TELEGRAMS. PARLIAMENTARY LIBRARY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 85, 10 April 1912, Page 3

TELEGRAMS. PARLIAMENTARY LIBRARY.

SVHAT AUCKLAND'S MAYOR ADVOCATES.

£bX TELBaSAPH— SBECIAL XO TEOS BOST.J AUCKLAND, This Day. ''A statement regarding the motion moved by him at the Libraries Conference in Wellington in respect to the Parliamentary Library, has been made to a Herald reporter by the Mayor of Auckland (Mr. C. J. Parr). The Parliamentary Library, Mr. Parr states, is provided for out of the public funds. It contains a very iine collection of books, comprising some 80,001) volumes. The annual , cost of maintenance of the library, purchase of books, "salaries, etc., amounts to quite £30,000, and on the -whole the library is- perhaps one of the most valuable in Australasia. It is only used by Parliamentarians, in. the «ession, and for seven or eight months during the reee&s it is locked up against all but some 400 privileged iesi : dents of Wellington nominated by members. They are allowed not only to ruse the library for reading purpose/,, but to take books out. In Mr. Parr's opinion every citizen should have the use of a library maintained by public funds. There should be no discriminatjon. " I therefore moved," said the 'Mayor, "in the direction of asking Parliament to make it a great national library. Students, historians, and people interested in the early history of 2few Zealand, should all be able to have access to the valuable books in the library and read them in the building. Municipal libraries cannot afford to purchase books of reference of the greatest value referring to art, science, etc., but it is necessary that the citizens of the Dominion should be able to refer to such volumes as exist in the Parliamentary Library collection. If the Legislature acts upon the motion carried hy the conference, it would abolish the recess (privileges now enjoyed by a limited .{lumber of Wellingtonians."