THE ATHENÆUM.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 543, 17 August 1869, Page 2

THE ATHENÆUM.

{To the Editor of the Westport Times.) Sie, —It will be within the recollection of most of your readers, that in July of last year, a meeting was held and subscriptions collected for the purpose of forming an Athenaeum in Westport. A Committee of Mauagementwas then elected, and I think the public are entitled to enquire why its members should have allowed their term of office to expire without their rendering any account of the manner in which they have discharged their duties, or what results they have to show for the expenditure of a Government subsidy and private subscriptions. I am aware that a building of very modest exterior bos been erected, in which there is one room furnished as a library with a maximum of shelving and a minimum of books, and another where any subscriber (or indeed any non-subscriber), not totally indifferent to bodily discomfort, may enjoy the perusal of a few New Zealand papers and ancient magazines ; but there are other matters on which information is not so easily obtainable. What has become of the course of lectures so ably inaugurated a few months ago ? Arc their any funds still in the hands of the Committee ? Have they applied for any portion of the money placed on the estimates last session for public libraries on the coast ? Have any steps been taken towards obtaining a supply of books and magazines from England ? And lastly, can each member of the Committee declare that he has devoted that time and energy to the management of the institution which those who elected him were entitled to expect ? If you can obtain a reply to those queries, and to a i'o\r others which will easily suggest themselves, you will oblige several subscribers, and your obedient servant,