COMMERCIAL.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3805, 25 September 1883, Page 3

COMMERCIAL.

THE ATHENJEUM V. THE PUBLIC. [To the Editor of the Daily Telegraph.] Sir, —In your leader on August Bth you placed clearly before your readers tho position of the corporate members of the Atheincum in relation to their fellow inhabitants, and expressed a hope that they would make some effort to carry out tho purposes of the trust committed to them. You further pointed out that the land and funds had been provided by tho public for public purposes, and might have added that, with the exception of some four or five, tho whole of the New Zealand newspapers arc supplied gratis by their proprietors for the beneiit of the public. I believe the chief difference between a member of the body corporate and an ordinary subscriber is the payment of an extra shilling a year by the former, members paying a guinea a year in one sum, and subscribers a pound a year in quarterly payments if preferred. The .same privileges are available to both, tho management, however, being reserved to tho guinea members. As all .subscribers alike have been enabled to take out the full value of their annual subscriptions, I hardly see how that monster of modern days, " vested interests," can raise its hydra head. The annual grant from the Government to those libraries, nearly a hundred in number, having a free reading room, is a considerable one, and our share should not be lost, whilst tho fact that Napier, the fifth most important town in this country, does not possosss one, is a stigma we should hasten to remove. Each and every member of the community is alike interested in this question, how deeply interested but few apparently have troubled themselves to think, for its influence, for or against, must be materially felt in the advancement and prosperity of the town and district. Sincerely do I trust that all alike will unite in doing all that lies in their power to bring about a moro satisfactory state of things, and that the members of the institute, amongst whom .are enrolled many worthy and influential citizens, will be found foremost in this good work.—lain, <fee., A Studest. 25th September, lSSii.