DUNEDIN ATHENÆUM

Evening Star, Issue 21637, 5 February 1934, Page 1

DUNEDIN ATHENÆUM

ANNUAL REPORT The annual report of the committee of the Dunedin Athanseum and Mechanics’ Institute states: The receipts for the year were £3,378, an increase of £149 as compared with 1932. The actual expenditure was £3,290, as against £3,129 for 1932. The net result of the year’s working is that the bank overdraft has been reduced by £BB to £223. This result the committee, in view of the prevailing circumstances, considers very satisfactory,It is pleasing to note that the popularity of the institution is steadily increasing. The receipts for subscriptions show an increase of £133 over the previous year. The committee has again had to face an item of extraordinary expenditure through the high rate of exchange on all purchases of books and magazines from abroad. This year the amount so paid was £231. As a temporary measure the orders for American magazines and papers have been cut down to thfe very lowest consistent with the requirements of the reading room. The committee looks forward to the time when the removal of this burden Trtll permit' it to expend what is now practically wasted money on increased purchases of literature from overseas. Members will have noticed the alterations to the Reference Library and in the adjoining shop, and will be glad to know that these were carried out at no expense to the institution, and will provide an increased rental in the future. The committee is of the opinion that the Reference Library,though smaller, is now much more compact and convenient, and that the new; position of the librarian’s office lends itself to easier supervision and control. The net increase in the number of members for the year was 240. The accessions numbered 3,073 works (in 3,083 volumes), of which 2,565 were works of fiction, and .508 works in other departments of literature. The library now contains 41,798 works, represented by 45,852 - volumes. During the year 1,543 volumes were withdrawn from the library and offered for sale to members and others. The total number of issues of books from the library during the year was 276,477, as against 262,787 for 1932. The details of the issues are as follows :—Science, 201; fine and recreative arts. 176; useful arts, 176; social and political science, 416; philosophy and religion, 131; history and geography, 2,913; biography and correspondence, 2,2 16 ; languages and literature, 41; poetry and drama, 754; miscellaneous works (including magazines in book form), 399; fiction, 268,954. As prizes for proficiency in English and history, seventy-eight tickets of membership were presented by the committee to the pupils of the secondary and primary schools of the city and suburbs. Mr Alfred Crawford’s prize of a free membership ticket, awarded under certain prescribed conditions to a hoy attending the Dunedin Techniv-ii High School, was won this year? by, (iraham Palmer.