The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) FRIDAY, AUGUST 10, 1877.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5111, 10 August 1877, Page 2

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) FRIDAY, AUGUST 10, 1877.

The motion of Mr. O’Rorke, that an address should be presented to the Governor asking him to recommend the placing of a sum of £SOOO on the Estimates in aid of. public libraries throughout the colony, will, we think, meet with very general approval. The mover proposes that the amount shall be distributed by grants to free public libraries, established under the Libraries Act of 1869, of £1 for every £1 raised under the Act, and by grants to other public libraries of 10s. for every £1 raised by such libraries. The encouragement of free libraries is, if not an actual duty of the. State, at all events a very graceful act on the part of any Government, and one that is likely to be productive of great benefit to the community. In Victoria the success of the great Public Library in Melbourne is. one of the most notable features in that colony; and visitors from all parts of the world, however much they may differ in their opinions of the capital and its surroundings, one and all agree that its public library is an institution of which any nation might be proud. Yet it is the growth of comparatively few years, and may he said to have been planted and brought to maturity chiefly by the exertibns’ of one individual, Sir Redmond Barry,' ■jvhose spirit seems to have pervaded many of the lesser towns of the colony, l where .the fostering of literary tastes by promoting mechanics’ institutes-and kindred institutions' is remarkable. In New Zealand something has been done in this direction,-'but much yet remains to be accomplished before she can compare with the sister country. Yet as regards material progress few if any colonies have made, more rapid strides than our own. The Legislature is now turning its attention seriously to the important question of the education of the rising generation, and in connection with it the subject of granting hid to. free libraries may be very fairly discussed. Good national schools- and- libraries, i open to every one, will be found valuable adjuncts in making a temperate, n happy, and prosperous people ; and the step’ made in the direction of aiding free public libraries by the hon. member for Onehnnga will, we believe, be regarded by persons of all shades of opinion as one in the right direction; I We hope to’see the' sum asked for placed on the Estimates without opposition. ...