.119-21 (though Frederick could not have been returning from a visit to his mother, as Gwen states, since she had died in 1913).
31 E. Snow, Scorched Earth, ch.5, 'That Man Alley', pp.92-5.
32
33 D. Cunningham, née Allen, p.c. 7 May 1991.
34 J. Roberts, p.c. 6 Sept. 1990.
35 W. Wicks (present owner), p.c. 8 May 1991.
36 G. Allen, p.c. 22 May 1991.
37
38 R. Brown, 'A History of Lumsden Township', p.69.
39 Haka!, p.105.
40 Register of Baptisms (cf. n.10).
41
42
43 J. Davies, Archivist, Diocese of Christchurch, p.c. 10 Oct. 1990.
44
45 CC Student's Record, UC Registry.
46 Canterbury University College Review, no.76, July 1927, pp.53-4.
47 Players, Protestors and Politicians, p.50.
48
49
50
51 Sunshine and Shadow, p.148.
52 R. Alley, Rewi Alley, pp.31ff.
53 NZ Gazette, no.34, 27 May 1926.
54 R. Alley to
55 T. Jeal, Baden-Powell, p.374.
56 Christchurch Star, 23 Jan. 1935.
57 The Frontiersman, New Zealand, v.1 no.1, 15 Sept. 1936.
58 R. Alley, Rewi Alley, p.44.
59 N.Z. Gazette, no.62, 31 Aug. 1933.
60 A Learner in China, p.79.
61 The Press, 2 Dec. 1927.
62
63 Information about Euphan's early days provided by various family members, including
64 P. Day, The Radio Years, pp.70, 77-8, 323.
65 Lt-Col
66 On the Ball, pp.122, 182-3.
67 The New Zealand Rugby Football Union 1892-1967, p.112.
68 See, for instance, R. Alley, Rewi Alley, p.24.
69 On the Ball, p.225.
70 Ibid., p.357.
71 With the All Blacks in Springbokland, pp.32-4.
72 CC Student's Record, UC Registry.
73
74
75
76 Canterbury University College Review, no.80, June 1929, p.11.
77
78
79
80 CC Student's Record, UC Registry.
81 NZL v.13, Oct. 1950, p.212.
82 CC Board minutes, 20 Dec. 1929, UC Registry.
1 I. Carter, Gadfly, pp.41-8, on Findlay's influence. I have also drawn on Carter for other information on Shelley. This quotation is from Findlay's inaugural lecture, The Training of Teachers, Manchester, 1903.
2 The Biography of an Idea, p.46.
3 Ibid., p.47.
4 NZL, v.19, Aug. 1956, p.139.
5 Alley PGC (Shelley).
6 I. Carter, Gadfly, ch.4.
7 Educating the Workers?, p.37.
8 I. Carter, Gadfly, p.135.
9
10 WEA, Annual Report, 12th, 1925-6 pp.40-1; quoted and commented on by I. Carter, Gadfly, pp.140-1.
11 I. Carter, Gadfly, p.141.
12 New Zealand Adult Education, p.62.
13 TCC minutes, 17 Feb. 1928, CU, Canterbury WEA records, Minute Book 12.
14 I. Carter, Gadfly, p.155.
15 See, for instance, M. Cohen, 'Travelling Libraries and how to Operate Them', LANZ Proc. 1910, pp.27-34.
16
17 TCC minutes, 3 May 1928, CU, Canterbury WEA records, Minute Book 12.
18 in The American Connection, p.38.
19 Ibid., p.39.
20
21
22
23 Ibid., pp.13-15.
24 Ibid., p.34.
25 Educating the Workers?, p.69.
26 Allen to Registrar OU, 31 May 1929, quoting Keppel to Allen 11 Apr. 1929, DUHL, Acc. 91-145, file 140.
27 Copland to Registrars of Australian and New Zealand universities, 20 July 1926, CU, Canterbury WEA records, M.5.
28 Studholme to Russell, 4 Sept. 1928, Columbia University Libraries, MS Coll., CCNY.
29 American Influence in New Zealand Librarianship, p.71, n.15.
30
31 Allen to Registrar OU, 31 May 1929, DUHL, Acc. 91-145, file 140; CC Board minutes, 24 June 1929, UC Registry.
32 TCC minutes, 29 Oct. 1929, CU, Canterbury WEA records, Minute Book 12.
33 Ibid., 12 Dec. 1929.
34 TCC minutes, 19 Dec. 1929, ibid.
35 It was sent by Canterbury to Otago on 13 Sept. 1928, DUHL, Acc. 91-145, file 126.
36 Report of Staff Tutor, 22 July 1929, CU, Canterbury WEA records, G.6.
37
38 CC College Committee minutes, 17 Dec. 1929, UC Registry.
39 DC minutes, 17 Dec. 1929, CU, Canterbury WEA records, Minute Book 3.
40 Ibid., G.6.
41 TCC minutes, 19 Dec. 1929, ibid., Minute Book 12.
42 CC Board minutes, 20 Dec. 1929, UC Registry.
1 Registrar CC to Alley, 20 Dec. 1929, UC Registry, CC Registrar's correspondence.
2 Registrar CC to Shelley, 20 Dec. 1929, ibid.
3 NZL, v.13, Oct. 1950, p.213.
4
5 Ibid., p.44.
6 For example, General Manager, NZ Broadcasting Board, to Manning (WEA), 9 Feb. 1934, CU, Canterbury WEA records, C.16.
7 CCNY, Review of Grants for Library Interests, 1911-1935, pp.134-5.
8 Alley thesis, p.132.
9 Ibid., p.77.
10 Report of the Travelling Tutor for 1932, CU, Canterbury WEA records, G.6.
11 C.A.R. Scheme: Report for 1933, ibid., G.7.
12 Report for 1934 on C.A.R. Scheme, ibid., G.21.
13 M. Jones, p.c. 22 Nov. 1990.
14
15 Copy in Somerset family papers, ATL, Acc. 84-181-1/16.
16 CP, Church Register Transcripts, SALR3/76A.
17
18 Ibid.
19 Canterbury University College Review, no.82, Oct. 1930, p.53.
20 With the British Rugby Team in New Zealand 1930. Bagnall, in his entry no. A359, gives the date of publication as 1935, but corrects this to 1930 in the supplementary section of v.5 of his otherwise generally impeccable work.
21 The New Zealand Rugby Football Union 1892-1967, p.120.
22
23 Hagley Golf Club, Executive Committee minutes, 17 Mar. 1933; Assistant Secretary, Russley Golf Club, 6 June 1991; J.-A. Smith,
24 Institute of Pacific Relations, National Council minutes, 21 Nov. 1932, Alley papers.
25 G.T. and R. Alley, 'The Chinese in New Zealand', China Journal, v.28 no.2, Feb. 1938, pp.70-9.
26 CCNY, Summary of Grants for Visitors, Grants-in-Aid, Scholarships and Fellowships 1921-1934, p.60.
27 Alley papers.
28 Alley thesis, pp.4-5.
29 I. Carter, Gadfly, p.156.
30 DC minutes, 26 Feb. 1930, CU, Canterbury WEA records, Minute Book 3.
31 Registrar CC to Secretary TCC, 19 Feb. 1930, ibid., G.6.
32 TCC minutes, 11 Mar. 1930, ibid., Minute Book 13.
33 DC minutes, 27 Mar. 1930, ibid., Minute Book 4.
34 TCC minutes, 11 Apr. 1930, ibid., Minute Book 13.
35 Manning to Secretary TCC, 1 Apr. 1930 (not sent), ibid., G.6.
36 Secretary WEA (Manning) to Secretary TCC (Manning), 18 June 1930, demanding that the letters 'WEA' be given greater prominence, ibid.
37 TCC (joint meeting with Carnegie Advisory Committee) minutes, 3 Dec. 1930, ibid.
38 TCC minutes. 24 Nov. 1930, ibid., Minute Book 13.
39 I. Carter, Gadfly, p.157.
40 Allen to Forbes, 5 May 1931, DUHL, Acc. 91-145, file 162.
41 NZL, v.13, Oct. 1950, p.215.
42 CU, Canterbury WEA records, passim.
43 Alley to Registrar, 16 June 1932; Registrar to Alley, 21 June 1932, UC Registry, CC Registrar's correspondence, file 7484.
44 Keppel to Allen, 30 Mar. 1931, CU, Canterbury WEA records, G.6.
45 L.D. Coffman, 'Report on New Zealand'.
46 Ibid., pp.28-30.
47 Ibid., pp.20-2.
48 Ibid., pp.23-5.
49 Allen to Keppel, 23 Aug. 1933, DUHL, Acc. 96-176, OU HScExt historical file.
50 Keppel to Allen, 20 Apr. 1934, DUHL, Acc. 91-145, file 202.
51 CC Board minutes, 28 May 1934, UC Registry.
52 Francis to Strong, 20 Nov. 1934, DUHL, Acc. 96-176, OU HScExt. historical file.
53 CU, Canterbury WEA records, A.6.
54 Alley PGC (Shelley).
55 CU, Canterbury WEA records, G.6.
1 For this and later paragraphs see NZL, v.22, Oct. 1959, pp.169-78 and Nov. 1959, pp.193-200, and v.23, Jan.-Feb. 1960, pp.1-12; in An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, v.2, pp.305-10; and Books to the People, pp.1-17.
2 Government in New Zealand, p.136.
3 LANZ Proc. 1910, pp.27-44.
4 See Peopling a Profession, pp.21-32.
5 Alley PGC (Barr).
6 Proc. 1926, pp.11-17.
7 Proc. 1930, pp.15-18.
8
9 L.D. Coffman, 'Report on New Zealand', p.16.
10 These conditions were set out in a confidential letter from
11 F.J. Keppel to
12 The story of Harris's appointment is to be found in the files of the OU Registry, DUHL, Acc. 91-145, file 211, Library Vacancy; and in the Harris papers, DUHL, Acc. 80-094, Box 7. The words 'seriously exaggerated' were used in a letter from the University Chancellor,
13 L.D. Coffman, 'Report on New Zealand', p.16.
14 Norrie to Barr, 20 Nov. 1931, AP, Library Conference papers, 1931- .
15 Keppel to Barr, 14 May 1932, ATL, Acc. 84-142-64.
16 L.D. Coffman, 'Report on New Zealand', pp.17, 20.
17 Barr to Coffman, 2 Nov. 1931, ATL, Acc. 84-142-64.
18 Alley PGC (Hall).
19
20 Correspondence, McIntosh with Bishop and Milam, ATL, MS-Papers- 6759-208.
21 Milam to McIntosh, 13 Dec. 1932, ibid.
22 McIntosh to Barr, 28 Oct. 1932, ATL, Acc. 84-142-64.
23 Bell to Barr, 24 July 1933, AP, Library Conference papers, 1931- .
24 Barr to Bell, 4 Aug. 1933, ibid.
25 Comment by
26 American Influence in New Zealand Librarianship, pp.107-8.
27 Bell to Barr, 21 Aug. 1933; Barr to Bell 24 Aug. 1933, AP, Library Conference papers, 1931- .
28 CCNY, Review of Grants for Library Interests, 1911-1935, p.152.
29 Cable, CCNY to Barr, 9 Jan. 1934, ATL, Acc. 84-142-64.
30 New Zealand Libraries: a survey of conditions and suggestions for their improvement (hereinafter referred to as the Munn- Barr Report).
31 Ibid., p.iii.
32 Ibid., unnumbered page of statistics.
33 Ibid., p.35.
34 Ibid., p.37.
35 Ibid., pp.63-8 for recapitulation and recommendations; the recommendations are also summarized in McEldowney NZLA, pp.18-21.
36 Munn to Dunningham (undated), NZLA files.
37 L.D. Coffman, 'Report on New Zealand', p.19.
38 Munn-Barr Report, p.47. Information supplied by Manning to Barr, 2 May 1934, CU, Canterbury WEA records, C.16.
39 Bell to Barr, 23 Nov. 1934, AP, Library Conference papers, 1931- .
40 NZL, v.32, Oct. 1969, pp.165-8.
41
42 CCNY: informal report, p.23.
43 American Influence in New Zealand Librarianship, p.129, derived from Rochester's interview with McIntosh, 25 Jan. 1977.
44
45 McIntosh to
46 McIntosh to Barr, 6 June 1935, ibid.
47 Hall to Barr, 18 Oct. 1935, NL, Basement records, Row 10, Box 20.
1 Registrar, OU, to Messrs Ramsay & Haggitt, 2 May 1935, DUHL, Acc. 96-176, OU HScExt, file 221.
2 Registrar, OU, to
3 Registrar, CC to
4 CU, Canterbury WEA records, G.21.
5 NZL, v.19, Aug. 1956, p.140.
6
7 ACE News, 16 July 1935, p.9, DUHL, Acc. 96-176, OU HScExt, file 233.
8
9
10 NZL, v.19, Aug. 1956, p.141.
11 NZL, v.13, Oct. 1950, p.215.
12 'Library Demonstration' (undated), ATL, MS-Papers-6759-209.
13 McIntosh to
14 McIntosh to Barr, 6 June 1935, ibid.
15 Barr to McIntosh, 20 June 1935, ibid.
16 Macmillan to Barr, 22 Oct. 1935, ATL, MS-Papers-1917-1. When I drew Alley's attention to this letter in 1960 he said that he had not known about it. He could have forgotten, of course.
17 'Proposals for a Rural Library Demonstration', ATL, MS-Papers- 6759-209.
18 Quoted in The Biography of an Idea, p.xvi.
19 NZLA Proc. 1937, pp.9-10.
20 McIntosh to Fraser, 23 Jan. 1936, ATL, MS-Papers-6759-209; NL, Basement records, Row 10, Box 20.
21 McIntosh to Munn, 10 Jan. 1936, ATL, MS-Papers-6759-209.
22 McIntosh to Barr, 27 May 1936, ATL, Acc. 84-142-64.
23 AJHR, 1936, H-32A,
24 Scholefield to Barr, 18 Feb. 1936, ATL, MS-Papers-0212-35.
25
26 McIntosh to Barr, 6 July 1936, ATL, MS-Papers-6759-209; Norrie to Barr, 9 July 1936, AP, NZLA papers; Barr to McIntosh, 15 July 1936, ATL, MSPapers- 6759-209.
27 Alley to Chairman CUC Council, 13 Aug. 1936, UC Registry, CC Registrar's correspondence, file 9776.
28 Alley to Barr, 8 Nov. 1936, ATL, MSPapers- 1917-1.
29
30 Ibid., p.16.
31 Ibid., pp.48-50.
32 Ibid., pp.50-63.
33 Ibid., p.63.
34
35 For this period of the NZLA's history see McEldowney NZLA, pp.23ff.
36 NZLA Canterbury Branch minute book 1937-1945, CU.
37 McEldowney, NZLA, p.26.
38 NZLA Proc. 1937, p.17.
39 University of New Zealand, First Conference of Librarians, Feb. 1936, minutes, WU, Miller papers.
40 NZLA, Report of Committee on Inter-library Loans, 31 May 1937, ATL, Acc. 79-042-18.
41 Proc. 1937, pp.43-7.
42 Cymbeline, IV, ii, 258.
43 Correspondence, McIntosh with W.W. Bishop and
44 Scholefield to Collins, 13 Dec. 1943, ATL, MS-Papers-0212-35.
45
46
47 Alley PGC (Dunningham).
48 ATL, Acc. 84-142-64.
49 AJHR, 1937-1938, B-7, Appropriations from the Consolidated Fund, p.241.
50 AJHR, 1937, B-6, Financial Statement, p.20.
51 NZL, v.30, Dec. 1967, p.199.
52
53
54 McIntosh to Barr, ATL, Acc. 84-142- 64.
55 Lambourne to Secretary PSC, 22 Nov. 1937, NA, SSC 5, Acc. 1227, Alley, G.T., Personal file.
56 Lambourne to Alley, 29 Nov. 1937, Alley papers.
57 Minute written on Lambourne's memorandum of 22 Nov. 1937.
58
59 ACE offer,
60 NZL, v.1, Feb. 1938, p.51.
61 NL, Basement records, Row 10, Box 19.
62 Reported by
63 Fraser to Hall, 1 Jan. 1938, NA, NLS 1 12/1/7.
64 Alley PGC (Hall).
65 Ibid.
66 NZL, v.1, June 1938, p.81.
67 Heenan to Fraser, 26 May 1938, ATL, Acc. 73-160-4.
68 AJHR, 1939, H-32A, pp.1-2.
69 Ibid., p.6.
70 NZPD, v.252, p.475 (23 Aug. 1938).
71 AJHR, 1939, E-1, p.7.
72 Sunshine and Shadow. p.122.
73
74 A Learner in China, p.133.
75 See The Frontiersman (official organ of the New Zealand Command), v.1 no.6, 17 Mar. 1937, p.8, for a report that the Metropolitan Police had decided that the (British) Public Order Act 1936, which banned political uniforms, would not affect the Legion of Frontiersmen.
76
77
78 NZLA Proc. 1938, p.10.
79 NZLA Annual Report, NZLA Proc. 1938, p.14.
80 Keppel to Hall, 11 Feb. 1936, ATL, MS-Papers-0212-35.
81 Alley PGC (Ballantyne).
82
83 Barr to Norrie, 24 May 1937, ATL, Acc. 84-142-64.
84 Norrie to Barr, 27 May 1937, ibid.
85 Barr to Norrie, 3 June 1937, ibid.
86 Report of N.Z. Library Group to F.J. Keppel, President CCNY, 18 June 1937, ibid.
87 Munn to Norrie, 5 Nov. 1937, WP, Correspondence files.
88 See McEldowney, NZLA, pp.28-9.
89 Minutes of combined meeting of the Carnegie Library Group and the Council of the NZLA, 17 June 1938, ATL, Acc. 97-002-01/1.
90 Alley PGC (Carnell).
91 McIntosh to Alley, 6 June 1938, ATL, MS-Papers-1917-4.
92 Alley to Fraser, 12 Aug. 1938, Alley's CLS Establishment file, sighted in 1960 – present location unknown.
93 Report to NZLA councillors and members of the Group, 15 Aug 1938, ATL, Acc. 84-142-64.
94 Application to Carnegie Corporation, from NZLA and Carnegie Group, 22 Aug. 1938, NA, AAOJ 6016/24B.
95 Cable, CCNY to NZLA, 16 Nov. 1938, ATL, Acc. 84-142-64; CCNY, Library Program, 1911-1961, pp.106- 7 (Library grants to New Zealand); McEldowney, NZLA, p.29.
96 American Influence in New Zealand Librarianship, p.145.
97 Alley PGC (Carnell).
98 Ibid. (Barr).
99 McIntosh to Barr, 30 Oct. 1935, ATL, MS-Papers-6759-209; also, McIntosh to Dunningham, 30 Oct. 1935, same file ('I have endeavoured to give him a scare').
100
101 NZL, v.7, Nov. 1944, pp.180-6.
1 For details of Lochore's bizarre career, see M. King, 'The Strange Story of Reuel Anson Lochore', Metro, no.117, Mar. 1991, pp.115-25.
2 'N.Z. Country Library Service: report submitted to the Hon. Minister of Education', NL, Basement records, Row 10, Box 20.
3 Fraser to Norrie, 16 Jan. 1939, NZLA files.
4 NZLA, Central Executive Committee, minutes, 18 May 1939, ATL, Acc. 79- 042-2.
5 Campbell to Norrie, 28 June 1939, NA, NLS 2, Box 9.
6 NZLA, Central Executive Committee, minutes, 24 July 1939, ATL, Acc. 79- 042-2.
7 'Liaison Officer', NZL, v.3, Jan. 1940, p.61.
8 The Revolution in New Zealand Librarianship, p.75.
9 These points highlighted in letter of appreciation from the NZLA President to Carnell, 5 Sept. 1945, ATL, Acc. 79-042-22.
10 Proc., 1940, pp.43-53.
11 Alley PGC (Carnell).
12 AJHR, 1941, H-32A, Report of Liaison Officer, pp.5-7.
13 NZL v.20, Aug. 1957, pp.133-6 (quote on p.136).
14 M. Jones, p.c. 5 May 1991.
15 NL, Basement records, Row 10, Box 19.
16 This group preserved in ATL, Acc. 84-142-64.
17 CLS Chch, file: Palmerston, Otago.
18 AJHR, 1943, H-32A.
19 See McEldowney, NZLA, pp.30-1.
20 NZPD, v.256, p.221 (20 Sept. 1939).
21
22
23 Walter Nash, p.180. Chapter XIV, on the exchange crisis, is essential background to the steps that were taken with regard to library purchases.
24 NL, Gracefield records, Box 127.
25 Alley PGC (McIntosh).
26 Alley to Minister of Education, 12 Dec. 1939, approved 15 Dec., NL, Gracefield records, Box 127.
27 Alley PGC (McIntosh).
28 NZLA Proc. 1940, pp.14-15.
29 Collins to Rector CUC, 8 Mar. 1940, CU, file: CBLBI.
30 Collins to Alley, 9 Mar. 1940, ibid.
31 Rutherford, Hunter, and Hight to Nash, 29 Apr. 1940, NL, Gracefield records, Box 127.
32 Morrell to Nash, 31 May 1940, ibid.
33 Alley to Comptroller of Customs, 14 June 1940, ibid.
34 Hunter to Hight, 7 Oct. 1940, CU, file: CBLBI. Report of successful outcome: Advisory Committee to the CBLBI, 11 Feb. 1941, NZLA 1941/4, ATL, Acc. 97-002-01/1.
35 NZL, v.25, Oct. 1962, p.262.
36 NZL, v.20, Aug. 1957, pp.133-6 (quote on p.135).
37 Hall to Director of Education, 4 May 1939; Form PSC 5/2793, Report on Officer as at 31–1-39, completed by
38 Alley PGC (Mason).
39 Mason to Hall, 16 Dec. 1940, NL, Basement records, Row 10, Box 20.
40 Beeby, probation report for Public Service Commissioner, 3 Apr. 1941, NA, SSC 5, Acc. 1227, Alley.
41 Mason to Public Service Commissioner, 9 July 1941; reply, 21 July 1941, ibid.
42 Alley to NZLA Council, 16 Sept. 1940, NL, Gracefield records, Box 115. Subsequent action is recorded in the same files, and the bibliographical activities of the time are set out in McEldowney, NZLA, pp.38-44.
43 Miller to Norrie, 21 Oct. 1940, NL, Gracefield records, Box 115.
44 NZLA, Union Catalogue Committee, minutes, 10 July 1941, ibid.
45 Alley to Mason, 17 June 1941, ibid.
46 Mason to Hon. Sec. NZLA, 26 June 1941, ibid; full text in McEldowney, NZLA, p.41.
47 NZLA, Council, minutes, 10 July 1941, ATL, Acc. 97-002-01/1.
48 Norrie to Mason, 23 July 1941; reply, 2 Aug. 1941, NL, Gracefield records, Box 115.
49 NZL, v.5, Dec. 1941, pp.117-18.
50 NZL, v.5, Dec. 1941, pp.113-18.
51 Munn–Barr Report, pp.14, 43.
52 Ibid., pp.63, 67.
53 NZL, v.2, June 1939, pp.109-10.
54
55 Alley to White, 9 May 1938, lent by
56 Recommendations (undated) from
57 Alley PGC (Ballantyne).
58 Alley to Director of Education, 19 July 1940, NL, Gracefield records, Box 439.
59 Report of discussion between Minister of Education and Alley/Carnell, 3 Apr. 1941, ibid.
60 Alley to Minister of Education, 28 May 1941, ibid.
61 Beeby to Minister of Education, 30 July 1941, ibid.
62 NZL, v.5, Oct. 1941, pp.65-7.
63 Alley PGC (Ballantyne).
64 M.S. Sage, 'The School Library Service', Education, v.3, May 1950, pp.59-61.
65 Alley to NZLA, 12 Oct. 1939, NZLA files; see also McEldowney, NZLA, p.35.
66 NZL, v.3, Nov. 1939, p.37; Dec. 1939, pp.54-5.
67
68 ATL, CLS Oral History Project 1989/221,
69 'Books for Camps and Troopships', NZ Free Lance, 8 May 1940, p.5.
70 AJHR, 1940, H-32A, p.4.
71 Barr to Alley, 4 Feb. 1942; Alley to Commissioner of Transport, 13 Feb. 1942, AP, War Library Service file.
72 The Home Front, p.998. Taylor's chapter 19 (pp.886-1013), on 'Censorship', not only deals with a thorny war-time issue but is also interesting background to struggles over the censorship mind-set which persisted long after the war.
73 Norrie to Alley, 1 Oct. 1940, ATL, Acc. 79-042-14.
74 Alley to Norrie, 4 Oct. 1940, ibid.
75 Ellerm to Norrie, 10 Nov. 1942, WP, Correspondence files.
76 Fisher to Manning, 27 July 1935, CU, Canterbury WEA records, A.6.
77 Alley to
78 e.g., NZPD, v.259, p.721, 24 July 1940 (Boswell); v.260, pp.416 and 418, 29 Aug. 1941 (Cullen and Boswell); v.266, p.657, 3 Oct. 1944 (Lowry).
79 The Press, 10 Aug. 1943.
80 Evening Star, 22 Jan. 1944.
81 Munn–Barr Report, p.66.
82 Note for female readers: Perry's heart really was in the right place, but he was just a bit olde worlde.
83 Perry to Society of Otago Librarians, 26 Aug. 1936; report on library training in New Zealand, by the Society of Otago Librarians, ca. 1 Apr. 1937, ATL, Acc. 79-042-48.
84 See McEldowney NZLA, pp.45ff. and Library Trends, v.12, Oct. 1963, pp.306ff., for fuller detail on these and later events than can be given here.
85 Alley PGC (Carnell). For the reading record, see NZL, v.12, Oct. 1949, pp.207-14.
86 Alley to Dunningham,
87 Report on Library Training, 1943/44, ibid.
88 'Report of the Liaison Officer', NZL, v.5, Mar. 1942, pp.174-6.
89 Carnell to Dunningham, 2 Feb. 1942, ATL, Acc. 79-042-22.
90 Dunningham to Carnell, 14 Jan. [i.e. probably Feb.] 1942, ibid.
91 Alley to Bibby, 23 Mar. 1942, ibid.
92 Duff to Alley, 15 July 1938 (with memo to authors); Alley to Duff, 18 July 1938, Alley papers.
93
94 Heenan to Secretary PSC, 8 Jan. 1941, NA, SSC 5, Acc. 1227, Alley.
95 NZ Listener, v.4, 2 May 1941, p.12. See also a longer review in NZ Free Lance, 12 Mar. 1941, p.14.
96 Rewi Alley to US Ambassador, Chungking, 18 Dec. 1941, informing him of the transaction, ATL, Acc. 74- 047-3/20.
97 A Learner in China, p.206; J. Bertram was also involved as an intermediary – see his Capes of China Slide Away, pp.268-70.
98 R. Alley to
99
100 Alley PGC (McIntosh).
101 Beeby to Secretary PSC, 17 Dec. 1942, with schedule of 'Information asked for', NA, SSC 5, Acc. 1227, Alley.
102 Alley papers. No record of this service is held by the NZ Defence Force, but 'many Home Defence files were not retained', J.A. Corry, NZ Defence Force, 1 June 1993.
103
104 The Home Front, pp.1146-7.
105 Cabinet papers and Treasury report in Alley papers.
106 AJHR, 1946, B-7, Estimates of Expenditure, p.234.
107 See, for instance, 'The Soldier as Citizen: Libraries and the Armed Forces, AEWS Proposals', by C.S.P. (Perry), NZL, v.6, Apr. 1943, pp.127- 31.
108 Alley PGC (Dunningham).
109 M. Campbell, p.c. 23 Dec. 1989.
110 NZL, v.30, Dec. 1967, p.205.
111 AJHR, 1945-46, B-7, Estimates of Expenditure, p.151.
112 NZL, v.4, Mar. 1941, pp.93-5.
113 ATL, CLS Oral History Project 1989/221.
114 CLS Chch, file: Staff Meetings 1939.
115 Alley PGC (Shelley).
116 ATL, CLS Oral History Project 1989/221.
117 J.L. Roberts, p.c. 6 Sept. 1990.
118 Alley to Librarian i/c CLS Chch, received 17 Dec. 1945, CLS Chch, file: CLS memos etc 1945.
119 AJHR, 1944, H-32A, p.4.
120 See NZL, v.20, Aug. 1957, pp.130-3.
121 Supplementary Report, by
122 Carnell to various librarians, 5 Oct. 1943, ATL, Acc. 79-042-3.
123 'Post-War Planning: a tentative symposium', NZL, v.6, Nov. 1943, pp.229-45.
124
125 Ibid.
126 'Post-War Planning', NZL, v.6, Nov. 1943, pp.238 (Barr), 240 (Harris).
127 Ibid., p.237.
128 NZLA, Interim Planning Committee, minutes 17 Mar. 1944, ATL, Acc. 79- 042-3.
129 NZLA Council, minutes, 14 Apr. 1944, ATL, Acc. 97-002-01/2.
130 Alley PGC (Carnell).
131 NZLA Proc. 1935, p.4.
132 Alley PGC (Carnell).
133 NZL, v.13, Dec. 1950, p.268.
134
135 Scholefield to Collins, 13 Dec. 1943, ATL, MS-Papers-0212-35.
136 Scholefield to Alley, 21 Jan. 1944, Alley papers.
137 Various sources, including NZL, v.35, Feb. 1972, pp.45-6;
138 NZLA, Library Training Committee, minutes, 15 Apr. 1944, ATL, Acc. 79- 042-48.
139 NZLA Proc. 1941, p.13.
140
141 Harris to Collins, 24 Jan. 1944, CU, file: NZLA Training Committee 1943-1960.
142 NZLA, Library Training Committee, minutes, 15 Apr. 1944, ATL, Acc. 79- 042-48.
143 NZL, v.35, Feb. 1972, p.45.
144
145 M.L. Brown to members of the Training Committee, 18 Oct. 1944, ibid.; also, her 'Training for Special Librarianship', NZL, v.7, Dec. 1944, p.208.
146 NZLA, Library Training Committee, minutes, 19 Oct. 1944, ibid.
147
148 Proc. 1945, pp.28- 30.
149 Alley PGC (Parsons).
150 Nash to Pattison, 17 Apr. 1945; Pattison to Nash, 19 Apr. 1945, NA, NLS 2, Box 11.
151 Alley to Parsons, 30 Apr. 1945, acknowledged and accepted by Parsons, 2 May 1945, ibid.
152 'Library School: the Minister's statement to the press', NZL, v.8, May 1945, pp.53-4.
153 Alley PGC (Parsons).
154 I.D. Blair, The Seed They Sowed, p.120.
155 'Lincoln Agricultural College, Appointment of Lecturer in Rural Education, Application from
156 Duff, 23 June 1944, attached to application.
157 Shelley, 24 June 1944, attached to application.
158 Secretary to the Vice-Chancellor, Lincoln University, letter 14 May 1992.
159 Alley PGC (Carnell).
160 Secretary, External Affairs, to High Commissioner, London, 5 July 1944, NA, NLS 2, Box 9.
161 Carnell to Alley, 23 May 1945, ibid.
162 Alley PGC (Carnell).
163 NZL, v.8, Oct. 1945, pp.165-6.
164 NZL, v.7, Apr. 1944, p.52.
165 'Regional Development: N.Z.L.A. Planning Committee's report to Council – October 1944', NZL, v.7, Dec. 1944, pp.197-202.
166 Ibid.
167 NZL, v.9, Sept. 1946, pp.127-9.
168 'University and Research Libraries', NZL, v.7, Dec. 1944, pp.202-7.
169 NZL, v.8, Jan.-Feb. 1945, pp.3-5.
170 NZLA, Planning Committee, meeting 12/13 Dec. 1944, ATL, Acc. 79-042- 13; CU, file: NZLA Committee on NL 1944-1958.
171 NZL, v.8, Mar. 1945, p.18.
172 'Reports of Planning Committees', NZLA Proc. 1945, pp.8-14 (quote on p.14).
173 AJHR, 1945, H-32A, pp.4-8.
174 Registrar VUC to NZLA, 2 July 1945; NZLA to Registrar VUC, 17 July 1945; Registrar VUC to NZLA, 24 July 1945; NZLA to Registrar VUC, 25 Oct. 1945, CU, file: NZLA Committee on NL 1944-1958.
175 'Statement by the Minister of Education on the Establishment of a National Library Service', NZL, v.8, Oct. 1945, pp.161-4.
176 Mason to Public Service Commissioner, 21 Sept. 1945; PSC to Mason, 3 Oct. 1945, NA, SSC 5, Acc. 1227, Alley.
177 Dunningham to Alley, 9 Oct. 1945, Alley papers.
178 NZL, v.32, Oct. 1969, pp.165- 8.
179 Perry to Sutch, 15 Dec. 1969, CU, file:
1 'The Opening of the Library School, 18 February 1946', NZL, v.9, Mar. 1946, pp.15-20.
2 The files were lost when the school was closed in 1980, but I remember noting this interesting fact twenty years earlier.
3 Through a Clouded Mirror, p.91. Borchardt, who graduated from the second class of the Library School in 1947, later had a distinguished career in New Zealand and, especially, Australia.
4 Public Service Act 1912, s.26.
5 Ibid., s.4.
6 NZ Gazette, 14 Mar. 1946, p.325, Proclamation dated 27 Feb. 1946 exempting 'Trainees in the Library School of the National Library Service' from the provisions of the Public Service Act.
7 AJHR, 1945, H-32A, p.6.
8 McIntosh to Bishop, 23 Oct. 1932, ATL, MS-Papers-6759-208 (marginal comment by Bishop).
9
10 Details of this correspondence are set out in the 1946 correspondence with the PSC referred to below. Alley had also, in 1938, had to decline a request that he report on the possibility of the use by farmers of the
11 'University and Research Libraries', NZL, v.7, Dec. 1944, p.205.
12 Alley to Secretary PSC, 20 Mar. 1946, NL, Gracefield records, Box 127; approved by PSC 29 Mar. 1946.
13 Secretary PSC to Permanent Heads, 13 June 1947, PSC 66/10/245 1947/29, McEldowney papers (home).
14 Report of meeting in Dept. of Industries and Commerce, 4 Oct. 1946, NL, Gracefield records, Box 127.
15
16 'Hospital Libraries' (including papers by Proc. 1947, pp. 67-79.
17 Alley to Mason, 27 Aug. 1945 (approved by Mason 28 Aug. 1945), NL, Gracefield records, Box 103.
18 Alley to Mason, 22 Nov. 1944 (approved 23 Nov. 1944), ibid., Box 105. For details of the service see
19 NZLA, Committee on Technical and Commercial Library Service, minutes, 1 Sept. 1945, ATL, Acc. 79-042-14.
20 Alley to Librarians AP, WP, CP, DP, and DSIR, 14 June 1957 (when another attempt was being considered), NL, Gracefield records, Box 121.
21 Correspondence relating to this appeal, NA, SSC 5, Acc. 1227, Alley.
22 'The Story of a Mob of Sheep' (unsigned), NZ Listener, v.12, no.295, 16 Feb. 1945.
23 Robertson to Alley, 20 Mar. 1945, ATL, Acc. 74-047-3/20.
24 The story of this shipment is told in greater detail in A Learner in China, pp. 206-8, and J. Bertram, Capes of China Slide Away, pp.268-70. Both Airey and Bertram imply that Alley had raised the matter with Wright Stephenson before the Listener article appeared.
25 Rewi Alley to Clara Alley, 27 Mar. 1947, ATL, Acc. 74-047-3/20.
26 The move to Upper Hutt:
27 ATL, Acc. 79-042-14, Regional Library Service, July 1946- . Dunningham's draft report and subsequent correspondence, etc., are on this file.
28 Perry to Dunningham, 12 May 1947, ibid.
29 Proc. 1947, pp.89-98.
30 NZLA, Regional Library Service, interim report of committee, NZL, v.10, Sept. 1947, pp.170-3.
31
32 NZL, v.30, Dec. 1967, p.199.
33 AJHR, 1945, I-15, Local Government Committee, p.177.
34
35 For a different and more detailed perspective on this controversy, see Books to the People, pp.44-50.
36
37
38
39 NZLA Proc. 1947, p.113.
40 NZL, v.44, Mar. 1983, p.4.
41 Alley PGC (Dunningham).
42
43 Barr to Alley, 5 Sept. 1946 (copy, to J. Harris, President NZLA, DUHL, Acc. 84-134).
44 NZL, v.10, Mar. 1947, pp. 23-35.
45
46 'Wellington Civic Reception: address by
47 NZL, v.9, Nov. 1946, pp.179-84.
48 N. Gordon to Harris, 25 June 1946, DUHL, Acc. 84-134.
49 Colophon: a miscellany from the Library School, v.1 no.1, June 1946; v.1 no.2, Oct. 1946; noted in NZL, v.9, July 1946, p.103.
50 Proc. 1947, pp.44-8.
51 Library Quarterly, v.17, Jan. 1947, pp.18-27.
52
53 For N. Bateson's impressive CV, see NZL, v.10, Sept. 1947, pp.173-4.
54 McColvin to Alley, 18 Mar. 1947, Alley papers.
55 'United States Information Library: shutters up 31 July 1947', NZL, v.10, Aug. 1947, pp.141-2; see also 'Fiftieth Anniversary of American Libraries in NZ – an informal chronology', USIS Spotlight (newsletter of USIS in NZ), no.7, Aug. 1994, pp.[4-5] (though its figure of stock transferred is incorrect).
56 Alley PGC (Parsons).
57 Ibid.
58 Harris to Alley, 18 Oct. 1947, Alley papers.
59 Collins to Alley, 4 Dec. 1947; Alley to Collins, 5 Dec. 1947, CU, file: NLNZ Library School correspondence 1945- 9.
60 Extract from Special Survey Report, United States Information and Cultural Activities, July 1946 (Record Group 59, Decimal file, 1945-49: 847H.428/11-14, US National Archives), retrieved by
61 Parsons to Collins, 23 Sept. 1949, CU, file: NLNZ Library School Correspondence 1945-9.
62
63 NZL, v.36, Oct. 1973, pp.347-50.
64 For a fuller account of the range of the Book Resources Committee's interests, see McEldowney NZLA, pp.38-44.
65 AJHR, 1947, H-32A, p.12.
66 AJHR, 1949, H-32A, p.12.
67 AJHR, 1947, H-32A, p.11.
68
69
70 NZLA, NZ Book Resources Committee, minutes, 19 May 1947, NZLA files.
71 Membership of Book Resources Committee in 1947: Alley (convener), Barr, Collins, Greenwood, Harris, Parsons, Perry, Scholefield, Taylor, NZLA Proc, 1947, p.3.
72 AJHR, 1950, H-32A, pp.2, 6-8.
73 NZL, v.9, Apr. 1946, pp.56-62.
74 Simmance to Librarian i/c CLS Chch, 7 July 1947, CLS Chch, file: Oamaru.
75 Alley to Town Clerk, Oamaru, 6 Jan. 1948, ibid.
76
77 NZL, v.17, May 1954, pp.89-92.
78
79 The best description of what they were like, written by one who had been a field librarian, is NZL, v.14. Nov. 1951, pp.256-62.
80 NZLA, Standing Executive Committee, minutes, 20 Mar. 1947, NZL, v.10, Apr. 1947, p.66.
81 NZLA, Otago Branch to Bibby (secretary NZLA), 18 Mar. 1947, ATL, Acc. 79-042-6.
82 Scholefield to
83 Alley to Shepardson, 3 Mar. 1948, Columbia University Libraries, MS Coll., CCNY.
84
85 NZLA, Book Resources Committee, 'Summary of Activities 1941-1950', p.13, McEldowney papers (home).
86 NZLA, Annual Report 1947, NZL, v.11, Apr. 1948, p.72.
87 NZLA to CCNY, 29 Aug. 1949; CCNY to NZLA, 28 Nov. 1949 and 20 Jan. 1950, NZLA files.
88 NZL, v.36, Oct. 1973, pp.347-50.
89 Proc. 1947, pp.26-31 (quote on p.27).
90 Interloan Rules and Procedure.
91 AJHR, 1950, H-32A, p.14.
92 in J. Thomson, ed., Southern People, p.213; correspondence between Mellanby and Harris, July and Aug. 1948, DUHL, Acc. 80-094, Box 26.
93 NL, Gracefield records, Box 115.
94
95 NZL, v.11, Dec. 1948, pp.269-72.
96 Alley PGC (Harris).
97 NZL, v.42, Oct. 1979, pp.48-52.
98 NZL, v.43, Sept. 1981, pp.105-8.
99 NZL, v.40, no.2, 1977, pp.40-6.
100 Ibid.
101 Alley PGC (Bagnall).
102 NZL, v.12, Dec. 1949, pp.277-8.
103 Who's Who in New Zealand Libraries 1951.
104 From Gabriel Read's description of his discovery of gold at Tuapeka on 23 May 1861, quoted in many histories, including A History of Goldmining in New Zealand, pp.51-2.
105 NZLA Proc., 1946-1949.
106 J. Harris, 'Training for Librarianship in New Zealand', NZL, v.11, Dec. 1948, pp.273-7.
107 NZLA, Library Training Committee, minutes, 13 Feb. 1945, ATL, Acc. 79- 042-48.
108 AJHR, 1945, H-32A, pp.6-8.
109 NZLA conference resolution, and related papers, NZL, v.11, July 1948, pp.159-63.
110 Minister of Education to NZLA, received 11 Aug. 1948, ATL, Acc. 79-042-48; NZL, v.11, Sept. 1948, pp.222-3.
111 NZL, v.12, June 1949, pp.130-2. Final form of report, NZL, v.12, Oct. 1949, pp.233-5.
112 'Branch Notes: Wellington', NZL, v.12, Aug. 1949, pp.189-90.
113 AJHR, 1952, H-32A, p.8.
114 Already quoted in chapter 6.
115 NZLA to Private Secretary to the Minister of Education, 2 Mar. 1944, ATL, Acc. 79-042-12.
116 Minister of Education to NZLA, 17 Apr. 1944, ibid.
117 NZLA to Minister of Education, 27 June 1944, ibid.
118 Beeby to NZLA, 24 Aug. 1944, ibid.
119 Recommendation of Education Conference, 7 Nov. 1944, ibid.
120 Alley to Minister of Education, 17 July 1945 (approved by Minister 19 July), NA, NLS 2, Box 8.
121 NZLA submission to Consultative Committee on Adult Education, 16 July 1945 (sent to Minister with Alley's letter of 17 July), ibid.
122 N.Z. Consultative Committee on Adult Education, Further Education for Adults, p.44.
123 To sort out the Ministerial Conference, the Consultative Committee, and the Act, see Focus for Lifelong Learning, pp.14-22.
124
125 The Biography of an Idea, pp.147-8.
126 To the Fullest Extent of his Powers, pp.57, 63, and 337 (the last reference not indexed).
127
128 The Biography of an Idea, pp.147-8.
129
130
131
132
133 Alley to Harris, 6 Dec. 1945, DUHL, Acc. 84-134. Monro's appointment to DU was noted in NZL, v.9. Mar. 1946, p.34.
134 J.L. Roberts, p.c. 6 Sept. 1990.
135
136 McEldowney NZLA, p.38.
137 History of New Zealand Rugby Football, .v.2, 1946-1957, p.14.
138
139 G. Harper, Kippenberger, pp.274-6; Not Only Affairs of State, pp.69-70.
140 The Labour Party Head Office has no record of his membership: "Regrettably we have very sparse records in relation to membership and regional or electoral information of this period,' letter, 27 Aug. 1993. But Alley once showed me his membership card.
141 Tomorrow Comes the Song, p.340 refer to the Labour Party's loss of members who dropped out because of CMT.
1 Landfall, no.58, June 1961, p.140.
2 Walter Nash, p.280.
3
4 Alley to Shepardson, 24 Feb. 1950, Columbia University Libraries, MS Coll., CCNY.
5 H. Templeton, 'DNZB, v.4, pp.7-9.
6 McIntosh to Berendsen, 1 Feb. 1950, in Undiplomatic Dialogue, p.207.
7 The Biography of an Idea, p.293.
8 NZLA Proc. 1950, p.9.
9
10 NZL, v.15, July-Aug. 1952, p.141.
11 Report in NZL, v.13, Dec. 1950, pp.266-7. The reporter (probably
12 NZL, v.15, Dec. 1952, p.232.
13
14 AJHR, 1950, H-32A, p.5; full text reprinted in NZL, v.13, Dec. 1950, pp.264-5.
15 M. Bassett, 'The Political Context of the Prime-Ministerial Years', in M. Clark, ed., Peter Fraser, p.54.
16
17 NZL, v.14, Jan.-Feb. 1951, pp.1-4.
18 NZL, v.19, Aug. 1956, p.143.
19 NZL, v.15, Mar. 1952, p.27.
20 Ibid., p.28.
21 McEldowney NZLA, p.73.
22 See, for instance, 'Library Service in America: two-year survey proposed', NZL v.10, June 1947, pp.110-11. The inquiry is described, with a list of its publications, in Proc. 1950, pp.29-40.
23 NZL, v.12, Mar. 1949, p.53.
24 'Library Survey Next Year', NZL, v.12, Nov. 1949, p.260.
25 CCNY, Library Program, 1911-1961, p.18.
26 NZL, v.17, July 1954, p.138-9.
27 Alley to Shepardson, 24 Feb. 1950, Columbia University Libraries, MS Coll., CCNY.
28
29
30 'Branch Notes: Wellington', NZL, v.13, Oct. 1950, p.229; see also Books to the People, p.56.
31 'Branch Notes: Otago', NZL, v.13, Aug. 1950, p.172.
32 Otago Daily Times, 17 July 1950,
33
34
35 in Libraries for the People, pp.151-63.
36 NZL, v.19, Jan. 1956, pp.12-13.
37 NZL, v.13, Nov. 1950, pp.234-5.
38 Ibid., p.233.
39 Ibid., pp.233-4.
40
41 AJHR, 1953, H-32A, p.5.
42 A schedule of services available to post-primary schools was published in NZL, v.13, Jan.-Feb. 1950, p.24.
43
44
45 Focus for Lifelong Learning, p.36.
46 New Zealand Adult Education, pp.125-6.
47
48 'Branch Notes: Wellington', NZL, v.14, Aug. 1951, p.191.
49 NZLA, Standards Committee, 'Adult Education and the Public Library', NZL, v.14, Nov. 1951, pp.276-80.
50 Alley to Minister of Education, 30 July 1953, Alley papers.
51 NZLA, Palmerston North Branch, Report, 21 Sept. 1950, NZLA 1950/34, ATL, Acc. 79-042-14.
52 AJHR, 1912, H-32,
53 Munn–Barr Report, p.59.
54 Hall to Norrie, 4 Apr. 1936, WP, Perry NL file.
55 NZLA, Council, minutes, 23 Aug. 1950, NZL, v.13, Sept. 1950, p.196.
56 See n. 51.
57 NZLA, Council, minutes, 1 May 1951, NZL, v.14, June 1951, pp.123- 4.
58 'Co-operation among Wellington Libraries', NZL, v.14, Oct. 1951, pp.239-44.
59 NZLA, Council, minutes, 23 Aug. 1951, NZL, v.14, Sept. 1951, pp.212- 16 (quote on p.214).
60 Perry to
61 NZLA, Council, minutes, 15 Aug. 1952, NZLA 1952/29; NZL, v.15, Sept. 1952, pp.159-64 (reference on p.163).
62 NZLA, Council, Standing Executive Committee, minutes, 30 Sept. 1952, NZLA 1952/33; NZL, v.15, Nov. 1952, pp.208-12 (quote on p.208).
63 'A National Library Building for New Zealand?', Evening Post, 13 Sept. 1952; reprinted (still anonymously) in NZL, v.15, Oct. 1952, pp.176-7.
64 Tompkins to Alley, 2 Mar. 1951, Alley papers.
65 Alley to Tompkins, 16 Mar. 1951, ibid.
66 L.M. Gooding to Bibby, 3 Oct. 1954, ATL, Acc. 79-042-14.
67 NZL, v.17. July 1954, pp.139-40.
68 Ibid.
69 Ibid.
70
71
72
73
74 Alley PGC (Bateson).
75 'Farewell to NZL, v.16, June 1953, p.115.
76 NZL, v.16, July-Aug. 1953, p.136.
77 Bateson to Alley, 12 May 1953, Alley papers.
78 NZL, v.19, Oct. 1956, pp.196-7.
79 Alley to Shepardson (CCNY), 2 March 1952, Alley papers.
80 From 1953 until 1980, when it was superseded by new schools at Victoria University and the Wellington College of Education, the NZ Library School was directed by New Zealand citizens whose names read like a roll call of the kind of Englishmen who made the Empire great: Macaskill, McEldowney, O'Neill, McIntosh (David), O'Reilly, Podstolski.
81 Education for Librarianship, p.31.
82 McEldowney NZLA, p.58.
83 NZL, v.15, Nov. 1952, pp.203-6.
84 NZL, v.15, Dec. 1952, pp.226- 7.
85 AJHR, 1958, H-32A, pp.6, 9.
86
87
88 NZLA, 'Elementary Principles of Library Planning', NZL, v.12, Nov. 1949, pp.245-7.
89 NZLA, Standing Executive Committee, minutes, 30 Sept. 1952, NZL, v.15, Nov. 1952, p.208.
90 NZL, v.19. Jan. 1956, pp.1- 6.
91
92 NZL, v.37, June 1974, pp.136-7.
93 Books to Buy and of the experience of libraries in using them is to be found in NZL, v.16, June 1953, pp.97-103.
94 Much of what follows on the Gisborne operation has been derived from notes provided by
95 NZL, v.17, Jan.-Feb. 1954, pp.1-12.
96 Alley to Cowey, 16 and 28 July 1954, McEldowney papers (home).
97 See, for example, 'Public Libraries: annual reports 1953-54', NZL, v.17, Oct. 1954, pp.201-11 (Oamaru, pp.209-10).
98 Report of the meeting of the Cook County Council, Gisborne Herald, 26 Jan. 1956.
99 The Encyclopedia of New Zealand Rugby, p.33.
100 NZL, v.30, Oct. 1967, pp.162-74.
1 NZL, v.18, Mar. 1955, p.41.
2 NZL, v.18, Sept.-Oct. 1955, p.197. See also McEldowney NZLA, pp.79-82, for a fuller account.
3 NZLA, Book Resources Committee, report, 15 May 1950, NZL, v.13, June 1950, p.112.
4 AJHR, 1952, H-32A, p.8.
5 'Union List of Serials', NZL, v.14, Jan.-Feb. 1951, pp.28-9.
6 NZLA, Standing Executive Committee, minutes, 19 Dec. 1956, NZL, v.20, Mar.-Apr. 1957, p.41.
7 NZL, v.15, Mar. 1952, pp.41-4.
8 'New Zealand Book Resources as Reflected in the Union Catalogue', NZL, v.13, Sept. 1950, pp. 185-9.
9 NZLA, NZ Book Resources Committee, report, 22 Aug. 1950, NZL, v.13, Sept.1950, p.198.
10 NZLA, NZ Book Resources Committee, BR 1955/6, 26 Aug. 1955, DUHL, Acc. 87-020, Box 2.
11 See McEldowney NZLA, p.81, for an account of this operation.
12 Bagnall to Alley, 25 June 1956, NL, Gracefield records, Box 115.
13 NZLA, Council, 26 Feb. 1957, NZL, v.20, Mar.-Apr. 1957, p.44.
14 Miller to Collins, 26 Mar. 1957; Collins to Miller, 29 Apr. 1957, CU, file: Victoria University College Librarian, 1934-1959.
15 NZLA, NZ Book Resources Committee, minutes, 28 Aug. 1957, BR 57/7, DUHL, Acc. 87-020, Box 2.
16
17 NZLA, National Library Committee, report of special meeting, 26 Aug. 1952, WP, Perry NL file.
18 NZLA conference report, NZL, v.16, Mar. 1953, pp.28-9.
19 NZLA, Council, minutes, 20 Feb. 1953, NZLA 1953/21, ATL, Acc. 97- 002-01/4.
20 NZLA, Standing Executive Committee, minutes, 21 Apr. 1953, NZLA 1953/23, ibid.; described by Perry as 'mistake' in his list of NZL references, WP, Perry NL file.
21 'A National Library for New Zealand', NZL, v.16, June 1953, pp.104-7.
22 NZL, v.16, Dec. 1953, pp.217-25. Perry annotated a copy of this article, in his NL file, '… which so upset the government librarians.'
23 NZL, v.17, Mar. 1954, pp.30-8; NZL, v.17, Apr. 1954, pp.67-71.
24 Perry to Alley, 6 Jan. 1954, NA, SSC 1 20/1/14/1.
25
26 Perry to Secretary NZLA, 23 Feb. 1954, NZLA files.
27 NZLA, Council, 26 Feb. 1954, NZLA 1954/26, ATL, Acc. 97-002-02/1.
28 The full text of this letter (NZLA 1954/42), with its appendix, is printed in NZL, v.17, Sept 1954, pp.177-81.
29 Wilson to the Speaker, 16 June 1954; Wauchop to the Speaker, 4 July 1954, NA, IA 1 92/11/1.
30 WGa =
31 Alley to NZLA National Library Committee, 9 Aug. 1954, WP, Perry NL file.
32 Wauchop to NZLA National Library Committee, 20 Aug. 1954, ibid.
33 NZL, v.17[i. e.16], Oct. 1953, pp.171-3.
34 See, for example, 'Registration: a Symposium', ibid, pp.169-81; 'Committee on a Register of Qualified Librarians' [update by NZL, v.17, Sept. 1954, pp.193-5. See also McEldowney NZLA, pp.66-7.
35 NZLA, Council, minutes, 22 Feb. 1955, NZL, v.18, Mar. 1955, p.47.
36 'Registration Rules' (the text of the rules as adopted), NZL, v.18, Apr. 1955, pp.63-8.
37 NZLA, Council, minutes, 25 Feb. 1955, NZLA 1955/26; Standing Executive Committee, minutes, 16 Mar. 1955, NZLA 1955/31, ATL, Acc. 97-002-02/1.
38 NZLA, Council, minutes, 2 Sept. 1955, NZL, v.18, Sept.-Oct. 1955, pp.189-95 (reference on p.190-1).
39
40 Fleming to Collins and Duthie, 16 Mar. 1955, CU, file: NZLA Training Committee, 1943-1960.
41 Collins to Fleming, 22 Mar. 1955, ibid.
42 Dunningham to Alley, 7 Feb. 1954, Alley papers.
43
44
45
46
47 Proc. 1948, pp.33-9.
48 NZL, v.13, May 1952, pp.80-5; June 1952, pp.104-10; July-Aug. 1952, pp.131-41 (scheme for Northland, pp.136-40).
49 NZL, v.19, Sept. 1956, p.172.
50 McEldowney NZLA, p.77.
51 NZL, v.17, June 1954, pp.105- 15.
52 NZL, v.19, Sept. 1956, p.173.
53 AJHR, 1957, H-32A, p.3.
54 Alley to proposed participants, 29 June 1956, NL, Gracefield records, Box 114.
55 Library Co-operation Working Party, interim report, NZL, v.19, Nov.-Dec. 1956, pp.205-8.
56 NZL, v.20, Mar.-Apr. 1957, pp.25-36.
57 'Library Co-operation' (papers by NZL, v.20, July 1957, pp.105- 18.
58
59 Evans to Bagnall, 18 Oct. 1985, ATL, Acc. 90-103-1.
60 NZLA, Council, minutes, 1 Mar. 1957, NZL, v.20, Mar.-Apr. 1957, pp.47-8.
61 Background in a report on the conference by Perry to the Wellington Town Clerk, WU, Sage papers.
62
63 AJHR, 1957, H-32A, p.4.
64 NZLA, Committee on Regional Library Co-operation, Report, 11 June 1957, NZLA 1957/34, DUHL, Acc. 87-020, Box 4.
65 'Co-operation: a New Phase; report of the Committee on Regional Library Co-operation', NZL, v.20, Nov. 1957, pp.197-202.
66 Hunn's report, 6 Oct. 1950; Department's reply, 25 May 1951, NA, SSC 1 20/1/14/1.
67 Alley's salary grading was reviewed in 1956. His current grading of £1,700, which dated from 1.4.53, was compared with those for university librarians in the main colleges (£1,675), the Parliamentary Librarian (£1,600), and the Chief Librarian, Alexander Turnbull Library (£1,425), and was raised to £1,800 (on the same level as Officer for Higher Education and Senior Inspectors in the Department of Education) from 1.4.56, NA, SSC 5, Acc. 1227, Alley.
68 See New Zealand and the Korean War, v.1, pp.310-11.
69
70 Not Only Affairs of State, p.87.
71 New Zealand Books, v.9 no.4, Oct. 1999, pp.22-3.
72
73 McIntosh wrote to
74
75 AJHR, 1955, H-32A, p.3, and H-32, p.5.
76 PSC Committee minutes, 9 Aug. 1955, NA, IA 1 92/11/1.
77 Dunningham to Hunn, 17 Jan. 1955, DP, Regional Planning Committee file.
78 Beeby to PSC Committee, 22 July 1955, NA, IA 1 92/11/1.
79 Shanks to NZLA, 6 July 1955, NZLA 1955/42, ATL, Acc. 79-042-13.
80 'Statement on National Library Policy', NZLA 1955/47; NZL, v.18, July 1955, pp.159-65.
81 'Future National Library Administration as a Separate Department', NZLA 1955/55; NZL, v.18, Nov. 1955, pp.209-14.
82 Other members of the committee at this stage were the three State librarians, Bagnall (convener), Collins, Fleming, Leatham, Perry, and Wylie.
83 Miller to PSC Committee, 31 Aug. 1955, ATL, Acc. 79-042-13.
84 Alley to PSC Committee, 19 Sept. 1955, DUHL, Acc. 87-020, Box 8.
85 NZL, v.18, Nov. 1955, pp.217-20.
86 NZL, v.19, Jan. 1956, pp.6-12 (Bagnall, Perry, Tolley); June 1956, pp.106-8 (Miller); Aug. 1956, pp.153- 4 (Perry).
87 F.H. Rogers, 'Presidential Address', NZL, v.19, Mar. 1956, pp.25-38 (quote on p.29).
88 McIntosh to Hunn, 4 Jan. 1956, NA, SSC 1 W2302 20/6/7.
89 Professor
90 Report on National Library Proposal, 6 Feb. 1956, NA, SSC 1 W2302 20/6/7.
91 NZLA, National Library Committee, report, 23 Mar. 1956, NZLA 1956/21, DUHL, Acc. 87-020, Box 4.
92 The copy that has been consulted is in DUHL, Acc. 87-020, Box 6.
93 G.T. Bolt to Acting Prime Minister, 31 May 1956, NA, SSC 1 W2302 20/6/7.
94 Cabinet CM (56) 39,
95 When copies were sent to the NZLA on 8 May 1957, they bore stickers saying 'Confidential: Strictly confidential to Members of the Council of the N.Z.L.A.'
96 Alley to Hunn, 9 Nov. 1956; Bolt to Minister of Education, 23 Nov. 1956, NA, SSC 1 W2302 20/6/7 pt 1.
97 Parliament was informed of this resolution on 11 Sept. 1957 by NZPD, v.313, pp.2347 and 2356.
98 Not Only Affairs of State, p.89.
99 Emphasis added.
100 NZPD, 24 Oct. 1957, p. 3257; AJHR, 1958, I-17, p.2.
101 NZLA, Standing Executive Committee, minutes, 20 Nov. 1957, NZLA 1957/71, DUHL, Acc. 87-020, Box 4.
1 Much of the information used for this chapter has been provided by these and other members of the Alley family, to whom acknowledgement will not in general be made in footnotes. Other information is derived from personal observation, which is not documented.
2 Described thus by
3 Septic tanks are fine, up to a point, but not in areas where a large number of houses are close together on small sections.
4 The Maori name of the river, Heretaunga, was probably given by invaders from the Heretaunga region of
5 'Hutt River', in An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, Wellington, 1966, v.2, pp.126-7.
6 Books to Buy, no.48, Apr. 1956.
7 Alley to
8 Alley PGC (McIntosh).
9 J. Roberts, p.c. 6 Sept. 1990.
10
11 Monthly Bulletin of the Christchurch NCW, Sept.-Oct. 1950.
12 Death certificate reproduced in Our Company Before, p.457.
13 Ibid., p.162.
14 Here & Now, v.2, no.11, Aug. 1952, pp.10- 11.
15 NZ Listener, v.26 no.671, 16 May 1952, p.9.
16 Newspaper clipping (undated, unattributed) in Alley papers.
17 Sunshine and Shadow, p.207.
18
19
20 Alley papers.
21
22 R. Brown, 'A History of Lumsden Township', p.70 (team photograph); electoral roll, Dunedin South, 1931; S. O'Hagan, The Pride of Southern Rebels, p.183.
23 Upper Hutt, pp.260- 61, 267. NZL, v.15, Nov. 1952, pp.197-203, covers the campaign and the first few months of the library's operation.
24
25 Upper Hutt Times, 12 Mar. 1952.
26 Ibid., 5 and 12 Mar. 1952.
27 Ibid., 2 and 9 Apr. 1952.
28 Ibid., 14 May 1952.
29
30 NZL, v.17, June 1954, pp.120-4.
31
32 The operation of the volunteer service is described by NZL, v.16, May 1953, pp.77-9.
33
34 'Upper Hutt Licensing Trust Constitution Notice 1952', NZ Gazette, 24 July 1952, p.1248.
35 'Declaration of Poll on Election of Six Members to the Upper Hutt Licensing Trust', Dominion, 27 Aug. 1952, p.6.
36
37
1 See, for example, J.A. Lee, Simple on a Soapbox, p.38.
2 Ibid., p.57.
3 Landfall, no.58, June 1961, p.143.
4 M. Bassett and M. King, Tomorrow Comes the Song, p.346.
5 Recollections of an Upper Hutt train commuter.
6 NZLA, Annual Report 1958: section on regional library co-operation, NZL, v.22, Mar.-Apr. 1959, p.40.
7
8 'Scientific, Technical and Commercial Service: a conference session', NZL, v.21, June-July 1958, pp.73-87. Other speakers were
9 Metcalf 's Planning Academic and Research Library Buildings, New York, 1965, became a major guide later.
10 NZL, v.21, Nov.-Dec. 1958, pp.153-8; also issued, with notes of the ensuing discussion, as document BR 58/4, DUHL, Acc. 87-020, Box 2..
11 See NZL, v.44, Sept. 1985, pp.197-202.
12 Collins to Alley, 17 Dec. 1957, Alley papers.
13 Information given by
14 R. Alley, Rewi Alley, p.264.
15 NZPD, v.311, p.260; v.316, p.4.
16 Well-known country towns, one actual, the other mythical.
17 McIntosh to W.W. Bishop and
18 Evening Post, 20 Sept.1957.
19 AJHR, 1958, H-32, p.20.
20 AJHR, 1958, H-32A, p.5.
21 NA, Le 1 1958/7, National Library Committee. Material used below relating to the proceedings of the committee is derived from this file unless otherwise noted.
22 Printed in NZL, v.21, June-July 1958, pp.90-2.
23 AJHR, 1958, I-17, National Library Committee.
24 NZPD, v.318, pp.1915-18 (19 Sept. 1958).
25 NZL, v.21, Oct. 1958, pp.137-41.
26 NZL, v.22, Mar.-Apr. 1959, p.39.
27 NZL, v.22, Mar.-Apr. 1959, pp.17-26 (quote on p.18).
28 AJHR, 1959, H-22, pp.47-8.
29 AJHR, 1959, H-32A, p.5.
30 Minute added to copy of ministerial paper of 5 Oct. 1958, NA, SSC 1 W2302 20/6/7 pt 2.
31 Report on National Library Proposal, 12 Mar. 1959, NA, T1 62/9/6.
32 Alley to Minister of Education, 12 Mar. 1959, ibid.
33 Quoted from a memo, Senior Inspector (
34 Alley to Bagnall, reporting this conversation, 2 Nov. 1959, ATL, Acc. 73-160-4. (WTu = Alexander Turnbull Library.)
35 NZL, v.21, June-July 1958, pp.88-9.
36 AJHR, 1959, B-4, p.27 (reference to Municipal Association's comment on p.79). The report is dated 19 Sept. 1958.
37 AJHR, 1959, H-32A, p.4. See also Books to the People, pp.62-3, and NZL, v.25, Apr. 1962, pp.61-70 (esp. 61-62).
38 NZLA 1958/52, ATL, Acc. 79-042- 01.
39 Hill to Perry, 1 Sept. 1958, ibid.
40 'Activities Committee Proposals' (papers by NZL, v.22, Dec. 1959, pp.224-34.
41 Summarized in NZLA Newsletter, no.45, Jan. 1960, pp.1-2.
42 NZLA, minutes of Annual General Meeting, 17 and 19 Feb. 1960, NZL, v.23, Apr. 1960, pp.92-6.
43 Argued (not very well) in NZL, v.22, Dec. 1959, pp.234-6.
44 ATL, Acc. 79-042-01.
45 To do their colonial service, many thought.
46 Miller to members of SCUL, 31 Mar. 1958, CU, file: University Librarians.
47 Stackpole to Sandall, 9 Sept. 1958, ATL, Acc. 79-042-22.
48 Sandall to Stackpole, 8 Oct. 1958, ibid.
49 CCNY, Library Program, 1911-1961, p.106.
50 CM (58) 57, 7 Nov. 1958; NA, SSC 5, Acc. 1227, Alley.
51 Metcalf to Alley, 24 Oct. 1958, Alley papers.
52 List attached to memorandum (undated) from
53 Metcalf to Seminarians, 11 Nov. 1958, ibid.
54 NZL, v.9, Nov. 1946, pp.185-7; 'Australian Libraries: NZL, v.10, June 1947, pp.106-8. John Metcalfe should not be (but often is) confused with Keyes Metcalf – both strong characters, but very different.
55 These factors are considered at some length in NZL, v.44, Sept. 1985, pp.197-202.
56 Metcalf to participants, 28 July 1959, McEldowney papers (home).
57 NZL, v.22, Aug. 1959, pp.121-9, gives an account of both the discussions in seminar meetings and also the extraseminar investigations made by one participant.
58 Australian Library Journal, v.33, Feb. 1984, pp.32-5.
59 For example,
60 AJHR, 1959, H-32A, pp.5-6.
61 Information from various papers in Serials Librarian, v.6, spring 1982, special issue: 'Serials Librarianship as an Art: essays in honor of
62 Random Reflections of an Anachronism, p.3.
63 Ibid., p.26.
64 Metcalf to McEldowney, 14 Apr. 1960, McEldowney papers (home).
65 Harvard Library Bulletin, v.31, Dec. 1983, p.397.
66 Mr Justice P. (later Sir Peter) Crisp to Alley, 12 Nov. 1962, quoting Metcalf, Alley papers.
67
68 Stackpole (CCNY) to Sandall (President NZLA), 22 Nov. 1957, ATL, Acc. 79-042-14. The amount granted by the CCNY was $US 5,000, CCNY Review Series no.37, p.106.
69 Alley to Osborn, 19 Mar. 1959; reply, 26 Mar. 1959, ATL, Acc. 79-042-14.
70 The terms of reference for the survey, together with an account of its course and its major recommendations, are set out in McEldowney NZLA, pp.86- 9.
71 Alley to Acting Minister of Education, 1 Oct. 1959, ATL, Acc. 73-160-4.
72 New Zealand Library Resources.
73 New Zealand University Library Resources … 1972.
74 Serials Librarian, v.6, spring 1982, pp.115-16.
75 Bagnall to Osborn, 6 Jan. 1960, ATL, Acc. 73-160-4.
76 Alley to Bagnall, 9 Nov. 1959, reporting this conversation, ibid.
77 Alley to Rowley, 24 Nov. 1959, ibid.
78 N.Z. Committee on New Zealand Universities, Report, pp.70-2.
79 NZL, v.28, Sept. 1965, pp.198-200.
80 Library Journal, 15 Sept. 1960, pp.3043-6.
81 Alley PGC (Bagnall).
82 NZL, v.22, July 1959, pp.101-5.
83 NZLA, NZ Book Resources Committee, minutes, 1 Sept. 1960, BR 60/10, DUHL, Acc. 87-020, Box 2.
84 A similar scheme was more successful in the 1970s and the 1980s, when the Trustees of the National Library made funds available for several years.
85 For instance,
86 Walter Nash, pp.334-5.
87 CABTA to Alley, 11 Nov. 1959, ATL, MS-Papers-0404-14.
88
89 CABTA, Deputation, 26 Feb. 1960, NA, Nash Papers, Bundle 1173.
90 NZL, v.23, Mar. 1960, pp.27-35.
91 Books to the People, p.69.
92 The accident, and details of the people involved, were reported in the Dominion, 28 Mar. 1960. Other information concerning this incident, unless otherwise noted, is from
93
94
95
96 Note for file, 3 May 1960, NA, SSC 5, Acc. 1227, Alley.
97 Alley PGC (Bagnall).
1 AJHR, 1961, H-32A, pp.5-6.
2 NZL, v.25, Apr. 1962, pp.61- 70.
3 Minister of Education to various parties, including NZLA, Apr. 1961, NZL, v.25, Mar. 1962, p.39.
4
5 Books to the People, pp.73-4.
6 NL, Gracefield records, Box 126.
7 e.g. P.G. Scott, p.c. 3 Mar. 1992.
8
9 Clifford to Chairman PSC, 9 Aug. 1960, NA, SSC 1 W2302 20/6/7 pt 2.
10 Alley to Chairman PSC, 14 Sept. 1960 (drafted by Bagnall), ibid.
11 Metcalf to Alley, 21 July 1959, Alley papers.
12 Report of interview,
13 Stackpole to Alley, 19 Nov. 1959, Alley papers.
14 CCNY to Alley, 2 June 1960, Alley papers.
15 Alley to Secretary PSC, 17 Nov. 1960, NA, SSC 5, Acc. 1227, Alley.
16 All of this, NA, SSC 5, Acc. 1227, Alley. Leave approved by Cabinet 6 Feb. 1961, CM (61) 4.
17 Alley to Metcalf, 2 Aug. 1967, Florida SU, Metcalf papers.
18 NZL, v.25, Mar. 1962, pp.46-55.
19
20 NZL, v.24, June 1961, p.120.
21 The Turnbull, p.102.
22 'N.Z.L.A. Submission on the National Library', NZL, v.24, Sept. 1961, pp.169-73.
23 'P.S.C. Recommendations on National Library', NZL, v.24, Sept. 1961, pp.178-9.
24 Bagnall to Alley, 22 Aug. 1961, Alley papers.
25 Submission by Director, National Library Service, NA, SSC 1 W2302 20/6/7 pt 2.
26 Perry kept a fairly full transcript of this discussion in the Perry NL file, which is held by WP and from which extracts are quoted here.
27 Speaker of the House of Representatives, 1950-57.
28
29 Bagnall to McEldowney, 28 Nov. 1961, McEldowney papers (home).
30 AJHR, 1962, H-41.
31
32
33 I. Carter, Gadfly, p.276.
34 NZL, v.26, Oct. 1963, pp.240-41.
35 WU, Miller papers: SCLR file.
36 The terms of reference are set out in a note, 'New Universities Committee on Library Resources', NZL, v.26, May 1963, p.129.
37 Focus for Lifelong Learning, pp.54-6.
38 Alley to
39 Sage to NZLA Council, 16 July 1962, minuted by Alley, ibid.
40 Alley's submission for appeal on 28 Sept. 1962, Alley papers; copy also in NA, SSC 5, Acc. 1227, Alley.
41
42 Alley to McEldowney, 2 Oct. 1962, McEldowney papers (home).
43 'John Harris Award for Original Research Instituted', NZL, v.24, Sept. 1961, pp.180-81.
44 'N.Z.L.A. Submission on Service Personnel Policies', NZL, v.24, Sept. 1961, pp.174-8.
45 'Libraries in Schools', NZL, v.25, Sept. 1962, pp.227-8.
46 L.G. Gordon, 'The School Library in the Commission's Report', NZL, v.25, Oct. 1962, pp.249-52.
47 'Copyright Bill', NZL, v.25, Nov. 1962, pp.290-2.
48 'Music Library Service', NZL, v.26, May 1963, pp.113-24; 'Library Service to Maoris', NZL, v.26, Nov. 1963, pp.254-60.
49 AJHR, 1962, H-32A, p.10.
50 Three of these and another by NZL, v.23, Sept. 1960, pp.212-14.
51 Reviewed by NZL, v.25, Sept. 1962, pp.229-34.
52 NZLA 1961/65, DUHL, Acc. 87-020, Box 6.
53 '
54 Report LT 93 to NZLA Library Training Committee, 16 Aug. 1961, DUHL, Acc. 87-020, Box 2.
55 Alley to NZLA, 30 Jan. 1964, NZLA 1964/13, ibid., Box 7.
56 NZLA Council, minutes, 21 Feb. 1964, NZLA 1964/29, ATL, Acc. 97-002-03/1. The matters dealt with in this section are treated in more detail in pages 152-61 of McEldowney Suppl.
57 Evening Post, 14 Sept. 1962.
58 Perry NL file, WP.
59 Atkinson to Tennent, 7 Dec. 1962, NA, SSC 1 W2302 20/6/7 pt 2.
60 Tennent to Cabinet, 15 Jan. 1963, ibid.
61 Minute by Atkinson, 18 Mar. 1963, NA, SSC 1 W2302 20/6/7.
62 Holyoake to Tennent, 8 Apr. 1963, ibid.
63 AJHR, 1964, H-32A, p.4.
64 M.J. Clark, 'Presidential Address', NZL, v.27, Mar. 1964, pp.21-7 (quote on p.24).
65 A view expressed, for example, by
66 The Turnbull, pp.102- 3.
67 Heggie to Atkinson, 27 Nov. 1963, NA, SSC 1 W2302 20/6/7 pt 2.
68 NZL, v.27, Mar. 1964, p.31.
69 NZLA to Prime Minister, 22 June 1964; reply, 30 June 1964, ATL, Acc. 84-142-68.
70 Chairman SSC, Note for File, 10 Mar. 1964, NA, SSC 1 W2302 20/6/7 pt 2; Statements by Ministers of the Crown, 16-28 Mar. 1964, p.4.
71 State Services Commission to Alley, 20 Mar. 1964, NA, SSC 5, Acc. 1227, Alley.
72 Dominion, 6 Mar. 1964.
73 Sage to McEldowney, 24 Mar. 1964, McEldowney papers (home).
74 Alley to Perry, 25 Mar. 1964, WP, Perry NL file.
75 Alley to Hunn, 31 Mar. 1964, copy from Hunn.
76 Alley to White, 9 Apr. 1964, lent by
77
78 Perry to State Services Commission, 6 Mar. 1964, WP, Perry NL file.
1 CM (63) 39, cited in the report of the Officials Committee, 15 Oct. 1964, NA, AAOJ 6016/19E (this report referred to passim. below).
2
3 H. Templeton, 'DNZB, v.5, pp.468-70.
4 Alley to Wilson, Hitchings, and Bagnall, 1 May 1964, NA, SSC 1 W2302 20/6/7 pt 2.
5 Report of meeting of librarians, 7 May 1964, ibid.
6 For example, in the following exchange on 29 May 1964: 'Fairway: With the multiplicity of functions why not have the core of the National Library Service in Wellington, and the extension services outside Wellington?' Bagnall: They are.' ATL, Acc. 88-103-2.
7 Officials Committee, 29 Apr. 1964, ibid.
8 Ibid.
9 Alley to Officials Committee, attaching draft, 17 July 1964; Officials Committee, 27 July 1964, NA, SSC 1 W2302 20/6/7 pt 2.
10 NZLA, Annual Report 1965, p.5; McEldowney Suppl., p.151.
11 'Works in Sets', NZL, v.27, Apr. 1964, p.69.
12 'Australia-New Zealand cooperation', NZL, v.27, Sept. 1964, p.240.
13 NZL, v.27, May 1964, pp.88-9.
14 Officials Committee, 27 July 1964, NA, NLS 1 4/2/1.
15 Officials Committee, 10 Aug. 1964, notes of discussion, ATL, Acc. 88- 103-2.
16 MS memo on secondment, 12 Aug. 1964, NA, SSC 1 W2302 20/6/7 pt 2.
17 Or, as Rodda put it later, he was 'using politicians for all he was worth,'
18 Rodda to Speaker, 20 August 1964, NA, SSC 1 W2302 20/6/7 pt 2; ATL, Acc. 88-103-2.
19 Library Committee, House of Representatives, minutes, 28 Aug., 3 Sept., 8 Sept. 1964, NA, SSC 1 W2302 20/6/7 pt 2-3.
20 Dollimore to Officials Committee, 11 Sept. 1964, ibid., pt 3.
21 Officials Committee, 14 Sept. 1964, minutes, ATL, Acc. 88-103-2.
22 National Library Officials Committee to Hon.
23 Cabinet minutes, 27 Oct. 1964, CM (64) 42, including consideration of Minutes of Committee on Government Administration, 23 Oct. 1964.
24 Seath to Shand, 22 Oct. 1964, NA, SSC 1 W2302 20/6/7 pt 3.
25 Cabinet to Chairman, CC on Government Administration, 18 Nov. 964, NA, SSC 1 W2302 20/6/7 pt 3, referring to decision taken on 16 Nov., CM (64) 45.
26 Alley to Secretary SSC, 28 Aug. 1964, NA, SSC 1 W2505 33/5/7.
27 The permission, granted in respect of registrars, librarians, and liaison officers on 24 Aug. 1964, was to place them at 'points which they consider appropriate in the academic salary scale up to the minimum of a nonmedical professor', quoted in memo from Acting VC, VUW, WU, Miller papers.
28 Collins to McEldowney, 21 Apr. 1964, McEldowney papers (home).
29 The University Grants Committee 1961-1986, pp.175-80 ('non-Academic Salaries') gives some of the background to this topic.
30 Alley to Secretary SSC, 8 Mar. 1962, NA, SSC 1 W2505 33/5/7.
31 Personal experience: exit interview on the occasion of moving to a university job.
32 MS note in Perry NL file, WP.
33 Note for file on application of Library scale in public service (signed
34
35 NZL, v.28, Jan.-Feb. 1965, pp.1-8.
36 Journal of Education for Librarianship, v.1, summer 1960, pp.22-32.
37 McEldowney to Bagnall (Acting Director NLS), 7 Apr. 1961, McEldowney papers (home).
38 'Australian Statement on Professionalism,' NZL, v.26, June 1963, pp.152-3.
39 Aslib Proceedings, v.16, Mar. 1964, pp.105-15.
40 NZL, v.28, Mar. 1965, pp.21- 31.
41 NZLA 1963/58, cited in chapter 13.
42
43 Sage to McEldowney, 10 July 1963, McEldowney papers (home).
44 Noted by
45 Supplied by Sage, letter to Williams, 12 Nov. 1964, NZLA 1964/69, DUHL, Acc. 87-020, Box 7.
46 Perry to McEldowney, 24 July 1964, McEldowney papers (home).
47 NZLA, Council, minutes, 12 Nov. 1964, NZLA 1964/71, ATL, Acc. 97- 002-03/1.
48 NZLA, Standing Executive Committee, minutes, 8 Jan. 1965, NZLA 1965/3, DUHL, 87-020, Box 7.
49 McEldowney Suppl., p.157.
50
51 Alley to Minister of Education, undated but stamped 'Rec'd 2/11/64', NA, SSC 1 W2302 20/6/7 pt 3.
52 Bagnall's term – note on his
53 Vice-President 1964-5; President 1965-6.
54 Denis Glover, p.363.
55 Sage to Holyoake, 11 Dec. 1964, NZLA 1965/5, DUHL, Acc. 87-020, Box 7.
56 Statements by Ministers of the Crown, 18-30 Jan. 1965, pp.7-8.
57 Shand to Glover, 2 Feb. 1965, ATL, Administration file TL 1/20/5; Shand to NZLA, 3 Feb. 1965, NZLA 1965/13, ATL, Acc. 84-142-68.
58 FOTL, committee meeting, 25 Feb. 1965, ATL, Administration file TL 1/20.
59 Perry NL file, WP.
60 McEldowney to Bagnall, 9 Mar. 1965, ATL, Acc. 73-160-5.
61 M.H.H., 'NZ Listener, 12 Feb. 1965, p.10.
62 This account of the debate is based on transcripts preserved in the Perry NL file, WP.
63 NZLA, Council, minutes 18 Feb. 1965, NZLA 1965/16, ATL, Acc. 97- 002-03/1.
64 Note published in NZLA Newsletter, no.101, Feb.-Mar. 1965, p.8. There is an interesting question here: when is a draft Bill not a draft Bill. Some MPs later claimed that, if it was a draft Bill, they should have seen it first.
65 A. Mason, 'DNZB, v.5, pp.226-7.
66 Including James Bertram and
67 Bagnall to McCormick, 12 Feb. 1965, ATL, Acc. 88-103-2.
68 Others were Dominion, 2 Mar. 1965.
69 NZ Herald, 11 Mar. 1965.
70 ATL, Administration file TL 1/20.
71 Cole to Collins, 5 Apr. 1965, NA, AAOJ, 6016/19E.
72 Winchester to
73 Wilson to Perry, 12 Mar. 1965, WP, Perry NL file.
74 Alley to Perry, [mid-] Mar. 1965, ibid.
75 Bagnall to Perry, 18 Mar. 1965, ibid.
76 McEldowney to Perry, 17 Mar. 1965, ibid.
77 NZLA 1965/22, ATL, Acc. 84-142- 68.
78 Report on Meeting of NZLA Representatives with the Hon.
79 Glover to Shand, 21 Apr. 1965, ATL, MS-Papers-0418, Alexander Turnbull Library merger controversy.
80 Actually, there was a strong Christchurch connection underlying relations between several of our protagonists. Shand, Perry, and Glover were all old boys of Press for twenty years.
81 Shand to Schroder, 20 Apr. 1965, Alley papers.
82 AJHR, 1965, H-22, p.26.
83 AJHR, 1965, H-32, p.3.
84 Comment, no.23, May 1965, pp.19-24.
85 Sage to McEldowney, 28 May 1965, McEldowney papers (home).
86 Reference to an abortive move in 1954 to merge the administration of the General Assembly and Turnbull Libraries. See further reference below.
87 Alley papers. Another copy in ATL, Acc. 88-103-2.
88 NZL, v.28, June 1965, pp.105-9.
89 Resources of Australian Libraries, NZL, v.28, Sept. 1965, pp. 198-200.
90 'NZL, v.27, Dec. 1964, pp.304-14.
91 NZ Truth, 14 July 1965.
92 Evans to Bagnall, 23 Aug. 1965, ATL, Acc. 90-103-1.
93 Introduction and first reading, NZPD, v.343, pp.2078-89.
94 FOTL to Riddiford, 17 Sept. 1965, ATL, Administration file TL 1/20.
95 Library Committee of the House of Representatives, minutes, 14 Sept. 1965, NA, SSC 1 W2302 20/6/7 pt 3.
96 Alley to Minister of Education, 15 Sept. 1965, ibid., pt 4.
97
98 NZPD, v.342, p.596.
99 'Submission for Consideration by the Statutes Revision Committee', Sept. 1965, NZLA 1965/50, ATL, Acc. 84- 142-68.
100 Alley to McEldowney, 3 Oct. 1965, DUHL, Acc. 87-020, Box 4.
101 ATL, Acc. 88-103-2.
102 FOTL, AGM, 30 Sept. 1965, minutes, ATL, Administration file TL 1/20.
103 NA, Le 1 1965/12, Statutes Revision Committee
104 McEldowney Suppl., p.149.
105 Acting Registrar, University of Canterbury, to Minister of Education, 4 Oct. 1965, NA, Le 1 1965/12.
106
107
108 Evening Post, 12 Oct. 1965.
109 ATL, Administration file TL 1/20. Other copies, annotated by Bagnall, in ATL, Acc. 88-103-2.
110 'National Library Bill: Statement by the National Librarian', 19 Oct. 1965, ibid.
111 Alley to Minister of Education, 22 Oct. 1965, NA, SSC 1 W2302 20/6/7 pt 4.
112 NZPD, v.345, pp.4007-30.
113
114
115 Papers held in NA, ABIK 7663 W3990/38 12/1/4, pt.2.
116 ATL, Acc. 88-103-2.
117 Journals of the House of Representatives of NZ, 1965, pp.397-8.
118 Alley to Perry, 2 Nov. 1965, WP, Perry NL file.
119 Bagnall to Perry, 31 Oct. 1965, ibid.
120 Not Only Affairs of State, p.89.
121 Bagnall to Evans, 2 Nov. 1965, ATL, Acc. 90-103-1.
122 Bagnall to McEldowney, 31 Oct. 1965, DUHL, Acc. 87-020, Box 4.
123
124 Wellington's words from T. Creevey, The Creevey Papers, ed.
125 Glover to Alley, 18 Nov. 1965, NA, SSC 1 W2302 20/6/7 pt 4; quoted by Denis Glover, p.363.
126 Perry to Sutch, 22 Dec. 1969, CU, file:
127 The Turnbull, p.107- 9.
1 ATL, Acc. 88-103-2.
2 AJHR, 1966, H-32, p.3.
3 NZL, v.36, Oct. 1973, p.349.
4 NZ Journal of History, v.20, Nov. 1986, pp.206-7.
5 AJHR, 1966, H-22, p.5.
6 AJHR, 1966, H-32A, p.3.
7 This summary of the Trustees' functions is taken from the 1989 report by
8
9 NZ Journal of Public Administration, v.29 no.2, Mar. 1967, pp.1-16; reprinted in NZL, v.30, Oct. 1967, pp.141-56.
10 NZLA, Council, minutes 18 Nov. 1965, NZLA 1965/66, ATL, Acc. 97- 002-03/1.
11 Bagnall to Perry, 10 Dec. 1965, ATL, Acc. 73-160-6.
12 NZLA, Standing Executive Committee, minutes 12 Jan. 1966, NZLA 1966/1, DUHL, Acc. 87-020, Box 5. The full list of 18 names considered by members of the Council, and the number of votes cast for each, is in ATL, Acc. 84-142-68.
13 FOTL, Annual Report for 1966, ATL, Administration file TL 1/20.
14 Laking and Miller, in their 1989 report, accepted the view that the Trustees needed 'the contribution of a library professional for the effective discharge of their function in relation to the coordination and development of library services.'
15 AJHR, 1966, H-32A, p.14.
16 Ibid., pp.14-16.
17 AJHR, 1967, H-32.
18 NZ Statutory Regulations, 1966/206 and 1967/253.
19 NZL, v.30, Aug. 1967, pp.125-9.
20 New Zealand University Library Resources … 1972, p.123.
21
22 UGC, Report of subcommittee, 'Library Establishment: University of Waikato', 17 Mar. 1966, UGC 37/4, ibid.
23 UGC, 'Library, University of Waikato Supplementary Establishment Grant 1968-1970 (exclusive of Sciences)', W.102/4, ibid.
24 UGC, '
25 These, and other designs, are illustrated in From Beads to Bank notes, pp.178-82.
26 Royal Mint Advisory Committee, comments, Dec. 1965, NA, AAOA 6000 W4698 8a, Coin Design Advisory Committee (of Royal Mint).
27 His Way, pp.84-5.
28
29 NZL, v.29, Apr. 1966, pp.48-52.
30
31 'National Library Bill … notes for Minister of Education, 15 Sept. 1965', p.12, ATL, Acc. 88-103-2.
32 National Library Officials Committee to Hon.
33
34 'Parliamentary Report', NZL, v.30, Oct. 1967, p.157.
35 'Summary History: the Establishment of the National Library', ATL, Acc. 88-103-2.
36 Change of site noted in 'Parliamentary Report', NZL, v.32, June 1969, p.103. It resulted from lobbying by the
37 NZLA, Public Library Service Committee, Standards for Public Library Service in New Zealand.
38 See, for instance, NZL, v.31, Feb. 1968, pp.5-23.
39 New Zealand Library Resources, p.65.
40
41 NZLA, Library Resources Committee, Report, Aug. 1966, NZLA 1966/45, ibid.
42 Copy of letter sighted, Alley to Collins, 11 Oct. 1966, CU, file: NLNZ, General 1960-
43 McEldowney Suppl., pp.151-2, 168- 9. See also Australian Academic and Research Libraries, v.7, Dec. 1976, pp.240-4.
44 New Zealand University Library Resources … 1972, rec.13, p.132. At that time the Chairman of the Trustees was
45
46 NZLA, Education Committee, Report to Council 18 Aug. 1965, NZLA 1965/46, ibid., Box 7.
47 'University Library School – Draft Statement', NZLA 1965/69, ibid.
48 McEldowney Suppl., pp.159-60.
49 'The Future of Library Education in New Zealand', NZLA 1966/47; printed in NZL, v.29, Oct. 1966, pp.161-76.
50 Message recorded (more moderately) in NZLA, Education Committee, minutes, 11 Aug. 1966, document E.200, DUHL, Acc. 87-020, Box 2.
51 Wylie to McEldowney, 9 Sept. 1966, ibid., Box 3.
52 Alley to NZLA, 10 Feb. 1967, noted in Sage papers, WU.
53 News & Notes (National Library of NZ), n.s. no. 47, 28 Feb. 1967. Another version in NZLA Newsletter, no.122, Jan.-Mar. 1967, p.1.
54 McEldowney Suppl., pp.160-61.
55 NZLA Newsletter, no.122, Jan.-Mar. 1967, p.2.
56 NZLA, Annual Meeting, minutes 15 Feb. 1967, NZLA Newsletter. no.125, June 1967, p.5.
57 NZLA, Council, minutes, 17 Feb. 1967, NZLA 1967/13, DUHL, Acc. 87-020, Box 5; Minister's reply printed in NZLA Newsletter, no.129, Oct. 1967, p.4.
58 Secretary, Professional Section, to Registrar, NZLA, 2 June 1967, document E.213, DUHL, Acc. 87- 020, Box 5.
59 NZLA, Education Committee, minutes, 16 Aug. 1967 (document E.220), ibid., Box 2; report to Council, Aug. 1967, NZLA 1967/47 and Council, minutes 17 Aug. 1967, NZLA 1967/50, ibid., Box 5.
60 White to Bagnall, 11 Oct. 1968, ATL, Acc. 89-249-4.
61
62 Collins was President, NZLA, 1949-50.
63 Collins to Alley, 14 Jan. 1967, Alley papers.
64
65 See chapter 2.
66 McEldowney Suppl., p.168.
67
68
69
70 NA, SSC 5, Acc. 1227, Alley.
71 Rodda to Alley, 20 Dec. 1967, ibid.
72 Alley to Metcalf, 18 Jan. 1968, Florida SU, Metcalf papers.
73 Bagnall to McEldowney, 5 Dec. 1967, McEldowney papers (home).
74 NZL, v.30, Dec. 1967.
75 Marlborough Express, 16 Dec. 1967.
76 NZL, v.31, Apr. 1968, pp.54-66 (quotes on p.59).
77 Alley's remarks are reconstituted from a rather incoherent transcript found in, and supplied by, CU.
1 Alley to Metcalf, 18 Jan. 1968, Florida SU, Metcalf papers.
2
3 Ibid.
4 These observations are derived from many members of the Alley family and their associates.
5 Alley to Metcalf, 19 June 1968, Florida SU, Metcalf papers.
6
7
8
9 Serials Librarian, v.6, spring 1982, pp.107-13 (quote on p.113).
10
11 in H. Goldhor, ed., Education for Librarianship, pp.163-92.
12
13
14 Alley to Bagnall, 9 Oct. 1968, ATL, Acc. 90-103-2.
15
16
17 'Collected Utterances of
18
19 Metcalf to Alley, 25 Jan. 1969, Florida SU, Metcalf papers.
20 Alley to Metcalf, 3 Apr. 1970, ibid.
21 Metcalf to Alley, 22 Apr. 1970; Alley to Metcalf, 8 May 1970; Metcalf to Alley, 18 May 1970, ibid.
22 Osborn, p.c. 19 Sept. 1990.
23
24 J. Tague-Sutcliffe, p.c. 28 May 1991.
25 Described in an Obituary notice issued by SLIS, 25 Apr. 1989, McEldowney papers (home).
26
27 Alley to Whyte, 29 Dec. 1968, McEldowney papers (home).
28 International Federation of Library Associations.
29 Alley to Whyte, 2 June 1969, McEldowney papers (home).
30 Liaison (Library Association), June 1969, p.L43, and October 1969, p.L80.
31 Alley to Whyte, 15 Oct. 1969, McEldowney papers (home).
32 Alley to Metcalf, 8 May 1970, Florida SU, Metcalf papers.
33 Attempts to find a paper that Alley might have written for this institute have been unsuccessful. A policy proposal which formed the basis for discussion is printed in American Libraries, Apr. 1970, pp.341-4, and there is a brief note of the discussion in the July-Aug. 1970 issue, pp.666-7.
34
35 Library Trends, v.19, July 1970:
36 Alley to Bagnall, 12 Aug. 1969, ATL, Acc. 90-103-2.
37 This episode is dealt with by The University of New Zealand, pp.276, 376-7, and Victoria University of Wellington, pp.35-7.
38 Alley to Whyte, 3 Nov. 1969, McEldowney papers (home).
39 Euphan Alley to Joy Alley, 4 Sept. and 2 Nov. 1970, McEldowney papers (home).
40 University of Western Ontario, Extract from SLIS Teaching Faculty, minutes, 19 Dec. 1970, McEldowney papers (home).
41
1 Alley to Whyte, 30 Mar. 1971, McEldowney papers (home).
2 Euphan Alley to Joy Alley, 24 Nov. 1974,
3 Alley to Whyte, 14 Aug. 1972, McEldowney papers (home).
4 E.C. Lathem, Robert Frost 100, Boston, 1974.
5
6 Anon. to McEldowney, 18 Apr. 1972, McEldowney papers (home).
7 Dominion, 2 Apr. 1973. Bagnall's draft, with McIntosh's amendments, is in ATL, Acc. 89-249-5.
8 NZL, v.35, Apr. 1972, pp.141-6. He was particularly concerned about the need for a National Information Centre for Government and Industry, which never got off the ground.
9 New Zealand University Library Resources … 1972.
10 Ibid., p.132 (recommendation 13).
11 Details in 'News from the National Library', NZLA Newsletter, no.192, Oct. 1973, p.3, and no.198, June 1974, p.4.
12 McEldowney, op. cit., pp.133-4 (recommendation 15).
13 The sub-committee's first allocations are recorded in 'News from the National Library', NZLA Newsletter, no.214, Nov. 1975, p,11.
14 Alley to Whyte, 30 Jan. 1972, 23 Feb. 1974, 17 Jan. 1976, McEldowney papers (home).
15 Kinsella to NZLA, 8 Aug. 1968, DUHL, Acc. 87-020, Box 3.
16 N.Z. Working Party on Education for Librarianship, Education for Librarianship (WPEL Report).
17
18 Quoted in WPEL Report, p.41.
19 A valuable collection of documents relating to the topic of library education, 1963-1978, is in the Sage papers, WU. The detailed discussions, before and after 1970, are handled in detail and clarity by Education for Librarianship.
20 NZL, v.33, Oct. 1970, pp.196-9.
21 News & Notes (National Library of NZ), no.220, 7 Feb. 1972.
22
23 Books to the People, p.111.
24 'Regional Library Service', submission to the Local Government Commission, NZLA Newsletter, no.209, June 1975, pp.1-3.
25 Letters of invitation sent by Books to the People, p.96.
26
27 Books to the People, pp.94-5.
28 NZLA Newsletter, no.212, Sept. 1975, p.4.
29
30 Noted in NZLA Newsletter, no.214, Nov. 1975, p.10, and no.215, Dec. 1975, p.10. An amusing consequence of the rather unorthodox way in which the appointment was decided was that two pay days passed after she started in the job before the salaries section of the
31 She always believed that Glasgow was one of the most beautiful cities in the world, along with Dunedin.
32 NZLA Newsletter, no.205, Feb. 1975, p.7.
33 National Library Bulletin, no.1, Jan. 1979, pp. 1-3.
34
35 Airport conversation, Alley and McEldowney, some time in 1976.
36 NA, AAOJ W4077 NL 5/17/2. Details of these events are treated in Education for Librarianship, ch.4, pp.41-54.
37 R. Cave, p.c. 17 July 1990.
38 Education for Librarianship, p.53.
39 Ronnie to McEldowney, 22 Mar. 1978, McEldowney papers (home).
40 Alley to Whyte, 7 June 1980, ibid. Ronnie points out in her book, p.59, that the new school was at this time planning additional advanced courses.
41 National Library Bulletin, no.7, Jan. 1980, pp.1-7.
42 An Evaluation of Education for Librarianship in New Zealand, p.7.
43 WPEL Report, p.22.
44 NZL, v.33, Oct. 1970, pp.180-8, section on 'A Professional Association', pp.187-8.
45 Comments in this section are heavily dependant on the more detailed treatment of library education in New Zealand in this period in Education for Librarianship, especially chapters 5, 6, and 10.
46 An Evaluation of Education for Librarianship in New Zealand.
47
1
2 Euphan Alley to Joy Alley, 19 Apr. 1975,
3
4 R. Craft, Carrie Hepple's Garden.
5
6
7
8 R. Craft to Joy Alley, 20 Sept. 1978,
9
10 Euphan Alley to Joy Alley, 26 April 1981,
11 Design for a Century, pp.126-7.
12 P. Reynolds, Rewi Alley, p.71.
13 Alley PGC (McIntosh).
14 Alley PGC (Harris).
15 Described especially well by Harvard Library Bulletin, v.31, Dec. 1983, pp.394-7.
16
17 Bagnall to McEldowney, 28 June 1984, McEldowney papers (home).
18 See the Bibliography for details of these documents, which are available in the Alexander Turnbull Library (referred to throughout the notes as Alley PGC).
19
20
21
22 Alley to Whyte, 7 June 1980, McEldowney papers (home).
23 Parliamentary Services Act 1985, passed on 12 Sept. 1985.
24 The Turnbull, p.187.
25
26 Alley to McEldowney, 4 Oct. 1985, McEldowney papers (home).
27
28
29
30
31
32 M. Roberts to Rewi Alley, 30 Sept. 1986, McEldowney papers (home).
33