FINE GIFT TO DEVONPORT.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 17, 21 January 1926, Page 11

FINE GIFT TO DEVONPORT.

■ c LATE MR. W. J. NAPIER'S LIBRARY. PRESENTED BY MRS. NAPIER AND SONS. At last night's meeting of the Devonport Borough Council. Councillor W. E. L. Xapier announced that he had decided in' conjunction with his mother and brother, Mr. Eldon Xapier, to make a gift to the people of Devonport of his father's library, which, is one of the finest private libraries in the Dominion. The donors extend this gift to the borough as a memorial to the late M*. W. J. Napier, who was a prominent resident of the borough for over forty years, and did a great deal for the district in its infancy, and also ia memory of Bombardier G. H. M. Napier, of the New Zealand Artillery, who died on active service. The late Mr. W. J. Napier was one of the most widely-read men in the Dominion, and his library is the resu'.t of a collection made from all over the world during a period of over fifty years and contains many valuable works. The collection, to be known a3 the Napier Memorial Library, will be a great asset to the people of Devonport, and will be handed over as soon as suitable accommodation for its housing is available. It contains books of travel, biographies of great men, complete sets of old editions of the" world's greatest poets and dramatists, many historical works, books descriptive of every country of the world and a complete set of over fifty large volumes of the London "Times" since 1576. In all the library, which is to be handed to the- borough when suitable accommodation is available for its reception, comprises about 2000 volumes. Mr. Napier's statement was received by the council with applause, and the Mayor expressed on their behalf their whole-hearted' appreciation of the generous gift, saying that such a library would be of incalculable value to the borough of Devonport. He considered it a happy augury when public-spirited men thought so highly of the place in which they lived as to endow it with a treasiiTe so choice as a library. These books represented the life culture of a fine man in the person of the late Mr. W. J. Napier, and the spirit which actuated him in their collection was now manifested in a wider sphere by the generosity of Mrs. Napier and her sons. The Mayor urged that proper publicity should be" given to this fine gift as> a preparatory step to the success ot the new Devonport loan proposals, to be submitted to the ratepayers on February 24, in which special provision is made for a public library, an intellectual utility which at the present time Devonport "urgently requires.