LYTTELTON COLONISTS’ SOCIETY.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2714, 20 December 1882, Page 3

LYTTELTON COLONISTS’ SOCIETY.

This very old society, which has of late years existed rather in name than in fact, appears likely soon to pass into the realms of the forgotten, whither many of the other pioneer institutions of the province have gone by the force of changed conditions of the province. It is long since the original functions of the society departed, and for many years the Lyttelton Colonists’ Society has simply consisted in a comparatively small number of subscribers to the library or reading room, which are carried on in the Colonists’ Hall. The institution, as such, was long since regarded to be in a moribund state, and about two years ag* an effort was made to induce the ratepayers to take over the building with its library, and thereby convert it from a privately conducted place, in respect of which only a very small portion of the burgesses took part or interest, into an essentially borough institution. The matter came to a poll of the ratepayers, who were generally regarded to have then refused it because it was said that the acceptance of it meant a large increase of the rates. The proposal was, therefore, negatived at that time. Affairs have not, however, prospered with it since, and, as will be seen by the report of the last meeting of the Lyttelton Borough Council, which, by the way, was the last meeting over which Mr Allwright was to preside as Mayor (failing to be returned in the future), the Council agreed to take over the hall and library on the application of its president. Associated and identified as it has been with many stirring scenes and events in the early history of the province of Canterbury, it will ever be remembered by many with regret that the Lyttelton Colonists’ Society has passed away. As a solace to such, there is the fact that it has left a library behin i as alasting memento of its once activeexistence, in the possession of which the borough of Lyttelton may well be proud. In the hands of the borough it is likely both the library and the reading room should be rendered more serviceable to the community as means of education than has hitherto been the case. In taking it over for the burgesses, the Council, doubtless, will have the sole contro 1 of its management and of its destiny. The hall, it has been suggested with some force, should be retained as a place set apart for use by the burgesses as a meeting place when public matters cause meetings to be held. The converting of part of the hall into borough offices is also proposed, and as the town has long been in want of Council Chambers of suitable size to admit the public to the meetings of the Council, the acquisition of the hall by the borough it is claimed will supply that want. As before stated, the converting of the library into an absolute borough institution, to bo supported out of the rates (if subscriptions fail), must give the burgesses a real interest in the colonists’ library and reading room of the future. The outlook is an encouraging one, and under the ever watchfulness of the fathers of the town, Lyttelton, with her Sailors’ Home and her free reading room and library for the use of her inhabitants, will set an example to some of her more pretentious neighbors in the, colony worthy their emulation.