THE MECHANICS' INSTITUTE.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2996, 21 September 1878, Page 3

THE MECHANICS' INSTITUTE.

. (To the Editor of the Evening Star.) .Sir,—The liberal-minded and very intelligent committee of the above public literary institution has recently thought it fit to exclude the Irish newspapers, and there is not at present, nor has there been for the past few months, a single paper from Ireland allowed to enter within its holy walls. What is" the reason or motive that has lately developed itself in the committee's brains, which has impelled it in its wisdom and liberality to come down so pointedly On the Irish papers I cannot easily-determine. The English,' Scotch, Colonial and American papers appear to have been unnoticed altogether, or if they have been noticed their numbers instead of being curtailed or struck out altogether, like the Irish papers, have only been increased. Giving the committee credit for great liberality of opinion, coupled with a high degree of intelligence (to be sure), I have tried to reconcile those fine qualities with the very different .treatment of the Irish' and the other papers, .and I cannot do it to my satisfaction. Would any of the enlightened committee help me to it p Every one of them knows, of coune, the reason why the Irish newspapers, and they only, were excluded ; or, if .there was no ostensible reason (let us suppose), upon what peculiarly enlightened principle the Irish papers, which have been taken in. so long, which were so generally read by even members of the enlightened committee itself, were singled out so prominently from all the | ortjßr periodicals, papers, &c, and placed on th*e index expurgatoris. I look upon the transaction after all as a petty and paltry one—this might be my mistake to be sure—but if it is, I hope that the committee will disabuse my mind of the error, and that .it will show how enlightenment and liberality, and nothing else, brought it to do, for the first time at the Thames, what no other committee of a similar institution has done within the British Colonies. I must congratulate our Thames gentlemen for their possesgion of a solitary laurel (although I must be excused for saying that I thinks to be the fruit of a petty and paltry spirit), and for their setting an example which is without a parallel or precedent, and which, I hope, may long continue to be so. From my not wishing to come to a hasty conclusion in reference to this matter, I lately inapected the minute book, cash book, and list of subscribers' names, to see it it could be deficiency in funds that necessitated the Btrik'ng out of the Irish papers, as well as to see how many Irishmen were ■übscribers, &c» -I give verbatim extracts from the minute book : —

• 15 Oct., 1877.—Weekly Freeman be struck Off} arid Weekly London Times, New York Herald, Queenslander, Adelaide Paper, Tasnuraian Mail, Graphic, Atlantic Monthly, and London Society be fcakea in. Carried. I may add that the. price of the Weekly Freeman is.three halfpence. Then it is .not want of funds that caused the threehalfpenny paper to be struck off, and about one hundred times its cost added on. Again— Bth:April, 1878.—Proposed by T. L. Mur--1 ray, seconded by J. Reid, the.t the Nation (price 2d) be struck off. Carried.—Proposed by J.'Di Wickham, seconded by T. L. Murray, that the , Nineteenth Centvry be taken in. Carried.

Here again it cannot be said that it was

the want of funds that caused the Nation, a twopenny paper, to'Wstruck off, nn\ a periodical, about fifteen times its price, to be taken in. Extract from cash-b >ok : 30th March, 1878, interest .aid to —-,£1 3j 9dj 29th September, 1877, interest paid to -r—,£2 7s. \ Under the circumstances which have compelled me to write this letter, it would b<> only fair to give the name instead of the blanks. . I prefer, however, not to do so. There are at present between 30 and 40 Irishmen subscribers but of a total of 160. The Scotchman may find his favorite paper, the Scotsman; the Englishman | his, the Times, Saturday Review, Con- , temporary Review, &c, &c:; the Yankee,' if there should be any,, the New York Herald; and sq of the rest. But the , .Irishmen, even although there are between 30 and 40 of them, must' not,get a solitary paper from their native land. They must read what will be good for them—rin the Committee's «pinion, I suppose—papers (the English, ones at least) that are ever silent when anything might be said favorable to Ireland, but are ever active to disseminate in large, type and capitals whatever may tend to her disjgrace and dishonor; and yet did any Irishman object to them ? . No! I feel I have wasted too much tims and words upon this petty and paltry transaction of the Committee. Although a constant subscriber since I came to the Thames, I do not think it right for the .members of Committee, in selecting a paper or papers; or striking off others, to disregard the wishes of subscribers and consult only their own ; and, on looking through the minutes of proqeedings, generally speakf ing I found this to be'correct; and I, for one, enter my firm protest against it.. No one can tell better than the Librarian whether a paper is generally read or not} and if he says. that ; the Irish papers. were not generally read, far more generally, read than the Tasmanian Mail, Adelaide paper,.or many others, lam quite willing to have no more to say upon the exclusion of the Irish papers, although costing only) 3|d, from the Institute. Regretting thisj' trespass on your valuable space, I am, &c, • » An Ibißhman. . , .- 1 P.S.—ln justice to the Librarian, and; (o prevent mistakes, it is only fair to state! that he is in no way- connected, as far aa I know, with this petty and paltry act, of •the Committee. ;J: r '■■'■ ■■'■. . ; ;