NEGLECTED LIBRARIES

Hokitika Guardian, 12 June 1929, Page 2

NEGLECTED LIBRARIES

IiELICS Of goldmining days. DUNEDIN, June 10. Interesting relics of halcyon days in the goldfields which passed with the gold are to be found in Central Otago to-day in the form of excellent libraries which were established in various! mining centres, perhaps half a century ago. At Skippers, Macetown, Bannockburn, and one or two other places the miners provided themselves with the necessary books to while away the long cold nights. These libraries still stand, though some arc leaky and dilapidated, and on the sagging shelves, mouldering in the dust stand hundreds of leather-bound volumes on all topics—fiction, history, mining, and science—and it is apparently no one’s duty or inclination to care for or save them. The variety and quantity of the collections throw interesting light on the cosmopolitan nature of the mining communities. A “Daily Times” reporter brought tlie matter before the notice of the .Minister of Internal Affairs (tlie Hon. Mr do la Perrelie) in Xfexnndrn last week, and the Minister recalled those libraries which are now deserted and neglected in their lonely townships. He said they had always interested him, and lie thought that something should he done in the way of cataloguing and redistributing them, or perhaps they might lie forwarded to the Turnbull Library. The Minister said he would bring the matter before the notice of |he Minister for Mines (the Hon Mr Vo itch) :on his return to Wellington.