USE OF LEISURE HOURS.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 April 1933, Page 6

USE OF LEISURE HOURS.

Administrative officers, social workers, ministers of religion . and educational authorities are in agreement that good use of: leisure hours is an important function of citizenship. It is one that will only in rare cases develop without training, and it is satisfactory to note that this is being recognised by educational authorities, and those who cater for’the, entertainment of the public. The need for . wise use of leisure hours is the greater when so many people have had those hours increased against their will, and still more when the times forbid the normal procedure of boys and girls from the discipline and training of school to the sterner duties of earning a living. That efforts to teach the right way of utilising leisure. hours have not been in vain may be seen from time to time. Testimony in that direction was to be found in the annual report of the New Plymouth Public Library and Museum made public yesterday. The figures in regard to the class of literature sought by subscribers showed a substantial increase in the demand far the more serious and instructive books, and a diminution in that for fiction during last year. On further analysis the figures are still more encouraging. Issues of books upon religion increased by nearly 33 1-3 per cent., upon sociology by nearly 50 per cent., and upon history by nearly 25 per cent., compared with the previous year. Increased attention to books of that nature is an indication that the problems from which the world is suffering are being studied from many angles and by many people who are trying to find the solution of evils of which they too are feeling the ill effects. It is proof also that enforced leisure is not always idled away, and is, above all, full justification for the cost to any district of maintaining public libraries.