Invercargill Athenæum.

Southland Times, Issue 19727, 30 January 1906, Page 2

Invercargill Athenæum.

ANNUAL MEETiNG, • Tho annual meeting of the Invercargill Athenaeum, hold' 'yesterday -evening, ’ was attended by between 20 and SO subscribers. The President (Hon. H. I'cldwick, M.L.C.) presided. The annual report of the Committee (which was taken as read) slated that the revenue for the year 1.905 was £1237 and the expenditure £1221, The inter' cst account showed a reduction of £C,, and subscriptions an increase of £l4, as compared/ with the same accounts of the preceding year. During the year 701 books had been added to the library classified as follows Reference 27, Biography 61, Essays, etc., 16, Trave U 58, History 14, Science 34, Fine Art 7, Theology 11, Poetry 14, Fiction 445, miscellaneous 20. Sixty worn out books were replaced, uad 99 volumes were rebound. Early in tie year the card cabinet system of cataloguing had teen brought into operation in the Novel class and had proved mi unqualified success. The system was now being extended to the remaining books of the circulating library, and classes C and U had been curded. The novels had hee.i rearranged under authors’ names in alphabetical order—a system which was welcome to many subscribers, and an assistance to the librarian. For the belter lighting of the reading and smoking rooms the committee had installed the •Block light and had the gas linings overhauled. The hope was expressoJ that the improvement-in the light would prove to be' permanent. The revenue from •s rh.iwod a decided upward tendency. The offices formerly held .by Mr Cross and Mr Hall at £66 per annum, had been let to Mess.s Fleming and Co. for 14 years at a rout of £156. During the year several rooms in the Colonial Bank Chambers had been vacant for 'greater or less periods, but all except one were now occupied. I A smail sum only was spent on repairs to buildings during the year, but !the new committee had to face the expenditure of a considerable sum both or. repairs to the exteitor of the CohjDial Chambers, und renovations tu tho ; Athenaeum building. The endowments all continued let ns formerly, but (he leases of the farms expire next Jiue. In anticipation of the re-letting of ill so the committee were having the swamp surveyed to ascertain the area of it in each farm with a view to seeing if some arrangement could not be made tor draining it. Seventeen meetings of the Committee, not counting sub-eommittets, were held during the year, at which the attendance was as follows ;—Messrs Dickinson 17, Uobiuson 16, Stout 13, Well - .) 13, Selby (Part of the year only) 12, Gilmour 12, Thomson 9, McGoun 7, FelJwick (absent ut X’urlianunt) 7, Carswell (part of year only) 3. Mr S.-lby resigned from the Committee in Hie month of October owing to ill-health, and Mr J, T. Carswell was appointed to his place. A return submitted showed that there were 608 members of the institution—--382 males and 226 4 females. The statement of receipts and expenditure showed tho principal receipts as follows : —Kents collected £B6O, subscriptions £351, wnAe palter, etc., £2O, refunds £4 4s. In addition £9B was received from the sale of a debenture. On the expenditure side tlio principal items were ; —lnterest £345, salaries £209, library account £lB7, rates and taxes £lO6, newspapers and magazines £93, cleaning £6B, furniture Account £49, insurance £3 i, gas £23, repairs £2O, advertis ng amli -printing £lB, sundries £35 ;—total, £1221. 'lhe excess of receipts over expenditure (including the debenture sold; was £lls, reducing the.debit balance at the bunk from £l6B at tho beginning of the year to £53 at its The statement of assets and liabilities showed assets amounting to £19,869, against which were liabilities amounting to £8567, leaving a surplus of assets of £11,300.

In moving the adoption of the report and balance-sheet the President said the additions to the library were sutisfac--1 lory* Subscribers would agree that the selection of hooks had been a very good one. The manner in which the books were increasing in numlJ.T would before long bring the committee face to face with Iho question of increasing the shelving. The rents' had come in very We.T unt) the other receipts were satisfactory. Thu overdraft had been reduced from £l6B to £53. which was partly du? to (he sale of a debenture. '.though the increase in the membership was small, still it was an increase. Outside the membership the (Institution had been used by 319 visitors who had signed the visitors’ hook, and a large number had used tile reading room without recording their names. That the museum was not the white elephant some believed it to be was shown by the fact that during the year 355 persons signed the visitors’ hook in t| )( . museum. These figures would he satisfactory to the subscribers. With reference to repairs, the committee recognised that the time had come when something must 1c done to improve the buildings, and he hud given notice of motion in connection with the matter. The new committee would have to take this into consideration. He thought lie could claim on behalf of the committee that the affairs of the institution had been dealt with in a very satisfactory manner. Air I’. AfcEwan seconded I lie motion for the adoption of the report and balancesheet'. Mr F. W. Wade said every member oi the institution should he very gratified on reading Die report and balance-sheet. He would like to mention a small matter in connection with the hours observed on holidays. On those days the reading room was not opened till 10 r..m. 'The ordinary opening hour was 9

a m., ami that, was the hour fixed by tlic rules. To some members the loss of the hour on holidays caused inconvenience, especially on wet holidays. Members wore entitled to that hour mid he did not see who gained by delaying the opening till 10 o'clock.—The President explained that the officers of the institution had the holidays and a relic ring officer was placed in charge. The Committee thought that from 9 n.m. to 10 p.m. was too long a day for the relieving officer. Mr Wade could however rely upon it that the matter would he brought before the now committeeIn reply to a t|uesUon by Mr McKw’nn it Was explained by the Librarian that the valuations given in the balance-sheet were those of the Covernment Valuation Department.—deferring to the leases fulling due during the year Mr McFwan Imped Hie Committee would give some consideration to the old tenants. Some of them had been tenants for 00 yea’s, and at first the valuations were too high.—The President said that in the position #hich they held the committee were hound to get the highest possible rent. Obey would, however, do nothing tyrunhical. The balance-sheet and report wee then adopted. As committeemen the following were proposed ;—Mcssss H. Feld wick, W. A. 1 ■Stout, U. .1. Cilmour, H. A. Dickinson, (.». itobinson, Dr Snow, F. W. I’lcknell. K. P. Mucgoun, T. D. Pearce, ,7. T. ' Carswell, ,Jno. Thomson, J. it. Webb’, and John Ward. I Messrs I). Cochrane and W. II Hal) were appointed scrutineers and I ■•dared the following result Stout 18, Cilmour 18,. Feldwick 17, Webb 17, Carswell lb, IJjckiuson 15, Thomson 13, Robinson 13,. Macgoup 9, Ward 8. llicknell 7, Snow 5, j’carce 1. Tlic President declared the lirst nine elected. - The President (lion. H. Feldwick). Secretary (Mr Stout), and Treasurer (K. P. Mocgoun), were re-elected. Mr Feldwick returnee/ lhanVs for the honour conferred upon him. Mr W. H. Hall moved that it be a recommendation to the Committee to undertake the renovation of the buildings inside ami out. —Mr McEwan seconded.— Mr Day thought 4 ' " —might be Jeft to the- c ; ■ ■ r ; tailed ex-

pense nad wouift be a malice for export ! advice.—On the President pointing out that a clause of the committee’b report dealt with the matter, Mr Hall withdrew his motion. Mr McEwan moved a vote, of thanks to. the Librarian and his assistant, and es«. pressed appreciation pf t ir courtesy and conscientiousness.—Sgcois d by Hr Blcknell and carried.—Mr„ Spro all briefly acknowledged the compliment. Mr Day moved a hearty v o t e of thanks to the outgoing committee. The committee had attended to the institution In a manner that edrned Approval of ajl subscribers. —Mr McKay ..seconded , and added that the mo:ting had expressed its approval in the most convincing'‘way by returning the outgoing committee to office for another term.