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New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4456, 1 July 1875, Page 2

The Wellington Athenseum is not in happy case. All concerned with the institution seem to admit this, and, as a remedy for the existing evils, an Act of Parliament is proposed. We do not doubt the wonderful effects of Acta of Parliament —in general those effects, indeed, are not infrequently the reverse of what was contemplated—still we are not prepared to oppose the incorporation of the Wellington A theme am, especially if that incorporation will not retain the many vested discomforts in connection with the establishment. It does seem strange, however, that an Act of Parliament should be required for the efficient conduct of a library and reading-room, and we can only, in this respect, accept the explanation that in order to borrow money the Act of Parliament is required, and that to ensure comfort, decency, and order, money must be borrowed. Now, wo are by no means so certain that the means here prescribed are absolutely requisite to attain the desired end. We have little doubt but that attention to the Athenseum, and a few simple expedients which would convert it from what it is—a combination of a lumber-room and a dust-heap—into such a place as it ought to be, -would, by ensuring it increased public support, render its pecuniary affairs satisfactory. This, we say, is our opinion, but nevertheless so patent is the utterly unsatisfactory condition of the institution, to such a deptli has it fallen in dirt and desuetude, that we .are inclined to support any means that will give a reasonable prospect of speedy improvement. As to the present condition of the Athenaeum we are hot anxious to testify. It is an unpleasant business to bo compelled to wash dirty linen in public, and we have no desire to make the colony acquainted with the disgraceful state of the public library and reading-room of its capital city. To say that slattern customs reign supreme in the Athenaeum is but to state the truth. The library itself has all the dust of antiquity, with none of its careful preservation. On the contrary, the books seem as though they had been through a threshing machine rather than the hands of readers. In the reading-room are similar evidences of want of care ; and further, the practices in this room do not testify to the integrity of readers. Soon after the magazines, which may have arrived by a recent mail, are placed upon the table, they are removed by people who coolly keep them away for . days and weeks, nay, who in some instances do not annoy themselves by returning them at all. All over and around the place are the same traces of dust and dirt, and it does seem to us not unnatural that, as a consequence, the Athenseum is wanting public support. It is evident that there is a screw loose somewhere. A resolution brought forward by the committee would seem intended to fix the blame on others than the unpaid officers of the institution. On this point it is not for ns to speak, but we may say that a committee determined to effect the necessary reforms should not experience much trouble in carrying them out. A little care, a little tidiness, a little enforced honesty on the part of some readers, some whitewash brushes and a few buckets of water, could easily be brought into operation without an Act of the General Assembly. Would it bo worth the committee’s while, pending this same Act, to experiment upon the trifling reforms we have suggested ?