The Wairarapa Daily. FRIDAY, JUNE 16, 1882. GRANTS TO LIBRARIES.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 4, Issue 1101, 16 June 1882, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. FRIDAY, JUNE 16, 1882. GRANTS TO LIBRARIES.

The House of. Representatives, in recommending the Government to place £6,000 on the estimates as a grant to libraries, was very solicitous that the money should be" expended to tha best..advantage on books. We believe that if the Government' were,through the library staff connectedwith the Parliamentary buildings, and with the assistance of the AgejntGeneral, to purchase £6,000 worth' of. new books in England, and then on arrival in. New Zealand distribute them on some fair pro rata principle among the various institutions which are supposed to be benefited, the object of ; members would be gained. Such a system, judiciously carried out, would enable country libraries such as tho oner established at' Masterfcon,. .Carterton, Greytown and Featherston, to get a greater number:, and a better selection of new works than if each one spent on direct purchases the fifty or sixty pounds which might fall to its share. It would; in fact, enable small libraries which now . purchase ' ill-bound works at high- prices to procure well-coVered volumes at low rates.' The purchasing power of £6,000 distributed among the libraries of the colony 'in money

would probably .not represent ,£4,000 worth of ■books, and :du t of .this amount tliere will be a lafge\percentage of the moneyi |cpencled ' ru|bish #hose ;tdndency. canpXjt of.theftiaagihationibe deemed \,W> be: educational. It would'not M an 0 impossible task for the librarian to prepare a suitable catalogue of works to be ordered, and •to Specify ' the character of the .biddings;; or if he objected to the responsibility: of such an undertaking, one or two of the leading managers of public libraries in the.colony could do all that was necessary. After the books arrived in the colony, catalogues of them, could be supplied to libraries entitled to receive them, and the work of distribution could be commenced. If it is contemplated to make the grant an" annual one a permanent depot of| library volumes might be established in the government buildings which Could be fed by monthly shipments from England, and from which Libraries could draw their supplies all tlio year round, If six thousand pounds per annum is to bo expended on tlie purchase of new volumes' out of the pubiic revenuc it is very desirable that some tro able should be taken to make the grant ns effective as possible; We know- that in the past similar votes have been grossly abused. Bogus Libraries have been started at a moment's notice to obtain a slice of the money whichnolens miens hadto.be .dispersed, .'and'the ;geu'eral result was anything but satisfactory. If the Government only enabled public Libraries to obtain standard works at a low price they would do more good than they can effect by an indiscriminate subsidy.. •

A farm, of about' 230 acres of welldrained swamp land afcCarlerton is adver.tised for sale in another column. ...~

Mr S. S.'Stone, bootmaker of Willia-st Wellington, has an announcement on our front page, to which our reader's attention is directed.

' The usual meeting of the Masterton Juvenile Foresters was hold last evening .■under the superintendance of Mr Blinkborne, tlio Presrijeii!. The following officers were then elected :—C.R,,A. Baillie ; 5.0.8., A. Gardner,! ,S.W.', A. Blinkhorne ; J. W., G. Wickonden ; 5.8., T, Blinkhorne; J 8., A. Pickering; Secretary, F. Gardner.

Dr Lemon arrived in Carterton by tho 11,30 train of Thursday, and at once proceeded with Mr Pickett, tile local postmaster anil telegraphist, to the new post oflioe where the. telegraphic and telephonic communication were completed and adjusted, and this morning (Friday) the business of tlio department, much to the delight of the public, was opened in tl.ie new-premises, which, though not on a large scale, will-offer ample accommodation for many years to come, while giving-, the: postmaster who may for the time: being'bo-in charge in the district far better private quarters than was the case before the additions alterations were affected; * ''■ """

' The ni.eotiiig.;for-the consideration of the formation -of a chess club in Carterton has been adjo.urneff;'till next wq'ek as ; ' owing to.ljhe .only Babili I :fof ifling »■, d6lEta£|Ug' jfd'V] bfen: tion clas£:|ili 'iiJso'ile'.'fdanSid.etei 'at ..tlie' same tiipe ( VW, all;■interested 'in either question are 'requested to'meet at Mr Beckett's office on Wednesday evening next at ,7.30. Should the matters bo carried out'the meetings will, it is proposed, bo held in the back room of the' Institute, ' ■.'

Messrs Lowes and lorns announce for tomorrow a salo of a consignment of Nelson- grown fruit trees, shrubs and .ornameti'tal trees,'

Mr Leahy's creditors have decided that it is not worth buying out the landlord's claim of £lO. 011 the stock-in-trade and furniture. All accounts owing in the es'late are, requested io be paid within fourteen days to Mr W. P. Fellingham, . The Maslerton Debating Sooiety meets' this ovening. Next woek it intends holding its gathering the upper room of the Institute.

Our popular illustrated supplement will be published as'usual with our issue, of to-morrow, " '

The Maslerton Amateur Dramatic .Club repeat this evening-their excellent representation of Mr and: Mrs AVhite, and the Waterman. • ...

The finance Committee of the, Wairarap.a Bast County meets to-morrow. A special: meeting of, the Maslerton School Committee .was held last, evening re gravelling the school playground. Present—Messrs Boddington, Caselberg, Hog?, Feist, and; Heron, It was decided that : a.circular should be sent out inviting the co-operation of parents in doing the necessary work,

"I hear,'! writoC tlii|' correspondent of the Otago Daily -Times,' " that Mr Johnston is quietly collecting a large amount of independent information as, to the .requirements, capabilities, and resources of the various parts of the colony, which will be very useful in enabling him to appraise the value of somewhat conflicting testimony which is being perpetually .forced upon him by repeated deputations each eager to champion its oftii ; locality., There seems, little doubt that the Otago Central, Ohristchurch Northern extension •past Hurumii to Waiau, Uapier-Wood-ville through the Manawatu Gorge to Pal.merston, and Auckland-Awamutu to Waitara, will be among the lines specified in the Loah Bill schedule; but it is in regard to the other proposed works that ■the doubt. comes "in;- and there will be great difficulty to .even, approximately satisfy all the claimants. .Probably a ten _ million loan would leave many, localities discontented." (It will be seen' from the above that the continuation of the West Coast railway is 'to boon the' schedule, and tho continuation ,of the Wellington and Masterton line out of it.) . ,Tlie Baeuos;Ayres Standard commenting' upon the admiring notices in the English Press; of a large' sale ,of station property in Australia has the following bit of" blow"."-'£28,000 a year I 135,000, sheep 1 14,600 cows! 800,000 acres of' land I Why we have 'dozens of subscribers —amongst them,; Duggan, 'Cnzue, Fair, Drysdale, Casey,fHam, Gahan. saynbiy Anchorena, Jackson,-. Opstendorp, Carril,Luro, &C &o.,—who can beat'the above hollow and liollower. 'The idea of boasting of 135,000 sheep, or' 14,000 cows I Why some of the 'abive.named gentlemen have -from 30,000 to 60,000 cows on a single one of '.many instances, with a quarter'of a million of sheep into- the bar: gain. As for the figure 350. horaea, ,it ; is' simply KivCf, Plate cbnterflpt. fDon't |migra{e b the river Plate' j' ]Jo I, stop .or emigrate to Australia, where, they th\nk so much of-105,000 sheep. ..Ba-a-fi-aL- .. - Evefybody. naturally wonders how,o' . Smith' from Devonshire makes coming to' Jiastehon pay.', He explains it this Wy: being a direct importer he can sell aa' cheap as most "storekeepers can buy. He\.alto;buys -and Bells for cash,' ■always haying the' ' ready money' to piot up oheap lines,—[Advt,] '

Tlio Masterton Rifle Volunteers parade this evening « ■

Mr Oroaaev now in Masteries > bo de« ' The San Pranoxwo.mSii^dlb^ea..' at the Masterton Post Office to-mWrow at 1.-30 p.m. -."'T' •

Messrs Lowes.& iMM'-hawrbron'-in? struoted .by. the .Trustee iii. the estate of J". W. Leahy, bankrupt, to sell the whole of his Btook-iu-tradej &Oi - ; Messrs Chinohen nnd Dalrytuple have we understand, received up to date the call of 27s Gd, made on the: members of the Union Club from one half of their number. The; are, we understand, reoommended by their legal adviser to sue for the unpaid contributions. The overwrought legislators in Wellington are to have a cheap trip in the Hinemoa as far as the Chrislchurch Exhibition.

Mr Hutchison has given notice of motion for a vote of one thousand pounds ,in aid of night school sewing clncses, &o The sum would be so small in proportion to the objects to be gained that it would be praotically useless. A thousand pounds spread ever the length and breadth of the colony is simply lost. _"•••;■

We understand! that• tlie Wairarapa. Coursing . obtaining at least twenty.entriea for the match which has boen arranged for Tuesday, the 27th iust. Anumber of dogs have.been entered.by Wellington owners,* who'appear to takeft great interest in the projected gathering. Nominations close'to-morrow evening.- ,

The Hon. Mr Wilson a&id ori' a recent occasion. ! iii-'-" the V Legislative Councill 'was at the ' Native Land Court the other day; and what did 1 see ? The Court had been Bitting for several weeks, and during the time that the court was sitting there was more drunkenness among the Natives than would be found in any city of Europe I was shown a public-houße in which the profit on the liquor sold realised 4100 a weak, and the whole o£ tlTat money was taken . froip the Natives';) There are many public houses in -the place, arid this thing was going'on at each. Mr J. W. Lankshear, bookbinder, &c., of Wellington, is now in the Wairarapa, and is establishing agencies for his business, Mr T. E. Price being appointed agent for Masterton, Mr W.'P. Fellingham has decided, at the request of several of his customers, to re-open the shop (late Wrigley's) of,which he is the lessee, On Saturday as'a cash branch of his central warehouse.

Tho following team will represent Greytnwn in the football match on Saturday.—Dnjv Bidwill, Eohaldson, Sommerville, Palmer, MoMaster, Saywell, Maguire, Udy (onptain) C. Beard, Desmond, Cameron, Humphries, Webster, and Tocker. Emergency, T. Inijly,

A singular story is told of a man who became a beggar by falling asleep in tho. street with his hat in his hand.' On awakening he found' it contained one dollar in small eoins. Ho conoluded, that begging was a good business, and went in systematically. In six years lie; received 30,000 dollars, and with that he dropped tho business, speculated itr Western lands, and is a raillionavie. < At a meeting held in the Town Hail,j Greytown', last evening, thij,; following; were elected & cotdraitW for the • Reoreatioh' "Gwunf :—Messrs' leadership ot'% ' v 'Tdv6y a' very satis-' factory practice was held.