LIBRARY PROPOSED

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 668, 21 May 1929, Page 11

LIBRARY PROPOSED

SUPPORT IN DEVONPORT COMMITTEE FORMED Devonport may succeed in equipping itself with a reference and pictorial library if the deliberations of a public meeting held last evening can be translated into action. '■pHE meeting, which was held in the ■ . the Borough Council Chambers, was "presided over by the Mayor, Mr. E. Aldridge, who said that Devonport was lacking In several cultural facilities, one of which was a library and reading-room. Mr. I. de J. Robins, on whose; initiative the meeting was called, outlined a scheme by which the nucleus of a library which the borough now Owns could be expanded by gifts of books. 1-Ie believed that 500 subscribers could be secured in Devonport, who would pay a library subscription of 15s a year. This would bring in a revenue of about £375 a year and, if a volunteer committee looked after the library and there was no wages charge, the whole of the money would be available to pay iterest on the purchase or erection of a library building and for buying new books. Devonport had recently been bequeathed an extensive library under the will of the late Mr. W. J. Napier, and a compact library and £SO in cash under the joint wills of the late Mr. and Mrs. Barclay, For lack of other accommodation the volumes Were locked up in the Fire Brigade station. A resolution that a library was desirable was carried unanimously and a sub-committee, Messrs. W. 14. Napier (chairman), Walsh, Kennedy, Stevenson, Mrs. de J. Robin and. Mr. de J. Robin (secretary) was set up to organise a collection of money and books, and to make suggestions for a suitable site for the library building.