THE PARLIAMENTARY LIBRARY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 280, 7 August 1909, Page 10

THE PARLIAMENTARY LIBRARY.

SSir,--Your,;.. 'supersensitive correspondent: ' the staff, of. tho Pa-rlia;. mentary,Librar)\.lt is ridiculous," unless the salaries .-.are'-.to, be.-liberalised beyond'., the' dreams '■ of. retrenchment,, to., expect .that; : every / member. of / the; staff should have ''a cWtlirb'd acquaintance with literature,'! inoro especially as: your, correspondent's,,, idea ; of culture; seems 'to : ,bo exfcra'mundanc. I; have.' often marvelled, however, ~.;'at'\ the, readiness' >.with. which' each; member' of I the staff can fnid:tho book you. ask for, while as foi^!tli6 liilanners■•.of the. attendants tbwardn visitors and. patrons,, it'.has ajffays.' ceemed ■.tinmoKto''bo' courteous in every.'respect. -Rev gardiiig tlib library .itself, your correspondent ■ appears':absolutely . to ; ; miscbncoivo.- its funcr' . tions.' He dogmatically tolls' us that {.'scrappy, ■ literature''.'should ■'find'no: place - there;". Ho is evidently- unaware that 'every person who ' write a book or; pamphlet in ' this 'country is. :by. law required to supply, two 'Copies to tho library. ,:lhis necessarily means .the accumulation . of'a body '.of ieplienieral; and gracolcsß; •productions ;-but .even' tlieso .'have their uses. :,We' ; may wblWbc' excused;.for- example, for' ■wi'sliing .that.ithe ./Martin''.'Marprelatev libels ; had never been written or, .that-Milton had iiot-for a..third .of; his .life-abandoned tho ;realms of poesy in order towrito;a pile of scurrilous and;ulisreputablo.pamphlets;'now "advocating almost indiscriminate. .divorce, now the, abolition',of monarchy aiicl, episcopacy, .arid "again .throwing/.mlid 'across'tteOliannel' at.'.Salmasius!'-,'■ Again, , what arc the'literary meritsof Pepys'; Diary' or Evelyn's Diary?--Yet it is from, such ma'tcrials. as these. that' histories' havo ; been j compiled, as" every'-.;reader *of, "Macaulay knows.' • "Aristbs" ' will -find '.piles of.' such .''scrtvppy'.'literature"' in -the.; great' libraries of 'tira, plct World.'; \ri this -country' some name-, loss "scribe may write .a' ; pamphlot on paper ctirroncyj.'...a, Jackson Barry.may '. write a/, . orudc boolr of, his experiences,, or. a.Proshaw' : may -write of banking on tho West Coast in thoVj sUtiest ■ .;!.'Llie literary -merits, of', suchworks, may bo small, ;.but thoy will have an intense human interest some day, arid ho is :a' -tastoless, critic indeed who would ■ ■ deny tliein. i» : place in the Parliamentary Library. • ' Suppose Mr.Jl'Nab could unearth some'rudo ' whaler's log of "the -early 'thirties,'- will ' "Ar'so3"' ; ;say that being "scrappy literature 1 ' it should bo destroyed? I think'.the. question' scarcely requires an answer;—l' am, btoi,''-"'- 1 "' ■■"'.' '■•'•"'■ • ■ ' ' ' ." ■'•-; "' P. J. O'REGAN. ; July.3o. . ,