SECOND EDITION Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1874.] FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 1894. THE MASTERTON PUBLIC LIBRARY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4802, 17 August 1894, Page 2

SECOND EDITION Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1874.] FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 1894. THE MASTERTON PUBLIC LIBRARY.

A loss which everyone deplores compels the Borough Council to , make some rearrangement with respectto the Public Library aud Reading Room, Tlie opportunity should not be lost of again calling the attention of tho city fathers to the incapable maimer in which they,have been wont to administer this important trust. They have at their disposala considerable income, approximating to nearly £250 per annum and yet they so expend it that not one-tenth of their revenue is available for the purchase of books and periodicals. Tho Reading Room and tho Library arc starved, while on such an item as gas there appears to be an abnormal expenditure, out of all proportion to the income of tho Library. It ought to be, so managed that a third of the revenue should be available for the purchase of books and periodicals, and even with indifferent management a fifth of the revenue should be devoted to this primary object. To make books and periodicals the smallest item in the expenditure sheet of such an institution is' simply an absurdity. As a matter of fact tho Borough Councillors take little interest in'the institute, and are. seldom seen cither in the Library or Reading Room, This is the case not only inMasterton but in many other boroughs throughout the Colony. But in other centres'of 1 population they meet the difficulty by appointing a committeo of r&idents possessing some literary imputation to take charge of th/local library, This is exactly /W bnY is wanted in Masterton, 11/ M. Borough Council, for exunttfh/invited some prominent the local Homo Reading -%fM to act as a Library Commit; w the Mayor or somo vepresentativc of f*W§o\m\\ acting as ex-officio/ypairman of Committee, soon bo an improvempar in the condition of the and the reading room, Finn a literary point of view these jfooins are a disgrace ,'to th'o'.Jaw'iiJ'and wo sliould like to 'm them matlo a credit to Masterton, A perusal of the balance shows plainly why tho literary /ontents of these rooins aro so :■ poyforty stricken. Merely the dregs, tho misorablo residues' of thereyenueai'o expended on book«and periodicals, With a 'revenue of £250 per annuiij Masterton ought tohayo a flrst-oj/isY library and it is an injustice to tlje ratepayers jo .tax,,,them;for.,the wretched rubbish which now covers : tho shelves and tables, . : ■.'., ]