THE GLOBE. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1881. THE PUBLIC LIBARY.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2174, 12 February 1881, Page 2

THE GLOBE. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1881. THE PUBLIC LIBARY.

Now that the opening of he Reading and Reference Department the Public Library is, as it were, st judice, we trust the Board of Govorrs will take into consideration a questioio which we have previously drawn athtion. We allude to the keeping open, i week days, of the Reference Room to.o p.m., the hour at which the Reading Bm is closed. For argument in favor of oi proposition we can but reiterate what weave already said on the subject. In the st place the attendants will not have < stop in the building a minute longer th they do at present, because, as it is,hey have to remain to 10 p.m. to clo the reading room. Then the amount ■ good which would bo done by the Rtrence Room would bo increased at a mu larger ratio than would at first sight apar probable. Under present arrangemen this room is almost useless for the lae number of people who are employed iring the day time, and who, it in evidenoutnumber to a very great extent those ho are not so employed. The workers i not, as a rale, clear out of their offices I five o’clock, some even not before si Exorcise of some sort they must havec only for half an hour or an hour, 'en comes the evening meal, and if thocan reach the library before half-past von, they are very lucky. For those at distance eight o’clock would probably o nearer the mark. Now, to choose mok and settle down for an hour only useless, if an individual wishes to maki study of any particular subject, for > sooner has the subject been entereinto than the inexorable gentleman wbpresidos over the light turns off the.p. All this means that, to the larger vjoriiy of the residents in Ohristchurclhe Reference Room is not an availe institution. The Board of Governors composed of gentlemen whoso time is pmmably much at their disposal, and )y, doubtless, have never had occasii to see this matter from this particul point of view. Nevertheless, wo can assi them thati s a point of view from wh the affair is very generally consider) To put the question pointedly, the ference Room is practically open to stmts at present, say, from seven at theirliest to nine. By adding another hotthe boon conferred on the public increased by a third, a result proportionly very largely in excess of. what mightt a first glance,

bo considered probable. Wo do trust, that the Board, now that they nro examining into tho advisability of making a now departure, will take the case of those working members of tho hive who really would benefit very much by being able to more largely use tho Reading Room into their serious consideration.

THE AUSTRALIAN MATCH,

Ax article has appeared in the Dunedin “ Morning Herald ” respecting the defeat of the Canterbury cricketers by the Australians. Wo need do no more than glance at this production, because neither by the arguments sot forth, or by its literary style, is i tin the slightest degree valuable. Canterbury cricketers are called snobbish for no apparent reason but that they play bettor than their neighbors. They are inflated with pride because they boat a previous Australian team, and are further puffed up by the fact that they have been too much for the Otagonians during a series of years and so on. Such is the opinion of a writer for the Morning Herald,” and we may say ho is altogether welcome to it Our contemporaries of Gloucester street have taken up the cudgels for the Canterbury cricketers, hitting out right and left with immense vigor. But the “Morning Herald ” was rebuked by two Dunedin men the very same day on which the article appeared in a much quieter and more dignified style. The utter rottenness of the logic and the bad taste and falsehood of the propositions put forward wore neatly and judiciously noted. And indeed we cannot help thinking that Gloucester street has flurried itself in a manner out of all proportion to the importance of the occasion. If papers will pander to provincial jealousies the papers themselves are the losers. We feel confident that the whole newspaper war on this subject has had but one effect on those Dunedin men whose opinion is worth the having. It has served to show, which indeed they need hardly have been told, that there exist in Dunedin certain individuals to whom success in any quarter other than their own is hateful. From the very early days in the world’s history, when a gentleman went the length of slaying his brother because the latter’s offering was accepted and his was not; this class of folk have never been extinct. Had newspapers existed in the days wo have alluded to, the envious gentleman might possibly have let off steam by writing a scathing account of his brother’s snobbishness and general imbecility, and in this case the earliest of tragedies would never have occurred. But Adam and Eve, and what other residents may at that time have been in existence, would probably not have paid much attention to the article, even if its logic had been sounder than that in the Dunedin “ Morning Herald.” The first man might, indeed, have remarked to his wife that their eldest was then even more bilious than usual, and the paper would have been relegated to the waste paper basket. As for the “ Morning Herald’s ” production, we totally refuse to believe that it represents in any way the views of Dunedin cricketers, and look upon it as the distempered vapourings of a penny-a-liner.

THE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

This institution is evidently making its mark, and its utility is beginning to be generally recognized by all classes. At a special meeting of the Board of Governors hold yesterday, the Chairman stated that the Director found that he could not accommodate the pupils coming forward, and the committee therefore asked power to build three cottages. Moreover, it was resolved that the Governor’s sanction be obtained to a further loan of £IO,OOO. In Otago the utility of such an institution has forced itself on the public, and steps are being taken for providing one at an early date. The success of our Agricultural very encouraging, and augurs well for the improvement in the future of onr general method of farming.