LAWRENCE ATHENAEUM AND MINING INSTITUTE.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1672, 8 March 1890, Page 3

LAWRENCE ATHENAEUM AND MINING INSTITUTE.

The annual meeting of subscribers of the above-named institution was held in the Town Hall on Thursday evening. There was a very fair attendance, about thirty subscribers being present. Mr Stenhouse (President of the out-going Committee) occupied the chair. I The minutes of the previous meeting were ! read and confirmed. I ANNUAL REPORT AND BALANCE-SHEET. The Secretary read the annual report as follows:— Your Committee beg to submit the annual report and balance-sheet for your Approval. The roll of members for this year shows— Yearly, 97; half-yearly, 21; youths, 14-total, 132. The I roll for last year showed 126 members. j ! The number of books issued during the year was j as follows :— Arts and science, 16 ; biography, 121 ; fiction, 4,723 ; history, 91 ; miscellaneous and educational, 168; poetry, 43; travels and descriptive I works, 140— total, 5,802. The list for last year showed 5,312. ' The number of volumes in the library this year is 4,188, and last year it was 4,186. An order for a large supply of books was sent to Edinburgh in November last. j The number of visitors who signed the visitors' book for the year was 75. There is nothing special to say about the museum. A specimen of cinnabar, from Waipori, was sent to I the Exhibition at Dunedin. The balance-sheet shows a debit balance of £76 3s 3d. The total receipts for the year equalled £316 10b, whilst the expenditure was £265 17s 6d. There are also outstanding liabilities— estimated amount, £118 2s 6d. There is due to the institution £378 10s 3d — viz., amount deposited in bank, £300; rents, £74 4s; subscriptions, £3 14s 6d; cash in hand, Edinburgh agents, lls 9d— total, £378 10s 3d. The amount overdrawn from bank is £76 3s 3d. There were twelve regular meetings of the Committee held during the year the attendance at which was as follows :— Stenhouse, 12 ; Copland, 12 ; M'Kinlay, 9; Harrop, 4; Johnston, 12; Byrne, 9; Tyndall, 10; Chalmers, 11; Selby, 10. , During the year the committee and subscribers sustained a loss in the death of Mr Jonas Harrop, who has been connected with the institution for over fifteen years. The Committee have to express deep regret at the loss of his valuable assistance. The position, of the institution to date shows a debit balance of £42 8s Bd. Last year there was a debit balance of £126 15s 9d. The accompanying balance-sheet - showed that the receipts from all sources during the past year amounted to £316 105, of which the subscriptions produced £63 7s 6d, and the rent of sections and reserves t'234 Ids. The expenditure, inclnding a debit balance of £126 15s 9d, amounted to t'392 13s 3d. The assets were set down at £378 10s 3d, and the liabilities at £118 2s 6d, leaving a credit balance of £260759 d. On the motion of Mr Finlayson, seconded by Mr Nicoll, the report and balance-sheet were received and adopted. ELECTION OF PRESIDENT. Mr Copland moved and Mr Johnston seconded : " That Mr Stenhouse be elected President for the current year."— Carried. Mr Stenhouse, in accepting the office, said that he would have preferred if some other gentleman had been appointed, one who had served either on the retiring or one of the previous committees. However, as the subscribers were agreeable to his re-election, he would bow to their decision, merely remarking that he would do all in his power to further the best interests of the institution. COMMITTEEMEN AND AUDITORS. There being only nine candidates nominated, the following were declared duly elected as committeemen for the current year :— Rev. Mr Jolly, Messrs M'Kinlay, Copland, Chalmers (W.), Tyndall, Byrne, Finlayson, Johnston, and Phillipps. Mr Copland moved and Mr Finlayson seconded: "That Messrs John Thompson and. B. M. Wakefield be re-appointed auditors."—Carried. COMPLIMENTARY. Mr Thompson moved a vote of thanks to Mr Stenhouse (President) and the members of the retiring Committee.

Mr Byrne, as a member of the retiring committee, said it gave him great pleasure to bear testimony to the fair and impartial manner in which Mr Stenhouse discharged the onerous duties of President. The motion was put and declared carried unanimously. I APPOINTMENT OF A LIFE MEMBER. The President said there was a matter which he would briu-j before the meetiup in thn hope that it would he favourably entertuiued. They all knew that Mr J. 0. Brown had done a great deal for the Athenaeum, having got for it the Dales Flat reserve and several sections in the town of Lawrence, from which goodly rentals wore now being drawn. He moved : " That Mr J. C. Brown be appointed a life member of the Lawrence Athenaeum and Mining Institute." Mr Copland seconded the motion, which was carried without dissent. Mr Byrne proposed Mr Copland as a life member. That gentleman had for many years been a member of the Athenaeum Committee, had always been known to take a deep interest in the institution, and was always most assiduous in promoting its interests. Of course he had never been the means of providing opulent endowments for the Athenaeum, but he had, nevertheless, done his part in assisting it to its present state of usefulness and efficiency; and no doubt had the people been discriminating enough to make him a legislator the endowments and the reserves would not have been overlooked. At all events,he had rendered good service to the institution, and he (Mr Byrne) thought it would be a graceful act on the part of the subscribers to unanimously confer the dignity in question on him now. Mr W. Eckhold seconded the motion. Mr Thompson said he entirely disapproved of Mr Byrne's motion. It was intended to make a farce of Mr Brown's appointment. It was a nasty slur on— — Mr Byrne : You're mistaken, sir. Mr Thompson : Pardon me, I've got possession of the chair. Mr Byrne : But you've got no right to throw out insinuations. Mr Thompson : Take your seat, sir. Mr Byrne : Mr Copland is in every respect as worthy of appointment as a life member as Mr J. C. Brown. Mr Thompson: He is not ! You only want to insult Mr Brown. For several minutes, a very stiff, wordy fight between Mr Byrne and Mr Thompson ensued, the exchanges on either side being regarded as " straight out from the shoulder." After the combatants had cooled down a little, The Chairman put the motion, and as the number of votes recorded for and against were equal, he gave his casting vote against Mr Copland's appointment, declaring the motion negatived. The meeting thereafter closed with the usual vote to the chair. A sale of magazines, etc., conducted by Mr Thompson, took place at the close of the meeting. Although a good deal of warmth was imparted into the proceedings, the bidding was not particularly brisk.