Wellington Athenaeum. THE ANNUAL MEETING.

Evening Post, Volume XXIX, Issue 108, 30 May 1885, Page 2

Wellington Athenaeum. THE ANNUAL MEETING.

The annual meeting of the membora of tin Athenmnm was held last evening, tbc ohiir being oooupied by Mr. G. Allon, Preaidut, The attendance was largo, upwards of 100 persons being present. Mr. T. King, the Hon. Secretary, retdtl* report, whioh was published in the Evinifo Post of yesterday. The President, in Breaking: to the report, characterised it as being fairly gatisfaotorjr. The institution had been struggling for » number of years under an inoubns of a debt whioh they had been unable to reduce, «nd consequently the oommittee were comptUtd to work on from hand to month. The oclj way he oonld see out of the difficulty wm to increase the number of their snbtoriben. The institution was worked man eoonomiul manner, but there were cxpenssi in the matter of painting the builtfi'ig, Ac, which it was imperative should be inonrred. 11l regretted to say that the oommittM h»d been able to expend only from JC7S to £100 in books during the year, -whilst they would like to have expended at least ,£2OO in this direction, and if they had beta in i position to do so they wonld, he hollered, have had a large increase in the tumber of their subscribers. During the ensuing j«r they hoped to be able to lot the lurge bill more frequently, and theroby obtain »n inoreased revenue. The hall had boon found to be too small for the requirement! of entertainments, but this was the fault of 111 limited area of the ground, whioh wonld not admit of the building of a larger room. Tt« Chairman referred to the loss the institution had sustained through the resignation of ttj late librarian, Mr. Hamilton. Thorewero« life members, who it should be borne in mud did not contribute to the annual revenns of the institution. Tho number of membw was fluctuating. Taking all things intooonsideration, howeTor, Le regarded tns poeta* of the Athenoanm as baing satisfactory. . Mr. T. K. Maodonald (lion. troaiuKi),» moving the adoption of ths report mo balance-sheet, remarked that the institution wa* moving along in the even ttnor of ill way, and there was little either to rejoio* « or to be sorrowful for. The oommittM ft» the want of funds, and so long ai they *"* labouring under their present hoavj bnrdu of debt, bo long would the Athemcnmfwl" exercise that degree of usefulness which i»» an institution should exeroise. He was gW that thoy had beneath their roof anch <m institution as the Young Mon's Chniti»» Association, whioh oarried ont fnnebonj which more properly bolonged to thi Atn* nmurn. A very large amount of theirrovonni went to pay the interest on thoir nwrt«*Fi and consequently the committee had WJ little money to expend on book*, n"** 11 ?,^ newspapers, Ao. It was oontemptiblatt»| an institution whoso revenue was*! 0 * 1 * year oonld only spend something ««* £150 a year on books, Ac, or lew W one-tenth of its income. For T»™ past he had advocated that, the AW* nroum should be converted into a iwj library and reading-room. Their land w<> building, ropreßonting a capital of* 1 *;""' really belonged to the citiaensof WeUipgW. as the land had been granted to the «tw*» in the eariy days. The property now, »» ever, belonged by an Act of incorporation » the subscribers, and should the nufflMr dwindle down to ten subscribers, tn« p»j perty would belong to those ten, „25?' «fl over and over again aiked the City Conncu to take over the property and oonjeri into a free publio library, but without »wj Whilst the property was valued at JSHg* the amount of the mortgage was only &<*' and the rent of the shops and hal w tt« floient to pay off tho interest on the mwj gage. It was a disgrace to WelbwWjS they did not possets a free library ana "¦£ ing room. There wero many men » '% name who had made thoir money nt« oould easily give a cheque for t *'',L 1 t amount of the debt, and ho felt assured ii» the oitieens wotad willingly oontnW » » other half. He wonld never rest <»S until the Athenamm and the land upon*" 0 " it stood belonged to the citizens. Mr. H. Bodley seconded the motion, v^ in doing so remarked that ho did »ot wifj tho debt as being very serious. He jfS,,u. see, however, that the oommittee wew w Bed in fixing the land as an asset to the^ of £150 per foot. He thought the owwuj, expended too muoh money to trfte '£ to the * xolusion of works of reforcnoe Mr. D. T. Stuart pointed out tt« aotion of the oommittee so far m »? '* ohase of books was concerned w« ¦ c rf Eotibod, owing to want of funds. Wiw ™ , to novels, he considered that PMP" aI ,, W hard day's work preferred good novoi works of referenoo. . . r , -nnilt} Mr. T. K. Macdonald assured Mr. that if the Athenroum were burnt o°w land wonld readily realise £150 If **Lii The motion for the adoption of tw n-i~ and balanoe-sheet was put and carriea , The election of officers for the enBW«» % resulted as follows :-^ 8l ?? n Jk jro»i* Johneon, M.LC; Vioe-PreiidenM, *¦ , «. Allen, J. B. George, and H. *• fa Hon. Seoretary, Mr. T. Kinßi "^ittcj, surer, Mr. T. K. Maodonald ig d j Messrs. Q. Didabury, C. F. JgJJV. «¦ M. Eiohardson, L. H. B. W™ Wilaon, G. B. Davy, and H. WW* The meeting then adjourned.