COUNTRY LIBRARIES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19140, 5 October 1925, Page 10

COUNTRY LIBRARIES.

SYSTEM OF SUBSIDIES.

DETAILS OF THE SCHEME.

A scheme to assist small country communities in building up libraries and obtaining books of an instructive and useful nature has been inaugurated by the Minister for Education, Sir James Parr. This is to take the form of sudsidies to public libraries in country districts. The sum of £3OOO was recently voted by Parliament for this purpose and in the current Gazette it is stated that the distribution will take place about March 1, 1926, and that no claim will be entitled to consideration if not forwarded in due form and received by the secretary, Education Department, Wellington, on or before January 25, 1926. The conditions under which grants will be made are set out in the Gazette as under:—

A library to be entitled to a subsidy must be public in the sense of belonging to the public, and of not being under the control of an association, society or club whose membership is composed of a section of the community only; land if it is within a borough a reading room where the books may be read, and containing newspapers and periodicals, must be provided for the public free of charge; in addition, it must not be situated in a borough, town or town district the population of which exceeds 1500. The receipts for the year from subscriptions, donations and voluntary contributions must not have been less than £2, exclusive of moneys received from endowments, or from Government, or from borough or county councils, or for special building purposes, or as rent, hire or consideration for the use of any room, or building, or land belonging to the institution, in respect of none of which will subsidy be allowed. The net proceeds of concerts, lectures, or other entertainments qn behalf of the current expenses of the library will be regarded as voluntary contributions. The number of members subscribing to the library during the year must not have been fewer than eight, each of whom must have paid the subscription for at least six months. Libraries established during 1925 may make applications for a grant and each case will be considered on its merits. A subsidy will not be given to more than one library in the same town. In the distribution of the vote a nominal addition of £25 will be mnde to the amount of the income of each library derived from subscriptions, donations and rates, and the vote will be divided according to the amounts thus augmented; but no library will receivg credit for a larger income than £2s—that is, in no case will the augmented amount on which distribution is b&sed exceed £SO. The whole of the subsidy must '-e expended without delay in the purchase or loan of books for the library. It is particularlv enjoined upon the authorities in charge "of the public libraries concerned that a due proportion of the books purchased shall be books having a permanent value—that is, books of moro than merely passing interest. Application to share in the distribution must be by means of a statutory declaration by the chairman, sectary or treasurer of the institution on behalf of which it is made and mnst be accompanied by a statement of the receipts and expenditure, for the yeur ending December 31, 1925, the declaration to be made on the form provided for the purnose Copies of the form of application mav be obtained from the secretary, Education Department, Wellington.