THE PUBLIC LIBRARY.

Manawatu Times, Volume V, Issue 162, 21 September 1881, Page 2

THE PUBLIC LIBRARY.

We regret to announce that for still an.ither-year our Library is to be deprived of any assistance from Government, and nlthonn;!i, of course, the blame i« not wholly ro l>e placed up.m the shoulders of Mr Johnstonc ; still we lii>ld him accountable m a very jjreat measure for the loss. He is a Cabinet Minisi^r, a member of the Government, and the slightest exertion on his part would have secured what would prove such a l>oon to his constituency. Early last week Mr J. B. Duxgvn, the Chairman ••f tin Public Libnuy, wired both to the Hon. Mr Johnstons and Mr Hislop, the Secretory of Edu.-at : on. to the following ( ffp C f : — " Please use earnest endeavors to have a sum put upon the Estimates for Public T ibraries Act. I think there are only four m the Colony which cat? claim — Palmerston being one — po that the sum required will be but. small." Had our repn senta'ive taken an interest m a matter which effects this portion of his constituency so materially, and acted upon the request, it is more than possible-^-nay, absolutely certain we would now be m receipt of the subsidy, but he took no action, and did not even acknowledge the receipt of the telegram. Yesterday, the Chairman of the Library received the following L-tter from Mr .Hissop j-r-Ta Johnß, Puncwk Esq.,Chainnaa Pubr

lie Library, Palmerston North. — Sir — I I received your telegram regarding Public Library, vote. The Hon. Mr Gisborne brought a motion before the House of Representatives for a vote of £6000 but the motion b;is not been passed. Oiverntnent has therefore no means this year \v here wi'h to subsidise Public Libra ios. — I have the honor to be, Sir your obedient Servant, J^irs ITi r,oi\" 'Throwing asiduour private feeling, and looking at the q*icsti-<n up >n a brwid hasi*, we think ttu- matter is one which should lie dealt with by the Government of the day, and the onus of getting tiit grant passed, taken out of tbe ban Is o! private mernfcers. The admirers ot' the rCtlucatiou Act are never tired of siiufhu p.'-ans of jubilation, and quoting the usual terootyped clab-trap about the education of the masses ; but we ask can there be a better method of improving the adult mind thin by providing it with th-i hc.ilthy literature which is to be found on the tables and shelves of Nfechanics' Institutes and political economists are agreed that there is no more sound or safe popular educator than the newapaperlitirature of the day ; and when it is considered that — free reading rooms not only place an abundant supply within the reach of the working classes, but present attractions which lure them away from idleness or worse, we thiuk it is the duty of the Legislature to devote a little of the money and anxiety which they devote to the juveniles to the mental culture of those for whom no such provision is made.