THE PUBLIC LIBRARY.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 2, Issue 118, 7 September 1877, Page 3

THE PUBLIC LIBRARY.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE AKAROA MAIL,

Sir,—The vagaries of the committees of public libraries in small communities fire almost always-astounding. The individual members appear to select works without either knowing or wishing to know anytliing of the subject of which the work treat. The idea which seems to possess them is, that if only their own names are connected with the introduction of abstruse treatises, the wisdofn therein contained will be reflected upon themselves ; while the inability or disinclination of others to question or criticise their pretensions may enable them to shine with borrowed light.

The Committee of the Akaroa Library share the frailty of the rest. The list of new books introduced includes, among others, the Origan of Species (as it is termed in the catalogue), Max Miiller's Science of Language, the Science of Religion, and a Treatise on European Morals. There are already in the catalogue instances of a choice,' equally, if not more, pre■oosterous ; but these are sufficient to show

the effects of this eccentricity., ..It is.not that T would- wish to discourage any in the pursuit of learning, but il am persnaded that none of thosewho nominated such works will dream of making the faintest attempt to master one iota ofc" their contents ; and that their only linptj -4'tflH been that 'the occasional question. " Who ordered ' the Sc'ence of Language ;'" and the answer, " Oh, Mr So-and-so" may give them the credit for erudition which, they' do not possess. Nay, more, to, take* the last named work as an instance, the elaborate training of many years is necessary to enable a cultivated mind to grasp the broad outline. What possible knowledge can any one have of the difference between Aryan and Simitic families, who .has forgotten or never knew the idiom, gTarrimar or pronunciation of a language beSidesi their own, if even that ? Cultivate s ,the mind as much as possible, by all means, but these are not the means to that end. Whatever the subject, the exoteric must precede 1 the esoteric : and to fill the library of a small place, where there are few men of education, and fewer still of leisure, with works which not. one man in dive hundred can dimly comprehend, is nothing more or less than to waste the money of the subscribers to gratify an affectation of the most ridiculous of all failings, pedantry.

Yours, &c,