The Invercargill Athenaeum

Southland Times, Issue 11630, 12 January 1891, Page 2

The Invercargill Athenaeum

TO THE EDITOR. Sik, — I have on several occasions visited Invureargill on busin -ss. Arriving there before 11 a.m. and not leaving till after 4 o'clock, I have transacted my business, dined at an hotel, and wandered up and down the streets trying to kill time. It does not take long to know the contents of all the shop windows and even to know the faces of the regular wayfarers. After one or two visits one scarcely knows how to occupy a spare hour or two. Besides all this, how few tine promenading days Invercargill can boast of in the year. On five consecutive 8-iturdays 1 visited the town, and on every one of these it rained. In despair, on the second I sought out the Athen«eum, and bought a six months' ticket to the reading room for 6a 6d. I used it for a month during a very short porcion of one day in each week. The best of all was, the librarian almost insisted on my paying for twelve mouihs, as they were " not in the habit" of giving reading-room tickets for a less period. Now, what supports this worthy institution? Of course the honourable committee will re ply — " We live on our overdraft." Yes, I know all about that ; I wish the banker would let me do the same ! But, apart from the amount added yearly to overdraft (or debentures, or whatever you like to call it), where did the Athenaeum endowment come from ? I understand that it was so much of tne public estate of Southland or the colony set apart as a reserve. As the reserve was originally public property, therefore its reservation as an endowment must have been intended in the public interests. You and I and all of us are therefore entitled to some portion of the annual results accruing from this endowment. In some form or other the advantages of the institution belong to the public. I don't say that the public is entitled to the whole ; certainly not the overdraft. In the interests of education and of popular culture the institution should be made more accessible to the public : in the interests of your conservative little town it should at least be open to strangers and tourists. — I am, &c, S« Lumaden, Bth Jan. [Our correspondent is altogether wrong as to the facilities offered to visitors in connection with the Athenaeum. To all strangers, tourists, and temporary residents the Athenseum is open for a month free of cost, and the attendant and committee are pleased rather than otherwise to see such persons make full use of the institution. In the matter of subscription "S " is also astray. Quite possibly in the zealous prosecution of his duty the librarian of the time tried to prevail upon " S " to take an annual ticket, but as a matter of fact a subscriber can get a card of membership for almost any period he pleases, from three months to life membership. — Ed.]