The Free Public Library.

Edward Shillington, Librarian.

This, the first and destined to be the greatest of the public libraries in New Zealand, was the first of the libraries in this colony which I visited on arriving from Sydney in November 1884, and therefore with a short account of its history I will commence this paper on New Zealand Libraries.

The attention of visitors to Auckland arriving by sea is at once drawn to the existence of a Free Public Library by a large printed notice-board on the weighing-office of the harbour, announcing the locality and the hours during which the library is open, by order of the Town Clerk. I will endeavour to give a brief account of the earlier history of this library, as told me by the courteous librarian, Mr. Shillington, which I think deserves to be recorded, because ere long the library is to be moved to new and handsome buildings, now in course of construc- page 2 tion, and the early struggles of the library will be forgotten when it is located in its new home and enriched by the "Grey" collection.

It appears that a Mechanics' Institute and Library was first established in Auckland in 1843, and lasted until 1880, when the ratepayers of the city determined to adopt the provisions of the Public Libraries Act, and the library of the Institute, which had known many ups and downs, was merged in the collection of works placed upon the shelves of the then created Institution. The subscription to the Mechanics' Institute had been £1 per annum, and a classified catalogue of its library was published in 1871. There was also, from the first days of the Provincial Councils in New Zealand until their abolition in 1876, a library belonging to the Council of the Province of Auckland. This contained some very valuable works, but access to them was confined to members of the council and certain other privileged persons only, for a period not exceeding three months at a time. The library was open daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and a classified catalogue of its contents was published in 1873. When the Free Public Library was created in 1880, the Provincial Council Library was amalgamated with that of the Mechanics' Institute, and formed the nucleus of the present library. It is now necessary for a moment to refer to the several Acts of the New Zealand Legislature which enabled the present library to be created. In 1869 was passed the 32 and 33 Victoria, No. 67: "An Act to promote the Establishment of Public Libraries." This Act was supplemented in 1875, by the 39 Victoria, No. 88, "The Public Libraries Powers Act," and in 1877, was passed the 41 Victoria, No. 47, "The Public Libraries Subsidies Act." In the appendix to this paper will be found the above Acts printed in extenso, from which my readers will be able to gather what provision exists in New Zealand for the creation of Public Libraries. In the year 1880, the people of Auckland determined to take advantage of these Acts, and on September the 7th, 1880, the present page 3 building was opened as a Free Public Library by the Mayor, Mr. Thomas Peacock.

At the same time, Sir George Grey, K.C.B., whose name must be for ever associated with every movement of progress made by New Zealand, promised in due time to give his own valuable library at Kawau to the Auckland Free Public Library. Those of my readers who have visited the Public Library at Capetown, and who have seen the Grey collection there, or who know of it by reputation, will easily understand what Auckland has to look forward to; for the collection to be presented to this city is in its way quite as valuable as that presented to Capetown by Sir George Grey in 1861. But before saying more at present about Sir George Grey's munificence, I must briefly describe the library founded in 1880, which is so soon to be a thing of the past.

The present building is situated at the corner of High Street and Chancery Lane, it is a wooden structure, and was formerly the entertainment hall of the old Mechanics' Institute, and about seventy people probably can find room to read in it comfortably. There is a small separate room for lady readers attached to it, and the librarian's dwelling is in the rear, but from no point of view did the building strike me as being suitable for a Library. However, it was, no doubt from the first, only intended to supply the wants of readers until funds could be found to build a more commodious structure, and the funds having at last been acquired, the building, worthy for the library which is to be, is now being erected. Despite many and grievous defects, the present library, has, thanks to the energy of Mr. Shillington, and of the Committee, who are well looked after by the Press, fought a good fight. It has also established a position of sound educational value, and created a real taste for reading and study, which no schools could ever have done, and it has effectually paved the way for the more thorough appreciation of the treasures which it is to inherit. The regulations in force when I visited the library in 1884, page 4 seemed wise, and were in good working order. It is open every day in the year except Christinas Day and Good Friday. On holidays however, it is only open from 7 to 10 in the evening, and on Sundays from 2 to 9.30 p.m. Silence is enforced, smoking prohibited, books are not allowed to be taken off the premises, and readers are requested to leave on the tables—for the attendant to replace—any books they may have taken from the shelves. Persons under 14 years of age are not admitted; a lavatory is provided, and readers are requested to use it, to prevent as far as may be the soiling of the books by dirty hands.

The library opened in 1880, with about 5,000 volumes upon its shelves, the larger and most valuable portion of which had belonged to the Provincial Council. At the end of 1883 there were 6,186 volumes in the library, 621 having been added during the year; at the end of 1884, 6,620 was the total, and at the end of 1885 the total was 6,751 volumes. Biography is the largest class of literature on the shelves; then comes history, and then science, and then fiction.

Commenting on the report for the year 1885, presented at the beginning of last December, the New Zealand Herald of 17th December, 1885, has the following passage in a leading article, which I think is so much to the credit of the library that I give it in extenso:—"On some former occasions we took the opportunity of commenting on the tendency to spend money in undue proportion on light literature, to the prejudice of works of standard merit. This tendency, however, cannot be said to exist now; and it is most gratifying to learn that it has been removed by gradual but steady improvement on the part of those frequenting the library.

"To this, the report of the Librarian, which appeared in our yesterday's issue, bears explicit testimony. After enumerating the different classes of books contained in the catalogue, he says that, whereas fiction held the sway until within the last year or so, not more than thirty per cent, of books in this department are now in demand; and, that page 5 even under the head of fiction, while the writings of well-known authors such as Dickens are much perused, sensational writers are seldom asked for. The most popular section of the Library is that which comprises such subjects as architecture, agriculture, botany, geology, chemistry, engineering, mining, mechanics, manufactures, painting, engraving, etc. These are precisely the works which are calculated to advance the culture as well as the practical education of the people; and it is pleasing in the extreme to find the Librarian state in his report that the calls for works on the above subjects are very much greater than the library, in its present limited state, is able to meet. Works of reference, we are told, are also much in request, as well as those on history, travel, law, poetry, and even theology. This report, as a whole, certainly gives one of the most satisfactory accounts of a public library that has come under our notice for a considerable time past. It contains a high compliment to the growing taste of the reading portion of the community, and shows incontestably that books of the highest merit will, if placed within their reach, be in the end always preferred by the great body of the people. It moreover shows very clearly the direction in which an addition to the volumes at present in the library is most urgently called for, and ought to render the task of selection, referred to by the Mayor, one of comparatively easy performance. With the treasures which generous donors have already conferred on it, to be yet followed by similarly noble gifts, and, with the taste of the people encouraged to observe the line it is now pursuing, the time is not remote when our Free Public Library will take a leading place in the list of our civic and educational institutions."

The library is visited by over 600 persons daily on week days, and by over 300 on Sunday afternoons, according to the most careful estimate. A book is kept, in which readers and visitors are requested to sign their names, and during 1883, 3,000 persons appended their signatures. page 6 There is at present no printed catalogue, nor is there likely to be until the new buildings are opened, and the Grey collection added. Since 1880, however, Mr. Shillington has, unaided, and with great labour, prepared a manuscript catalogue in two parts: the first of authors, with press marks given; the second, an inventory of the works arranged alphabetically by short titles, and there is also an elaborately prepared index. There are several weak points connected with the library as it now is; first, it has inherited a good deal of useless literature from the old Mechanics' Institute; secondly, the sets of works and odd magazines on the shelves are not so complete as they should be; and thirdly, the collection of works relating to New Zealand, and of the early newspapers, is poor.

It seems to me most desirable, and most important, that this library which is destined to become the greatest in New Zealand should at once, and at whatever cost, make good this last defect. The cost will be considerable no doubt, and the difficulty in getting complete files of the early newspapers for binding, and of early pamphlets relating to the colony will be great, but both cost and difficulty could and should be overcome in such a pre-eminently desirable, nay, even necessary undertaking.

The management of the library is in the hands of a committee of the City Council, the Mayor being president. It is supported by a halfpenny rate, and at the outset its income did not exceed £300, but on the enlargement of the city boundaries in 1882, the rateable population of Auckland was largely increased, and the rate now produces about £560.

In 1882, Parliament placed £6,000 upon the estimates for distribution amongst public libraries, by the Education Department, and the Auckland Free Public Library received £155 8s. id., but since that year the maximum grant has been limited to £50.

In 1883, a munificent bequest was made to the Auckland City Council by Mr. Edward Costley, part of which was page 7 directed to bedevoted towards building a Free Public Library and Art Gallery. The matter has been taken in hand, and has been progressing ever since; when I was in Auckland designs had been called for, and about forty had come in, the best being by a firm of Melbourne architects, but I did not hear which was eventually chosen. However, the actual building is at last started, the first stone having been laid on the 5th June, 1885, and I hope that in the course of this year the citizens of Auckland may boast of a handsome new building and a valuable library.

George Augustus Sala, who visited Auckland last year, in one of his contributions on "The Land of the Golden Flcece," to the Daily Telegraph, speaks with some interest of the new library, which he says is approaching completion, and I learn from the New Zealand Herald that the internal fittings of the library, and the judicious expenditure of the book fund to replenish the ample space in the new building, are now the subject of the anxious consideration of the committee. I may fitly mention here that the New Zealand Herald, and the Auckland Evening Star, the two daily papers of this city, have persistently and ably championed the cause of the Free Public Library, pointing out unsparingly its defects of management, supervising its financial affairs, and encouraging its progress as a great educational institution.

I must now go on to say a few words about Sir George Grey's valuable library. The promise of this gift was made in 1880, but as there were then no means of housing and utilising the collection, it remained, and remains till the new library is ready, at Kawau, the island home of this veteran statesman and man of letters. On June 5th, 1883, Sir George Grey delivered an address to the citizens of Auckland, in the Theatre Royal, on "The Principles which should guide the citizens in founding a Free Public Library." This address was afterwards published in pamphlet form, and the author was kind enough to send me a copy of it. I can commend it with great page 8 confidence to all librarians. It is very pleasant reading, and it contains interesting accounts of the acquisition of some of the treasures in the collection, but the most valuable part is that which explains the favoured position of Auckland as a centre from which "to flood the Pacific with learning, and to dominate with a just and righteous supremacy—not of tyranny, but of intellect—over the great extent of islands which surround."

Sir George Grey, in writing to me, explained the reasons which had induced him to found the library at Cape Town, and he goes on to say, "New Zealand appeared to me to occupy a similar position with regard to the Pacific Ocean; situated alone in a great waste of waters, and destined largely to influence the numerous coloured and only partially civilised races which lie to the north of those islands. For New Zealand also, I therefore wished to provide a similar equipment, and I have done my best to give such an outfit for these two great outposts of civilization for the Southern Hemisphere." In his address, he further urges the necessity of founding a library fitted to cultivate persons of many nations, who will throng to the future capital of a great ocean; and he shows how by placing his choice, and in many cases unique books and Mss. at the disposal of the library, the learned from all parts of the world will be compelled to visit Auckland "to drink at sources of knowledge which they can obtain in no other place." This pamphlet is well worthy of the attention of librarians as an eloquent piece of special pleading in behalf of free public libraries, from one whose knowledge of books is as great as have been his good fortune in acquiring them, and his readiness in making them available to all students and bibliophiles. Froude, and Baron von Hübner have their words of praise for this library in their recent works, having been privileged to sec it and its owner at his charming island home. I shall always regret that I was not able to visit Kawau, and learn from the collector and owner more of the history of the formation of this library; page 9 Sir George Grey, however, in answer to my request for some particulars, kindly wrote to me at some length, and told me of his treasures, amongst which are several early Mss., a considerable number of Caxton's and early printed works, tall copies and first editions, and not a few State Papers. One of the most interesting items is a series of draft despatches to foreign Ambassadors, written by Thurlow, and corrected in some cases by Oliver Cromwell's own hand.

I do not think I need, in a paper like this, attempt to give a long list of the treasures of the English and other presses which Auckland is soon to possess, these will be duly catalogued, and will be found to be perhaps of more value than I have made out. But I must add, that perhaps the chiefest treasures of all, will be found among the works relating to the languages of the native races of Australia and the Pacific Islands. Many of these are in Ms., and are from the pens of early explorers, missionaries, and others, and as Sir George Grey says in his address, the possession of them will give to those choosing to make use of the Auckland Free Public Library, the key to all the languages of Polynesia. Until the new library is completed, we shall have to wait for full knowledge of the extent, and value of the Grey library, for its six thousand volumes have never been catalogued; let us hope that we shall not have long to wait, but that with a worthy building, and with such a grand collection, there may arise someone able and willing to do the work of making it known to the world of students, through the medium of a good catalogue.

Sir George Grey writes as to the formation of his library:—"From early youth I have been a collector of books, and have been aided in my purchases by able men, such as Bohn, Boone, and Quaritch: I have had very valuable books given to me by persons in every rank of life: have had many books left me: have spent a good deal of money on books in most years of my life."

Lastly, I must mention that not the least valuable and page 10 interesting feature in the Grey Library, is the collection of autograph letters of distinguished men of the present century In his letter to me, Sir George says:—"As I have lived in an age of discovery and movement, to do this" (i.e. to form this collection), "was to preserve a record of the history of the world at a most interesting period, written in all the confidence of friendship by the men who made the history." Of these, and many more such treasures, as these, is the Free Public Library of Auckland destined to be possessed, and I think we may feel sure that a good use will be made of them.