THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES FRIDAY, JUNE 19, 1908. THE CARNEGIE LIBRARY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14244, 19 June 1908, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES FRIDAY, JUNE 19, 1908. THE CARNEGIE LIBRARY.

It is certainly disappointing that the City, Council should already have hnd cause to complain of structural defects in tho Carnegie Library building. We should not be prepared to go the length to which tho Mayor went, on Wednesday night when he described the whole of the basement as almost useless; but it will bo generally agreed by those who have had an opportunity of inspecting the premises that the condemnation that has'been passed upon the accommodation which has been provided for the caretaker is not wholly unmerited. The architects were faced', no doubt, with the difficulty that they .were, required to draw plans for a building of substantial appearance and with a presentable- front elevation to he erected on an unsuitable site, for the choice of which, the City;, Gpimcil la

entirely responsible. The result is tlmt tlicy have, in some measure sacrificed the need for providing convenient and satisfactory accommodation in the basement to that for securing that the administrative portion of the building shall he so arranged as to conduce to the comfort of visitors and to the efficiency of control. The question of the policy that shall he adopted in relation to the maintenance, of the library was briefly discussed at. the meeting of the Council this week, hut, pending the presentation of a report on the subject hy the Library Committee —which is, as will have been observed *ith satisfaction, to include a representation of citizens who are not members of the Council,—the* matter does not at present invito consideration except, on broad lines. It is impossible, however, to overlook the fact that a suggestion, which has emanated from the city librarian, to the effect that a subscription lending department should be opened in the Carnegie Library has found a certain amount of favour in the Council. The. suggestion is one which the Council, as a body of honourable meai, should repel with indignation. Councillor Scott said what was absolutely incontrovertible on Wednesday night when he warned the Council that J if it decided to establish a subscription j issue department in the Carnegie I Library it would commit a breach of faith with the donor of the building. There can bo no member of the Council unaware of tho fact that it was a. condition of the grant by Mr Carnegie that the building erected with the funds supplied by him should ho opened and maintained as an entirely free library and reading room. The Council accepted tho gift on these conditions, and it would be a shameless and immoral act on its part if it wero now, after having obtained and expended Mr Carnegie's money, to turn round and say that it did not intend to observe tho stipulations imposed hy him. It is altogether besido the point to allege, as 'the librarian has done, that the Council of a small borough on the West Coast has acted in the manner in which it is now suggested that the City Council should act, and that the establishment of a subscription issue department may be justified on that grouud. Wo are not aware of the precise circumstances under which the Borough Council in question received the gift of a sum of money from Mr Carnegie, awl it is really immaterial what they were, for, even if the conditions v.-ero identical with those that accompanied the gift to Dunedin, it would ho a'sorry doctrine that would rely upon a breach of faith in one quarter as a precedent for a breach of faith in another. We hope that the standard of morality in the City Council is sufficiently high to justify us In believing that any suggestion that the conditions imposed by Mr Carnegie should he deliberately and meanly broken will be unceremoniously rejected as grossly immoral. If, the Council proposes to institute a subscription department in connection with the tree Library-and we agree that, if this can be profitably done, it is desirable that it should be done—it must, in order that it may honourably respect Mr Carnegie's wishes, make provision for it in some building other than, that erected at Mr Carnegie's expense. As a matter of fact, the Council has acquired a site for the purpose of utilising it for the erection of an issue department, and unless, as Councillor Walker apprehends, "there is to be ■trouble," it will he incumbent Upon it to make arrangements for the establishment of its lending branch in a separate building on this site. HOSPITAL IMPROVEMENTS. Th*: formidable schedule of suggested imporvements in the Hospital, submitted by the honorary medical staff to the Trustees at their meeting this week, comprise?, we suppose, all that is at present regarded as necessary to increase the, efficiency of the institution. We are, moreover, justified in assuming that nothing has been suggested which is not believed by the staff ; to be necessary. - Even to the mind of the layman some of the recommendations will appeal as ; perfectly sound and reasonable. The proposals for tho improvement of the out-patient department will, for instance, generally commend themselves as desirable, This department has in the past, as is notorious, escaped, to a greater or less extent the attention of the Trustees, whew energies have been directed to the improvement of tho accommodation provided ill the Hospital for the cases demanding treatment in the institution itself. But now that another modern wing has been opened, rendering the Hospital as completers any of its kind in the colonies for the reception of inpatients, it is highly desirable that steps should be taken to bring the outdoor patient department to a higher condition of efficiency. There is, as the honorary staff indicates, nothing that is more pressing in the Hospital than the necessity for providing improved facilities for the treatment of those irho present, themselves for advice in this department. Nor do the specifications of the improvements that are suggested by the staff seem to be at all extravagant. Whatever course the Trustees may see fit to adopt respecting the other recommendations by the staff, they cannot much longer pram it themselves to ignore the fact that the outpatient department is quite imperfectly adapted to meet the requirements. The staff regards the erection of a second operating and sterilising chamber, with an niwsthetising room as an adjunct, as the improvement which ranks next in order of importance, and after this it recommends the provision of a. lecturo room for nurses and students, the utilisation of a portion of the roof of the main block for the open-air treatment of tubercular cases, the enlargement of the sun room, the provision of ait improved Rontgeu-ray and electrical room, the sotting apart of separata accommodation for women students, and the provision of improved accommodation for. the honorary staff itself. It is to be feared that, even if it should be possible, as is evidently anticipated, for the Trustees to give effect to all these several recommendations by merely effecting alterations in the old central block, the cost would be so extensive as to forbid the hope that all the various suggestions of tho staff should bo entertained for some time to come. Tho financial difficulty may possibly hi; one of some seriousness. It was not without the production of a cortain amount of friction that the Trustees succeeded a, feiiy

weeks ago in obtaining from the Hospital Board an increased vole for their maintenance and other expenses ior t.lie current year, and we may be sure that the Board will scrutinise very keenly the requisitions which will lie submitted by the Trustees for the next few years. And though an excellent case might no doubt be shown iu favour of an application for funds to enable tlio Trustees to cany out most of the recommendations of the staff, it. will, in all the circumstances, be de.sirnbfe that they should confine themselves for the present to the adoption of a proposal to effect only the most urgently-pre-ssing of the improvements.