The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933)(about) |
Previous issue
Thursday 14 December 1871
Next issue
Send to:
|
No corrections yet
TUE SCHOOL OF ARTS.
TO THE EDITOR Ol' lill! IIKISHANn COURIRR.
Sin,-Why do tim coinuntlee of this institu- tion Bock lo hu down und die no ignobly? I« their position so vrry desperate ? Willi £2000 Block-in trade, and £100 a your of in ni ti a I in- come, it mun would no1 (if in his souses) suc- cumb to n liability of £1011, mid why should ti corporation? Why not capitalise the £100, and boriovv tho money ut 8 or 10 pur cent, pur auniiiii? Thu uiti rest would not come to much, and why overlook ibu fact thut the Government Biibsnly of C101 will soon hu duo, na woll us nearly us much moro in the wuy of Biilisuiptioiis ? Here is hulf tho molloy at once. Let us by till moans have a flee library by-and by, but do not let it riso meantime on the dishonored rum« of the old School of Arts. No doubt some tiwlul rubbish has erupt into the posM-ssiou of thu institution ni tho shape of useless booka, hut what »under, whim, twenty youls ago, if a grnth mun, m «oiling oil' his fur mt in o, could get no bid for In« book«, hu used to présent thom to the School of Art«. Why, Sir, 1 have hoard of «nth thing« a« officer« of institutions of this kind lu Australia, when bookseller« owed thuin money and could not pay, taking (ho uiiiouut out iii booka fur then Si hool ol Ait«, und «o gutting pan! No wonder funds woro wasted and tranby book« iiccuniu
luted in such liluuiie« !
I wa« lummuging nu old box of mille ti day or two ugo, und 1 cuino urn,«« ibu Moleton Hay < ouriei of,I anual y 13, 1HS5, ni tho c iliunii« of which, among mm miiecinuiils of Amblóse ICIdin having gunn ii Ihn local liol liuultunil pine for wheat, iiirlou«, and out«, at our School of Art« show, and ilnsinp ion» of thu bombard- ment of Odt s«u, and the Hillend nols, Ac, 1 lind n »tutumuit ol Ihn Illili annual mooting of thu l)ri«hunn School of Art», flinn which I gutliur that Ibu vice pio-idonu wiro then Dr. ilohbu une! il.S. Turner, li«q. ; Alexander Kail, ICsq,, thu trrusuier; und thu coiuimttuo com- prised Musnis Petrie, liiooki«, Kulgoi, Mark- well, Swan, Pul tit. tow, Durkin}, Dowso, and 1). t¡\ Robu Is, in the order named. Yuuily in tiomu-ixclusive ol Govrrinni nt grunt, £100 had a habit m thoso data of li» reusing CO, (¡5, and 100 per cent on lim preuuling ono ; the number ol woth« in Ibu library wu« IHHI ; the luveiiuo wu» IMfî.i il» 10 1 ; the rxprndituio una L.ti li 7s 51 j ihe liabilities nil, balance ni Ininti, £21 2». Gd.
iirtsbuno hutl then 1800 inhabitant«, now it hu« lH.IKK); untl having bum a subscriber »iiiro 185t, I funcy tim «ubsi-np um thou wa« uni} 10*. pur annum, unload ol £1 us li i« now. It would appear thru that publie «pint und power of management huvu not grown much in tho last 17 year« in Jin«liauo, for Ibu School of Aits wu« thou, us now, nothing but a circula- ting sub«! upturn libiury , und yet look at thoir revoluto in llios-J diy«1 Ibu institution muy look for uti uvo-ago menino of til >0 per annum, which might hu doubled m tin« populous town, if u pushing (ollcctor wu« nnployul, but liku other establishment« in llrishano, it has «imply boon "managed" and nilli orod to death by mudillui« and do nothing». Pul ked élection meeting», uputhutiu subsi ribrr«, A.C , huvu told their usual tale in the long um Out of this £J50 tbuy have to piy £10 lent, C100 librarian, leaving over £200 lor ga», honk«, priiodituls, Al. ; it task by no moan« impossible seem« thus rut before thu committee, wini «linly could, if tbuy only would, mumigo to keep going without letting thu cry go forth lo ibu < olouy at lurgu that llrlsbituo hold« it «>olnr,u of incapables.
If the comtiuttuu hud not fooh«hly s >ld many of tho magazines ut hilf pine in place of bind- ing them, they would hu now mu li hottur off for roudublo bcok«. Abstruse «clentillu works and novelo of thu "li mt Lynne," "Aurora Fliytl," and "di alp Hunter" aeluiol aro both out ol place m tho library, and add little to its «hare ol suppoit.
With thu exception of nome s<¡outille works fur irfert ni o purposes, und «nib standard works of llutiou, Ac , us um cuinpii«eil lu tim " ICngh«h clasfii«," nothing iswatitulfoi the circulating library but abundant« of hound volumes ol mugumu'« anti »mular periodicals. Hera aro articles to suit thu taste ol (ivory u as« of reader, und, what is still bultu-, tiley uro cut up into portion« of (onvonimit lung!li, ami a «ort of illuiury table d'hote is thu ii suit, lloro uro tho sotiBiitionul novel, thu (»«ay, tho Bciontiflo article, the pieuu of poetry, travulH, biography no nothing, in »linn, to unit every one's taste, untl no ton or a d i/en pages without u chungo, which is a grout boon ni a woik a-duy colony liku ti.i», wlieiu thiiio is little loisurti or inclina-
tion to go into a lungthv subject. The proof of the itnii. Juso domain! tor thtisu wotk« l8 til at you
can never at the library gut one to toad, under tinco year« old, without upplymg half a-dozon tunos for it. Tho new nno» aro jlway« "out." Hundreds of othor books nuvur leave the shrives.
A circulating library, consisting of nothing ol<u but the following pi nodical« from the commencement of each, and neatly bound, would satisfy nearly every reader iii the place :-Dlaek wood, Fraser, Dublin University, Cornhill, Temple liar, Tinsley, Harper, Belgravia, London
Society, St. Paul's, Argosy, the Reviews, Cussell, Onco a Woek, All lho Year Hound, Leisure Hour, Chambers' Journal, Pundi, Fun, Mel- bourne Punch, Good Words, &a.
If it wore the Ipiwicb School of Aits now that was iii trouble, it would onli nci 1 to apply to the Ministry, in u-inl; but llnsbane should act differently, and had bitter formally reason« do so ! ono of them bung, that it will come to exactly lho saino thing in the end, if I hey do
not. Verb, sap.- i ours, &.o ,
N. I3ABTLEY.