CAMBRIDGE PUBLIC LIBRARY.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1806, 2 February 1884, Page 2

CAMBRIDGE PUBLIC LIBRARY.

The annual meeting of the members of the above library was held on Wednesday evening last in the reading room. There was a very moderate attendance, including Messrs Sargent, Hewitt, Soutter, and Thomson, members of the committee for the past year. Mr Sargent occupied the chair. The chairman, after a few remarks, read the following report and balancesheet: — The committee have much pleasure in reporting that the library still keeps up its standing in the public estimation, the income this year being slightly above that of the preceding one, which was exceptionally good owing to a number of arrears having be 311 paid up then. The amount of sub&ci lptions has been £80 3s, donations £2, and Go\ eminent subsidy £29 17s, making a total income of £112. The committee have been able to add to the library 150 new volumes, and have also put up a new case of book-shelves and a porch t-» the bcick door :it a cost of £5 7s Cd. The number of subscribers has been 240 ; the number of books in the library is now 1389, and the number of volumes issued to subset ibets in the course of the year 3250. The committee have pleasure in returning tiunks to Mew*. A. G. Hughes and Thos. Sunms for voluntary contributions of £1 each toward-, the fund*,, and al=o to Messrs Gilby and Richardson for the Star and Free Lance newspapers, and likewise to Mr Dickeuson for the Observer. The library lias »lso been regulnrjy supplied with The Waikato Times, Hawkes Bay Weekly Courier, and Bay of Plenty Time-, for some years back, and also the Gazette, Te Ai\>ha News, Manawatu Standard, and Woodville Examiner, free of aH charge, and the committee beg to thank the propi ietors for the same. It may be expected that the very favourable balancesheet submitted will procure for this institution a goodly sum out of the Government giant in aid of libraries, a claim for which lias been sent in, thus enabling the incoming committee to purchase additional books for the library, there baing also a substantial balance in hand of £1!) 3s lOd. The land and building having been given over by Government to the town board, in trust, for library purpo-.es, th.it body have under their consideration the impiovement of the building, and if this is don-j, the committee .see no difficulty in paying interest and sinking fund on the sum proposed to be expended, if the members of the corporation give their consent. R. W. Saroent. Acting Chairman. Cambridge, 30th Jan., 1884. Bamxck-Shkix— Receipts : To balance in hand for year 1382, €13 11s Gd ; balance m treasmer'h hands, £7 10s Id =£2l Is lOd ; amount of subset iptions received, £80 3s ; donation fiom Mr A. G. Hughes, £1 ; donation from Mr Thomas Simms, £1 ; Government subsidy for 1882, £29 17s. Total, £133 Is lOd. EKPKN'Diruiir.. — By books, periodicals, &c, purchased, £48 10» ; insurance, £110s ; new bookshelves and porch to back door, £5 77 s * Od ; icpairs to building, 17s Gd ; firing and light, £13 2s ; cleaning, £9 16s ; stationary and sundries, £1 3s ; repairing books, 10^ ; advertising, £1 19s ; carriage of books, £1 3s ; paid librarian, £30 ; balance in hand, £19 3s ; total £133 Is lOd. John Dons, Treasurer. The above statement has been audited, vouchers compared, and found correct. Jas. P. Thomson ) A ... Wai/Teh Scorr f Audlton ' On the motion of Capt. Soutter, seconded by Mr Thomsom, the report and balancesheet were adopted. Speaking of the contemplated improvements to thf building, the chairman said, 1 egarding the payment of the interest and sinking fund of the loan, he saw no difficulty in meeting that. They had about £20 clear for the year after paving all expenses, and this amount, he believed, would cover the increased annual liability. Of course, this left nothing for books, but then he believed they would have no difficulty in raiding a sufficiently laige sum by having a good concert, or by private donation, for this purpose. He sincerely trusted the town board would be successful in raising the loan for the purpose contemplated. The Corporytiox.— On the motion of Mr Thomson, Messrs C. E. Smith, Bond, Bright and Hyatt were elected members of the library corporation. A unanimous vote of thanks was accorded the librarian, Mr Dods, for the very creditable manner in which the affairs of the library had been conducted during the past year. Committee.— The following gentlemen were unanimously elected a committee for the ensuing year :— Messrs Hewitt, Soutter, Sargent, C. E. Smith, and Thomson. Auditors. — Messrs Richardson and Bright were elected auditors.

At a subsequent meeting of the committee, Mr Sargent was elected chairman.

Even-Haxdjed Justice.— The English Government has suspended Lord Rossmore from the Commission of the Peace in the Country of Monaghan. Lord Rossmore is a young nobleman of strong Tory opinions, and the Grand Master of the Orange Lodges. He has placed himself at the head of processions to meetings held in opposition to legal gatherings, and he has done all that it was in his power to do to provoke a breach of peace. This may be very chivalrous, but it is not politic. The Government have put down the Nationalist meetings in Ulster, and they would have dealt out a most unequal kind of justice if if they had not signified in a practical shape their disapproval of the tactics of Lord Rossmore. A jockey was recently converted in Auckland, and has given \ip pigskin for a lieutenancy in a detachment of the Salvation Army. By his own confession he must have been a real " bad 'un," and his many "crooked" acts should have disqualified him. My informant (says " Spectator" in the Wanganui Yoeman), who is the non-racing man, and was present at the Salvation meeting when the jockey announced that he had, after a hard struggle, reached the winning post, says that great interest was taken in the convert, and when he commenced to tell how bad he had been, how he had pulled horses, &c, he was not permitted to tell his history, as the Hallelujah Lasses commenced singing, or some interesting turf secrets would, »tj is said, have been revealed,