A WRINKLE FOR MECHANICS' INSTITUTES.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume III, Issue 128, 15 October 1875, Page 13

A WRINKLE FOR MECHANICS' INSTITUTES.

i-i. A sttccesspttl expedient on the part of the committee of the Ararat Mechanics' Institute to increase the funds is thus noticed by the ' Pleasant Creek News ':— " Some of the heterodox— of whom, strand to say, a majority of literary institute supporters may always be found to bo composed— conceived the idea of moving in the matter of obtaining the perniisoion to visit the library on Sunday afternoons When the matter was first discussed it was noticed that several enthusiastic supporters of the obligations of the Puritan Sabbath paid their pounds to bo allowed to vote. Seizing on this idea, the matter was promptly postponed for a time, and in anticipation of the next struggle, a vast number of churchgoers, who had previously been unacquainted with tlie interior of the building, subscribed, and received power to \ote. A similar effort was made on the other side and the ebbate was resumed. This was on Friday the 9th instant. The matter might havo been settled then if pushed to a division, but this would have been lilling the golden-egged goose. Consequent on the suggestion of one of the debaters, the matter was postponed for one week, and it was discreetly intimated through the Press that the innovators had a large majority. During the casumg seven days the clerical drum bent to arms. Churchmen and Dissenters, Calvinists and Armimans, "Baptists and Predo-baptuts, rallied their forces and brought an overwhelming, 1 number of adherents to the vote and a corresponding amount of cash to the Institute's exehequor. Last Friday the subscribers met again, and then one would have thought all was over. B,t he who did this would have little conception of the shrewdness of our Ararat neighbours. After a stormy evening the debate was a third time adjourned for a week, and will one© more be resumed next Friday. This time, however, the Press state nent i 3i 3 that tlie othodox have the best of it. During the present week therefore, the heterodox will make a special effort. All shades of free-thought, from half-fledged Unitarian to the awaiters of the magnetic wave, vtUI be egged on to hand in their names— and pounds bimilar work goes on on ths other side, and if the good fight be continued only a few more weeks, all Ararat will subscribe, and the years receipts be sufficient; to cover all the required expenditure Meanwhile the energetic secretary, with a knowing look, enrols the sectaries and banks their cash, while the committee men, like a coterie of literary lommy Dodds, smile blandly at each other, sure of winning in the end, no matter which side of the coin comes uppermost."