The Chronicle PUBLISHED DAILY. LEVIN.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 13 December 1915, Page 2

The Chronicle PUBLISHED DAILY. LEVIN.

-MONDAY. DECILUBEK. 13. IUIO

GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIES TO LliiUAUIK& AND LOCAL J3ODIE.S. I ]ii' desire lo effect ocomomies is leading tlu« Coalition Government Lo extraordinary lengths. The latent instance ol unjustifiable saving is the cessation ol grants to public libraries. In past years a sum ol' JU3,O(X) per annum has been given to the public libraries oi New Z(.'aland by way of Government subsidy, uut the year I'JIU is to be made notable by a total withdrawal ol this grant. Tho Government ulso is withdrawing tho subsidy oil local bodies rates—a. procedure that will necessitate the levying ol extra. rates on the fanners and house owners unless a diminution be made in the expenditures on roadways, fiu making ol an extra rate muy not press unduly hard upon landowners in these times ol iiigh prices lor wool, dairy produce,etc., but in the case ol libraries the position is different. Some of them—and Levin is in the number— are so constituted that they have to be administered as free institutions, and already their maintenance is an appreciable tax on tho local bodies. Tho Government might well reconsider its resolve in regard to libraries, with iutent to reinstate the grant. They nil a most helpful part in the education of the communities, and to see them rondered less effective than they are at present would be regrettable.