BALCLUTHA ATHENÆUM.

Clutha Leader, Volume II, Issue 99, 2 June 1876, Page 6

BALCLUTHA ATHENÆUM.

pThv -ny^l meeting of the members |FO>p Bah-luma. Athenaeum was held I th' {j.ii! of tlie building- on Monday fening. f ■ Yz-r S'-.up'. yy<? hnd bpen called for 8 |c- f^'> ">>y on'v* very few member> lad put in fin appearance at about Iventv minuter 5 *o nine, when the husiiess rommenced. |;.Mr T. I. i'iU'.hie, president, then took ':y y-.iiy and'exphiined that the mv , "*"^::r had : H«cn coiled for tlift jv.irKns«? of hearing "tlie' annual report, and iHryiiiS' si Committee for the ensuing I* Year. 'He regretted exceedingly to see ijjy j!<» little interest was taken in the lyr.:utioy as wa? evidenced by the ic-r.-: small attendance. He called upon div .A. Grigor, Secretary, who read the pjj'iovdng p ;yoivr .«H!V.«»c:.i committee, 1875-78. R ""? ->r CTr.ifiirtfe hove, since last, annual m^et-jfe-c. ;*.,••).!-: -..'.-.I a loan through Mr .U'Oweu, of pJ4so,'frein.i'-hn POnderson. Finding that tlieir hi:v:" ':"•'•'•!•• -»-v- -Azi isnc'i oxec^d their revenue, nnd ?i:W o-.n- cr -h- front rooms wns amply sufficient T:rr fy i-j;yyr?;r:(:ni<. of the members, they rarvu:. A ■] y \~i '.'sy hall to the Free Masons, OddC\\ ■-■■7 v.] y.',y Templars, at a rent from each •" y ;- , "-.-. list-jiJu-'ir.ri sr-cietiea of £10 per annum, '•::•■. -'..'<-• A.vr \\y !. ii. which sutn includes firing '• -y y-y '■:..'. "!>is necessitated .an immediate „.-. :■:■'<. \:Z.:.- A ~A)r> 1* r "\ for an addition for tho .;•.:•"'.•■•..;-■>.-.•• of the sov-iiities. "/•.- ■"•■■m'nittef were fortunate in . heinsr r^vZir. •"'•rb. two loctr.res in aid of the funds cf 'y : .•;'[- utiun, one hy" Sir J. L. C. "Richardson, -v.. r' x'-.ov by Mr Eat-h^ite. To hoth geutle- :>:.-• *■:.'<,' owe their thanks. The proceeds of i •.-■-- ~r,>A\\iTfi amounted to upwards of £15. Tlie £>;.-. yy Oluh also kindly gave £10, the proc ~y -.>. an ei'.seruduinont to the fund. " By purchase, the library has heen enlarged hy AAe J - -idition of 172 vols , and thus the Committee "havo to acknowledge the donation of 20 vols, by ihe .'cv. Chas. Withey; of 6 vols, from afirmiu tow:, thrnnsh Stewart and Gow, and 12 illustrated periodicals from Mr Sandilands.

3lr Grigor also read a statement of the receipts and expenditure to the 30th April, 1876, from which it appeared the following sums had been received:— Government subsidy, £235; raised on mortgage (personal security ?) £450 : subscriptions by life and annual members, £l!o 16s 6d; rents, proceeds of lectures, and from Dramatic Cluh, £43 10s 6dj overdraft, £5 3s 8d ; in all, £849 10* 8 1. There had heen expended in erecting buildings, fencing, and furniture, £766 18s ; interest, £13 2s : insurance and other expenses, £31 17s 8d; board for books, £'25; for periodicals and papers, £12 13s ; in all, £849 10s Bd, Mr Fleming proposed that the reports as read be adopted. Secondod by Mr Mason, and carried. In reply to Mr Mason tbe Chairman Informed the meeting tbat no title to the ground on which the building had been erected, had been given to the Committee by the Government. Mr A. Grfgor said there were outstanding debts against the institution to the amount of £57, which required lo be met .at once. In addition to this there would have to be paid upwards of £15 for periodicals, and £20 for attending to the rooms during the ensuing- year. These sums amounted to £85 odd, and to meet this he did not anticipate a revenue of over £40, even taking tbe most sanguine view of matters. Thus for next year there would be a deficit of upwards oi L.40. Tjnder these circumstances he thought their efforts should be restricted to the library alone ; shut up the reading-room and only give out books and periodicals to be read at home. At present the room ™as not properly koked after. Any boys or others could enter, and the result was tbat the periodicals were destroyed and stolen. He therefore vr.oved that the reading-room be shut \i]> and that tho Library alone be attended 10. Tbe Iv.ev. Mr M'Ara, in seconding the motion, said thnt at present the institution was conducted in a very in-yjicir-vA manner, and if the proposed '-7y t ri>iV were effected man}' more books -'Toil ld be taken out to read. If the pro-yy-I were net carried ont they would -y -.ly h?.vs io shut up the building al*

.".■•:• pyuria thought an effort should -Z-. mad-.-- to got subscribers. A large r niber were shirking their duty, and ; thfii* names were published in tbe Clutba Leader and called upon personally he had no doubt they would pay. ' Indeed he knew some who felt neglected because they had not been waited upon for subscriptions, and he would be glad to hand their names to the Committee. Mr Campbell thought the Committee had altogether neglected their duty. Had thpy attended to the matter there Would have been more subscribers. The Chairman said Mr Campbell was one of the Committee. The Chairman here called upon those who had been collecting subscriptions Tor the ensuing year, to hand in the amounts collected. This was done and the same were found to amount toLI6 7 a ponion of this being payment for life membership. It was here proposed that the meeting should be adjourned for three weeks in order that the names of the subscribers should be published, and that an opportunity might be given for collecting subscriptions, and increasing the membership list prior to the election of a new committee. Mr "Fleming said if this delay were agreed to, he washed to make a surges tion for the consideration of members ■during the interval. He did not wish it put in the shape of a motion in the meantime. His suggestion was that they should endeavor to sell the Athenaeum building to the Government. His idea hnd always been, and he had been at no trouble to conceal it, that' a grea*. mistake had been made in the attempt to establish an Athenceum, and

O'-y Vbicii they could never rectify nrn\) they got^quifc of the present building, it was originally far too expensive, and the Committee were now so

burdened with debt and other difficulties that the only way they could ever extiicate themselves was by disposing of the building. A new Courthouse was required in Baiclutha, and for this purpose the Athenaeum both as to site and building* was admirably suited. If they were honpst.ly and fully to explain thoir position to the Government, the building might be taken over at its full value, and thus the Committed would have the sum originally given by the G >vernment with which to erect, a suitable building in a suitable locality, and the amount he considered would be ample tor all the requirements for reading-room accommodation ih Baiclutha for many years to come. As it was, the concern was so overwhelmed in debt. that those. who otherwise would become members would stand aloof, and the institution would only get deeper and deeper into the mire. Hie believed if ever they were to have an Athenaeum in Baiclutha they must begin de novo. He, however, only wished to make the suggestion for the consideration of members prior to next meeting. \ Mr Campbell said they shonld stick to the building while a plank ot it remained. Mr . Fleming said this was mere heroic talk, of which they had had quite enough already both from Mr Campbell and othersiyynYir Campbell had that evening confessed to having neglected his duty, and now he talked in his usual style of sticking to the building. If they did not act at once and act piudently, the building wonld not long stick to them. Mr Dunne moved, v That the names of the subscribers be advertised twice in the Clutha Leader ; that a competent gentleman be appointed to collect subscriptions, and tbat the election of office-bearers be postponed for three weeks." Mr Joseph Robertson seconded the motion. Mr John Macdonald proposed as an amendment, " That the meeting proceed with the business for which it was called." Seconded by Mr A. G. Campbell. Upon being put to the meeting, the motion was carried. A desultory discussion ensued as to the appointment of a collector, the commission to be allowed him, &c, m the course of which Mr Macdonald accused Mr Fleming of having that day accused the Committee of having been guilty of swindling, and that for doing less, many had been sent to Bell Hill for a period of years. Mr Fleming said he never at any time made any such statement, or iv any way referred to the Committee in the matter. What occurred was, while i waiting that forenoon at the Post Office, \ Mr Masdona'd commenced about the Athenreum, and they had a talk about it. He (Mr Fleming) expressed his mind, as he had done that evening, that the Athenaeum had been wrongly set about from the first — that a list of subscribers had been got up to forward to the Government — that many of the sums opposite these names had never been paid, and many of the parties never intended to pay— that this was simply an attempt to obtain money upon false representations. Moreover, he asserted that all the parties whose names were upon the list had not authorised jheir names to be put upon it ; on the contrary, some had distinctly declined to subscribe. Still their names were forwarded to be subsidised, and this he characterised as an attempted swindle, for less than which many had been sentenced to work onjßell Hill. He had simply made assertions as to facts, "not as to the Committee or any individual, and those assertions he again reiterated. He did not know, and had no desire to know, who were -the actors in the matter.

After some personal remarks, Mr Macdonald said the want of success with the institution rested with the editor of the Clutha Leader, as the paper had taken no notice of it. Had it been recommended by the Leader, as it would have been in any other journal, it would have been successful.

Mr Fleming regretted to find Mr Macdonald so ignorant as to what appeared in the Leader, as the Athenaaum had been mentioned dozens of times, and recommended to the public. After some further remarks of a similar nature, the meeting adjourned.