The Capital of New Zealand. Population: 20,563. Daily Papers—"New Zealand Times," "Evening Press," "Evening Post."

Athenæum and Mechanics' Institute.

William Hamilton, Librarian.

There are a few interesting items in the history of this institution which I venture to record very briefly. A site for an institute was first granted in 1843, on Lambton Quay, by the then Governor, Captain Fitzroy, and the first stone of the building, which bore the name of the "Port Nicholson Mechanics' Institute, Public School, and Library," was laid with Masonic honours in May 1844, Colonel Wakefield being president, and John Knowles, Secretary of the undertaking. Owing to unfavourable circumstances the building was not opened until 1849, 250 volumes being then upon the shelves, purchased for £20, sent to England in the previous year.

The New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Straits Guardian of May 9th, 1849, records that Mr. Bushell had been appointed librarian at 6s. a-week! and the same paper for 7th November, 1849, records a balance of £5 4s. old., and notes that £ 10 had been sent home to England for more books, and that £ 1 had been expended in binding. The institute, from various causes, did not receive the support, or create the interest which it was hoped, and after six-and-twenty years the Legislature was applied to for powers to build and to incorporate. An Act of Incorporation was accordingly passed in 1875, the President at that time being the Hon. William Fitz-Herbert, C.M.G., and the Secretary, Walter Hill.

The New Zealand Times of 28th March, 1876, reporting the annual meeting of the institute, records the fact that there were then 700 volumes—250 being added in 1875— page 17 that there were 550 members, and a small balance at the bank. On the 20th January, 1877, on the site of the old buildings, was laid the first stone of the present handsome wooden buildings, by the Marquis of Normanby, then Governor of New Zealand; these were completed at a cost of £8,000. The library and reading-rooms are open daily (Sundays and public holidays excepted) from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. The subscription is 21s. per annum, or for youths under 17 years of age 10s. 6d. The rules, which were drawn up at the incorporation, seem very suitable and work well. There is a separate room for ladies; two reading-rooms, one for daily papers the other for weeklies. The library is contained in a room 30 ft. by 40 ft. square—members have access to the shelves. The record of borrowings is kept under the name of the borrower. The annual general meeting of the Athenaeum is held in May.

In May 1884 there were 682 members, 9,000 volumes, 507 having been added during the previous year, and 19,627 having been in circulation. £219 was spent on books, papers and binding, and there was a balance of £143. There is at present no printed catalogue. In 1883, the idea of printing was mooted, but met with little encouragement from the members of the Athenaeum.

Two attempts have been made in Wellington to start a Free Public Library under the Act, for which the imposition of a penny rate would have been necessary, but both have been unsuccessful, the opponents of the movement being three times as numerous as the supporters. The officers of the Athenaeum would have been quite ready to hand over the building and library entirely into the hands of the City Council for the free library, but apparently the people of Wellington are quite contented with the present state of things. The Wellington Athenaeum receives no support now whatever from Government, but depends entirely upon the subscriptions of its members, and the rents received for a portion of its premises; it is however, in its way, doing good work in Wellington, and is paving the way for an eventual Free Public Library.

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The Library of the General Assembly of New Zealand.

Angus Macgregor, M.A., Librarian.

This library, the finest and most important, as is fitting, in New Zealand, was founded in 1865, when the seat of Government was moved from Auckland to Wellington. There were then about 4,000 volumes, and in 1886, F. Guillaume, of Chester Square, London, published a catalogue of books relating to New Zealand, recently added to the Library of the General Assembly of New Zealand, which was, I believe, the first step towards a printed catalogue of the works in this library.

The library is contained in the handsome wooden building, wherein are located the chambers of the Legislature of New Zealand. I should mention that the chief buildings in Wellington were for a long time constructed entirely of wood, owing to the frequency of earthquakes, and the risks run by buildings of stone and brick. It is said that the Government Offices at Wellington are the largest wooden buildings in the world, but I cannot vouch for the absolute accuracy of this statement. Of late years earthquakes have been less frequent and less destructive, and the new buildings of Wellington are no longer of wood. Unfortunately for the books, the rooms containing the library are on the most exposed side of the Assembly buildings, and though their arrangement and economy are admirable, the books, which mostly come out bound from home—and exceedingly well bound—have suffered somewhat from the damp.

Mr. Macgregor has for some time past been meditating a re-arrangement and re-classification of the library, and has proceeded some way with it, but has deferred the renumbering of shelves and books until the question of new buildings has been finally decided. During the last nine years there have been frequent talks of new buildings, and £ 14,000 was once placed on the estimates for that purpose, so that in a few years I hope we may hear that new build- page 19 ings are actually commenced. The library, though space is sadly wanted, will not have really suffered for the delay, for every year brings fresh experiences in the construction of library buildings, particularly from America, and fresh interest in librarianship as a profession, and in the administration and progress of libraries.

The Assembly Library now contains about 26,000 volumes, and is augmented by about 1,500 annually, so that a supplement to the catalogue has to be issued about once a-year, at the commencement of the session. The system of international exchanges is fully maintained, and the library has also to thank many private donors for their munificence. Amongst these I may fitly mention the names of Hugh Carleton, Alfred Domett, W. B. D. Mantell, and John Sheehan.

The management of the library is vested in a committee of twenty, ten being chosen from each House of Legislature; these twenty appoint a committee of six out of their body, three from each House, to be the Selection Committee. The Selection Committee practically determines the literature to be selected for the shelves, taking into consideration the suggestions made by members of the Legislature in a book kept for that purpose. The Agent-General in England, as a rule, is empowered by the Committee to order new books for the library to the amount of £ 100, from time to time. The annual amount at the disposal of the Committee appears to be a Government grant of £600, and another £ 100 produced by the fees on private bills. On this revenue the Committee keep up the standard and character of the library to the highest point as a library of general reference. An annual report is made by the librarian to the Chairman of the Library Committee, usually in the month of June, and is then presented to the House, and published with other parliamentary papers and reports. These reports afford some interesting reading to librarians and others. In 1882 Mr. Macgregor notes that two new rooms had been placed at his disposal, with shelf accomoda- page 20 tion for 6,000 volumes, which had been nearly all absorbed, showing that a large number of volumes must have been practically inaccessible before. To display the new disposition of the library then made, a capital plan of the distribution of works, both on the ground floor and in the galleries, was issued, and has since been published with the catalogue—I found it of great service. A new agent was appointed in 1882; a historical register of all the books added to the library from time to time was commenced, and has since been kept up, and a system of press-marking was instituted for the first time.

In the report of 1883, Mr. Macgregor notes the introduction of handy catalogues of various departments of literature, which he intends to continue and make a feature of in the next general catalogue. Also that the library had suffered in the way which all parliamentary libraries seem to suffer, from some of its rooms having to be given up and others made use of instead—the Sydney Parliament Library in particular—has been much hampered in its usefulness owing to this cause.

In June 1884, Mr. Macgregor reports another change of agents, the Agent-General for New Zealand in England having been appointed to act for the library, and he has appointed Messrs. Bell & Bradfute, of Edinburgh, to act under his supervision. There is no doubt that the appointment of the Agent-General, who has long manifested an interest in the library, will be productive of very good results, some of which had been already felt when I visited the library in December 1884. In this report it is also recorded that in response to an offer made by Lord Derby, it had been decided to send copies of all the official publications of New Zealand to the Library of the British Museum, Lord Derby promising in return that all the Imperial official publications should be sent to the Assembly Library.

Three more useful pieces of work were done during the year 1883-84, and they were:—1, a catalogue of all the page 21 pamphlets in the library; 2, a list of all maps and charts; 3, a subject index of the general catalogue of 1880 and of the supplement of 1882.

During the recess, the privilege of using the library has for some years past been extended to residents in Wellington, on certain conditions. These have been altered from time to time, but the following rules were in force when I was in Wellington. The library was administered during the recess, by a committee of all Members of both Houses residing in, or within fifteen miles of Wellington, three of these to form a quorum. Admission to full privileges of the library was granted to some fifty under-secretaries and Government officials in Wellington, a list of whose names was posted up in the library. During the year 1883-84, 700 volumes were issued to these persons during the recess. In addition, however, to these fully privileged persons, any person applying to the Chairman of the Recess Committee was admitted to study in the library, but during the same period only forty persons availed themselves of this permission. Mr. Macgregor says that there are few real students to speak of in Wellington, and the privilege of borrowing books is the only one which is sought after.

Mr. Macgregor very kindly permitted me during my stay in Wellington to make use of the library, and I spent four days at work in the small room, No. 4, I think, in which were kept some of the chief treasures—tall copies, early editions, and valuable illustrated works; and also all the American and Canadian publications, congressional records, and other State papers.

Now for a few words with regard to the contents of the library, which, for all ordinary purposes may be regarded as a first-class reference library. It contains some very fine early editions of the classics, a good collection of works of history, biography, and travel, and of parliamentary papers and statistics. There is an excellent collection of bound volumes of colonial newspapers, I suppose no library except Melbourne has a better. These will be invaluable page 22 to the future historian of New Zealand: there cannot be less now than 2,000 volumes of newspapers on the shelves of the Assembly Library. I regret that there is not so good a collection of works printed in and relating to New Zealand, and the countries adjacent to it, as there might be. It seems to me, that a really complete department of the library devoted to Australasian literature, would be worth the consideration of the Library Committee, for it would be an immense boon both to present and to future members of the legislature, as well as to students and writers of history in days to come.

I have mentioned that the library has had many private benefactors, besides the various Governments with which it carries on a system of exchanges; and I may add that one of the most valuable works in the library was the gift of a private benefactor, Bishop Monrad—two immense folio volumes of rare etchings and engravings, valued at £2,000. And now, lastly, a few words as to the catalogues of the Assembly Library. The earliest appears to have been that published in 1867, (8vo, pp. 213), an author catalogue. The next was a classified catalogue, published in 1872, the library then containing 8,700 volumes. Then, in 1875, came an elaborately classified catalogue, compiled by Ewan McColl, 8vo, pp. 351. In 1880, the library then containing 18,562 works, as compared with 11,450 in 1875, a new catalogue compiled by the then librarian, Ewan McColl, was published—8vo, pp. xvi. 557. In this catalogue, which is correct up to March 1880, the same elaborate system of classification is adopted as in that for 1875, and an index of author's names is given. It is well got up and printed, and a very careful piece of work throughout. Since that date annual supplements to the catalogue have been issued, and in 1884, these annual supplements were issued as a separate volume, with plans of the distribution of books in the library, and with a carefully prepared index of subjects. Mr. Macgregor very kindly presented me with copies of these various catalogues, and also entrusted me with copies page 23 for presentation to the Library Association, which I duly delivered on my return home. It is proposed in future to continue the annual supplements, and every five years to issue a new general catalogue, and when I was at Wellington there was some talk of reverting to an author catalogue, with a full index of subjects.

It will, I hope, be gathered from this account, that the Assembly Library is really a valuable one, and that with the not distant prospect of new buildings, and the re-arrangement which is in contemplation, it will occupy an even more useful position in New Zealand than it now does.

I am under much obligation to both Mr. Macgregor, and his courteous and able assistant, Mr. David Smith, for the information they gave to me, and for the ready manner in which they assisted me in looking up various points in the history of New Zealand, in which I was interested. I hope some day the Library Association of the United Kingdom may have the pleasure of welcoming these gentlemen, and many others in Australasia engaged in library work, amongst its most active members.

Supreme Court Library.

I was enabled to vist this library through the kindness of my friend, Mr. Edwin G. Jellicoe, barrister-at-law, of Wellington. It is contained in a small room in the Supreme Court building, and has, I suppose, about 2,100 volumes of strictly legal works, reports, and text books. The management of the library is in the hands of the Council of the Wellington District Law Society. It is open to all members of the legal profession, practising in the Wellington Judicial District, who have paid their fees for the current year. Also to managing and articled clerks, on their receiving permission from the Council of the Law Society. No books are allowed to be taken beyond the precincts of the court, and "no books are to have the pages turned down, or to be page 24 dog's eared, marked with pencil, ink or otherwise, or in any way defaced, torn or injured, or left lying open when done with." Breach of any of the rules regulating the library, renders the persons committing such breach liable to a fine of £2 2s., which can be exacted by the Council of the Law Society.

A printed catalogue of this library was issued in 1872 (8vo. pp. 38), and a more recent edition in 1882 (8vo. pp. 68). This last is an interesting little brochure, neatly printed, and containing:—Rules of the library, explanation of abbreviations of the reports, general alphabetical catalogue under authors' names; catalogue of the law reports under the different courts, giving the dates covered by the various series, &c.; a table of regnal years, and an index of subjects with names of authors who have written on any subject. The library appears to be much used, but needs space and an increased expenditure to make it thoroughly adequate to the wants of the profession.

The Library of the Colonial Museum.

Mr. Kirk, Librarian.

In the Colonial Museum, at Wellington, are located the head-quarters of the New Zealand Institute, which has, perhaps more than anything else, advanced the interests of science in this colony. It has now about 1,300 members, seven affiliated institutes, and it has issued fifteen volumes of valuable Transactions. The New Zealand Institute has under its care in the Colonial Museum a library of some 10.0 volumes. Some of these belong to the Wellington Philosophical Society, which is in the position of an affiliated institute. Amongst this number must also be reckoned 2.0 volumes formerly the old Provincial Council Library of Wellington. The Athenaeum has made several attempts to get these books handed over to it, but hitherto unsuccessfully. Here also is contained the large scries of Patent Office publications, presented by the Commissioners in page 25 England. The Institute maintains a large system of exchanges, and consequently the library is being rapidly increased, and additional space is already needed. The works in the library are almost all of a scientific character, and include a collection of old medical works, said to be of value, presented by Sir David Monro. Reports of societies, transactions, and magazines, form a large and increasing branch of the library. Members of the Institute, and of the Philosophical Society, are allowed to borrow works from the library; but it is open free to any person to consult or read in, and more and more persons every year are making use of this privilege. The library at present has only a manuscript catalogue.

Wellington Diocesan Library.

This is contained in a small wooden building, situated in Mulgrave Street, and has about 2,000 volumes. It is open on application to the Secretary, on any week day between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., to any clergyman in Anglican Orders, and probably to any other person, for purposes of reference. The library is strictly theological and is not up to date; it has, however, some valuable sets of older works—there is a catalogue in manuscript.

With the libraries in Wellington, I come to an end of my account of the chief libraries in the North Island of New Zealand. There are, however, Athenaeums, mechanics' institutes, or public libraries in most of the towns in this Island, and after those I have already mentioned, probably the libraries in the following towns would deserve notice, viz:—Coromandel, Gisborne, Grahamstown, Masterton, New Plymouth, Russell, and Tauranga.

I applied to some of these institutions for particulars, not being able to visit them, but received no answer; but when one is travelling about letters sometimes miscarry, and the postal arrangements in New Zealand are somewhat page 26 defective, especially when compared with those in Victoria and South Australia. However, I think I have mentioned all the more important libraries, and will conclude by noticing that in 1884, 149 libraries in the North Island shared in the Government Grant to the extent of £2,495 5s. 5d., their total income apart from the subsidy being £3,972 13s. 7d.