THE VICTORIA LEAGUE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 12867, 24 May 1905, Page 4

THE VICTORIA LEAGUE.

In' London there exists an institution called the - Victoria League, a part of Whose object is the difalribution of .books in .various parts of the #mjpire. In a letter to the Times the president of the League states that some 8000 a books have been sent to school libraries in the Transvaal. In Canada the'. , League co-operates with the Aberdeen - Association, to which fifteen cases'. 'of books were sent last year, and letters have been received from all/ pacl^'-p* tho Dominion expressing/ the" "keenest gratfovdq for books sent. One writer said : "I think I should have gone a bit crazy this' winter if I had had nothing to read." We refer to these facts merely to draw attention to the "Books for Bushmen" scheme, which, at the suggestion of Mr James Cochranc, • we initiated several years ago. If we mUy venture < to compare. the small with the great, there is much in common between our own humble efforts and those of the Victoria League's Book Distribution Committee. Our field is limited almost to Taranaki, while the other is almost world-wide, but the methods are the same. The Victoria League appeals through the Times, jractically to the people of the Jin* pire for books, which it distributes in the back-blocks of Canada and South Africa. Our appeal is to 'the people of New Plymouth an'di neighbourhood and of- the other towns of the district. It is impossible for us to even guess at the mraaber of books attd periodicals which we have been tlie means of distributing, during the last half -dozen years ; ifc must be very many thoitsan'ds. The Victoria Lea-o-ue acknowledges' the assistance given by steamship and railway companies in carrying books free. We also have to thartk several of the carriers in Taranaki for their kind assistance in a similar 'dirpc^ion. The Victoria League finds itself unable to nearly meet all the requests for hooks. We are almost in the same position. At this time of the year csppcially, the appeals for "something to read" which reach us from the back-blocks are numerous. There are quite a large number " of people who are very land in supplying us with i books and periodicals to send on. ami we take this opportunity of again thanking them on behalf of the recipients of the reading matter. Yet we are sure that there arc many others who have their bookshelves cumbered wHh books they have read and which are ho further use to them. We should be so o-lad if they would allow us to distribute them among the bushmen's camps, on tho railway, construction wonlcs,' and among the pioneer settlers who are) removed many miles from a circulating library. We gladly undertake the; task of (despatching them. aiid [ the '.cost of , railway freight, for' wo know from the appeals ilioM reach' us how great*, a boon these books are to th*c recipients. The most useful reading matter is books : magazinrs are vpiy acceptable; and foreign illustrated papers also, but the New^Zealanid weekly papers find their way into most places ; besides they are bulky and heavy to carry, as the parcels have often to be carried, over rough bush track's.