AUCKLAND PROVINCIAL COUNCIL LIBRARY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIII, Issue 4664, 25 October 1876, Page 3

AUCKLAND PROVINCIAL COUNCIL LIBRARY.

Many of bur citizens hav«'l»en arixious to know what ; ib to be done with the valuable belonging to the Auckland Provincial rmd'we iegret to s»y that the Qo-V-rnmeD.t appear-disinclined to make it available to the public The libraryjis a very "valuable one—indeed, we should- not be afraid to say that it is the beet library for Its size in the «olony. The successive Speakers of the Provincial Council and the members of the Library Committees deserve great credit for the careful selection of books. •]>Jowthat the Provincial Government is.to .be done away with, it becomes an important question what is to be done- with the library. Obvieasly, it. is. the property | of the settlers-of the province of Auckland, and, in truth, no others ought to have a word to say in ite disposal; It is equally clear that it should be made available to the utmost possible extent for the public. A bill was introduced into the House of Representatives by Mr. O'Rorke for the purpose of settling the disposition of the library. This bill set forth that the library had been collected by the Provincial Council, which had spent £2500 on books, and that it was expedient it should be deposited in the custody, of trustworthy persons till it could be transferred to the governing body of the city of Auckland, under the provisions of the Public libraries Act, 1569. The trustees appointed in the bill were Sir George - Grey, tie Mayor of Auckland, Mr. J. T. Boylan. Mr. H. H. Lusk, Mr. G. M. O'Rorke, and Mr. W. Swanson. These trustees were to manage, and were to report to the Colonial Secretary. So soon as the provisions of the Public libraries Act were adopted for the city of Auckland, the trustees were to transfer to the governing body under the Act Thus the Provincial Council library would have been made the foundation for such a library as Auckland might have been proud of. The bill passed the House of Representatives, and was introduced into the Legislative Council by the Hon. Mr. Chamberlin. There, however, it was opposed by the Hon. Dr. Pollen, on the part of the Government, and the bill was consequently thrown out. We may remark that this is a curious specimen of the " local government" we are to have under the new institutions, when certain gentlemen—a considerable number of whom reside in Wellington —assume to themselves the power of dealing with property which they have no more right (in equity) to deal with than they have to say what shall be done with the Bodleian library at Oxford. This is local government with a vengeance! The report of the discussion which took place has not reached us, but we have heard that Dr. Pollen stated that he had received a letter from Mr. Justice Gillies, claiming the library for the Auckland Institute. A gift of the library may be mada to the Northern Club, we suppose. Obviously, the people of Auckland are to be allowed no voice in the matter.