THE PUBLIC LIBRARY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 295, 22 January 1910, Page 8

THE PUBLIC LIBRARY.

ANNUAL MKKTINf; OF PUD SCIUBERS.

There was an attendance of eleven at the annual meeting of subscribers i-o the New Plymouth Public Library :ii the Town llall last night, and ' tlio ladies were conspicuous by their absence. Mr. F. at. Wilson, chairman of the committee, presided, and presented the~annual report and balance-sheet . 1 s publ'rdleil m yesterday's issue. In moving the adoption o' the annual statement. Mr. Wilson congratulated th e .members on the progress made. Ke suggested that the library year should be made to end on March 31st instead of December 31st. At present the suoserilicrs" representatives on the committee were elected bv the annual meeting in January, and the Borough Council's representatives in May. Thus half the year had gone before the committee could work with, any degree of cohesion. This state of affairs, which had_been to a great extent responsible for the serious financial position in the middle of last year, could be avoided by adopting his suggestion. •

Mr. Skinner seconded, and in hisj re.marks said that although adverselycriticised for devoting too much attention to fiction, the committee had expended 55 per cent, of its appropriations on standard works (historical, geographical and travel) and only 45 per cent, on fiction, despite the fact that of the books issued fully 97 per cent, were of fiction.

The'report and balance-sheet were aflopfed". Suggestion by Mr. A. K. Selby tb>t the New Zealand Statutes should be placed in the reference library, and that the committee should undertake the preservation gf the public records, such as the daily newspapers of the town, were referred to the committee.

Mr. Henry Ford, the custodian, wrote suggesting the re-arrangement of the public reading-rooms. Some of thp colonial papers at present were double-bank-ed on the desks, there not being room to file them singly. "I would fiuggt'st," he wrote, "that as the room now called the draughts and chess room is very seldom used by adults, and only occasionally by hoys, who often abuse the privilege by thpir conduct and cause annoyance to the visitors in the adjoining rooms, the chess and draughts be don-; away with, and it be made a reidingroom in which could be placed all the English and colonial pictorials, etc., from the present magazine-room."'

The chairman said the letter had been referred bv the committee to n sub-committee, comprising Messrs H. Eyre-Kenny, F. E. Wil?on and the secretary.

Very hearty votes of thanks were passed to the librarian (Miss Free), the honorary .secretary (Mr. F. T. Bellringer) and the custodian (Mr. Henry Ford) for the efficient manner in which their duties were carried out.