VANDALISM AT THE CHRISTCHURCH LIBRARY.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1975, 23 June 1880, Page 3

VANDALISM AT THE CHRISTCHURCH LIBRARY.

That " Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do" has been made painfully evident of late in the Christchurch Publio Library. Some time since attention was drawn to the wanton destruction of hooks taken from the circulating library, numbers of them being returned with leaves missing and the covers torn, to say nothing of idiotic references and comments in penoil, which the specially ignorant and egotistical are fond of inserting on the margin of works of fiction. Our library is not peculiar in this respect; the same drawbacks occur in connection with every publio institution to ■which a mixed class of persons have acoess, and which must necessarily suffer at the hands of the ignorant and vicious included in «uch a mixture. It would seem, however, that the Christohurch library haß been rather more unfortunate than usual of late, as a cause of complaint even greater than that already referred to has arisen. On the arrival of each European mail the reading room of the library is supplied with the periodicals and magazines to hand, and every care is taken by the librarian to keep them in proper order and preservation, but all his efforts have proved unavailing to check the destruction of theso papers, which are found to be torn and smeared, and in many cases utterly destroyed, a few days after arrival. It would be hard to suppose that a spirit of "Vandalism exists amongst those who make use of the Publio Library, and yet it is difficult to believe any other explanation to be possible, allowing for a full share of ignorance and uncleanliness on the part of the persons who patronise the reading room. So far Mr Strong—whose activity and energy in the discharge of the onerous duties pertaining to his office are well known—has been unable to discover any one in the act of destroying the books or papers, bnt if it be possible to bring these mischievous students to account he will no doubt do so.| In the meantime it behoves all respectable persons who visit the reading-room to aid in protecting the property of the Library.