The Centenary Celebrations

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21813, 19 June 1936, Page 10

The Centenary Celebrations

We print this morning an outline by the Minister for Internal Affairs, the Hon. W. E. Parry, of the Government’s plans for the New Zealand centenary celebrations in 1940. There is nothing in the plans to which exception can be taken and much that can be warmly commanded. Very wisely, the Government has rejected the suggestion of a Wellington committee that it should assist, the projected Wellington exhibition to the extent of £IOO,OOO, £50,000 of which was to be a grant. Instead, it has offered to lend up to £25,000 free of interest and to subsidise the share capital of the exhibition company up to a limit of £50,000. A further £175,000 is to be provided to cover the cost of celebrations held by the Government itself and to subsidise on a basis of £3 for £1 moneys raised locally for celebrations or memorials. It is gratifying to find, however, that the Government is determined to mark the occasion by something, less ephemeral than mere celebrations and festivities. It will also put in hand the preparation of a series of historical surveys of the first 100 years of New Zealand’s national life. The written history of New Zealand—political, social, and economic—is lamentably inadequate, even for such a small community; and the assembling of a team of historic ns with adequate finances at their back is an opportunity to cover the ground with a minimum of overlapping and waste of effort. Further than this, the Government proposes to erect a national memorial, the form of which has still to be determined. No doubt it will be deluged with suggestions; but there is one memorial which seems far more appropriate to the occasion than any other and has the additional merit of filling a long-felt want. It is the establishment of a national library. It is a standing reproach to New Zealanders that, despite their isolation from the great N centres of culture, they have a singularly poor library system and no national library which is worth the name. The General Assembly Library has become a mere adjunct to Parliament; it is closed to the public while Parliament is in session; it is housed in a building which is too small and cannot conveniently be enlarged; and it is under-staffed and badly catalogued. The present Government is ontemplating the establishment of a co-ordinated librrry system for the whole country; and the first essential of such a system is the creation of a central library which can act as the administrative centre of the whole scheme and which will be able to supply any library with any book.