THAT "ANNOYING" LETTER.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 876, 23 July 1910, Page 5

THAT "ANNOYING" LETTER.

. o . . . •■ . . MR. WILSON'S REJOINDER. Mr. C. Wilson replies as follows fc tho letter, by Professor Kirk, which wafi . published in yesterday's issue:— . Wellington, July 22, 1910. Sir, —Tho letter from Professor Kirk, chairman of -.the Professorial Board of the which you publish this morning, was, it is true, referred to by me at Wednesday's meeting, but it did not constitute the sole ground of complaint. My remarks were based upon the report of the Library Committee, a report covering three or four meetings, and embracing other subjects than those dealt -with in Professor Kirk's letter. For instance, I made- . special reference to the delay with which the professors send in their orders for' books. Every year the date is later. We are now at the end of July and the orders for this 1 year have not yet reached the .Registrar. Given ' two months to reach London, and for tho books to be collected and dispatched, and another two months for the volumes to reach tho Dominion, and to be catalogued, it will bo the end of November before they are on the shelves. This means that the second term of the college year will be- over before the books are available for the use of students. Surely tere is reasonable support'oi my statement that the professors were unbusinesslike. As to the complaints and charges made in the letter you publish , this morning, the Library Committee . more than six weeks ago investigated certain 1 complaints and found that somo " at- least of them were, quite without foundation.' • In. some cases where periodicals were alleged to have hot regularly supplied, it was found that they, had never been ordered, and , certainly not paid for, as. they were donations from Mr. Eve and other '■■ sources. In oiw instance, where irregu- . lar supply had been alleged,—the Journal of Philosophy and Psychology—two of the missing numbers were, so I am informed, found .on Professor Kirk's oivn desk I Messrs. Sotheran and Company, who supply the college with books and pediodicals, also supply a. number of leading libraries, parliamentary and university, throughout the world.. In nine years ■ I think 1 have only twice had good reason for complaint as to tliu way my orders were attended to. Outside the ranks of college professors infallibility is, alas, , rare indeed. —I ajn, etc., CHARLES WILSON/' Chairman Library Committee, Victoria College.