Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Tuesday 5 February 1889, page 4


SYDNEY MECHANICS SCHOOL M

ARTS. The

annual general meeting of members of the Sydney. Mechanics' School of Arts was held at the rooms Pitt-street, last evening there was a very 3

(MrDArdióte T "2 2 2s

The report stated that owing to a variety of cause. he completion of the alterations and additions" the building, referred to in the last rent was delayed till a late period of the year the result of the delay was that various portions of the building were, at one time or another throughout the year, inaccessible to the members, although no interruption to the ordinary) business was permitted to occur The committee believed that the falling off in the receipts h our subscriptions which the report disclosed was largely due to the delay which occurred in the completion of the alterations, it was believed that the additional facilities which the improved accommodation enabled the committee to offer to the public would speedily result in a large addition to the membership of the institution I bo improvements comprised a commodious and elegantly furnished ladies' reading?. room, a comfortable, well arranged showroom a large increase in the area of the renewal reading-room, increased accommodation in the library, and a large well-ventilated smoking room The total cost of the alterations and additions had been a jo94 4s 4d , of which £400 had been obtained by a mortgage of the property, and the balance of £b94 ii id , paid out of the current income of the institution Of this amount, however, is >00 was at fixed deposit at the close of last year, and £6 had already been dis-buried before the commencement of the present year the catalogue (referred to in the last report of the committee) had been completed, and was now in circulation, and the members had an opportunity of judging for themselves of the value of the publication Ilia heavy cost of this work- amounting to about £800had borne heavily on the resources of the institution but the expenditure was one which would not require to be repeated for many years to come The lease, held by the Government, of the rooms occupied by the technical College, terminated on the 31st December last, and, although too committee had been led to believe that the lease would be renewed, the Government, at the last moment, threw the large hall on their hands The sudden loss of so large an income as that yielded by the hall rendered it necessary that immediate steps should be taken to utilise that portion of the building to the best saving. stage It was, therefore, decided to repair and renovate the hall, in order to fit it for use for musical and other entertainments and the committee had every reason to hope that the hall would regain the popularity which it once enjoyed as a place of public entertainment

the Natural History Association, the inauguration of which was announced in the last annual report, had made must satisfactory progress, and was rapidly becoming one of the most important adjuncts to the educational work of the institution The chess and draughts and debating clubs had been in active operation dunnrrthe year The library) had been kept supplied with the newest and best works issued from the press, and now contained 36,126 volumes Constant and increased supplies of newspapers and periodicals had been furnished for the reading-room, which was now in receipt of 376 newspapers and Gi periodicals During the year the committee directed special attention to the improvement of the reference library, and large additions of valuable and useful works had been made the property of the institution, exclusive of books, furniture, and fittings, had been valued, and now stands at £47,600 ft was found necessary during the year to increase the insurances on

the property by an additional sum of £9000

Concerning the receipts and disbursements s states meat of which was appended to the report, the treasurer reported as follows -The year commenced with a credit dance at the Bank of New South Wales of £692 9s 9d , including £600 at fixed deposit Dm. rag the year the mortgage money, viz, £4000, has been drawn from the Savings' Bank on account of the alterations the improvements have amounted to £54 4s 4d of which 636 was paid during 1887, and £428 " Id was met out of this year's revenue, the balance, £1510, being paid by the mortgage money and tin fixed deposit The new catalogue has cost to date were less Gd (excluding about £224 outstanding), which has been paid from our ordinary revenue anning £1003 19s 7d paid from that source during the air for other than ordinary expenses The Government subsidy claimed for the year amounted to £1923 7s 3d There is a decline of £121 4s 3d in the subscription!, 428 14s 10d from the Lantern Resaings and 1244 8d from sundries while there is a gain under the head of donations, showing a net falling off £193 li 9d in all for the year On December 21 there was debit balance on the year s transactions of at 6s 6d ' The institution was now fully equipped for the work for which it was designed, and, with the advantages which it could now offer to the public it was come"

dently believed that a career of extended reefing

awaited it in the near future

The Chairman said he presumed that he might take the small attendance as an indication that the members had nothing to complain of in regard to the conduct of the institution last year If that were so it was a highly gratifying fact for the committee to enter-

tain He then recapitulated the salient portions of the

Mr PßncY Hokderv moved, and Mr Donm-I seconded, a motion for the adoption and circulation of the report and balance-sheet amongst the members

Some criticism of the report then took place. Most of those who took part in it took exception to to expenditure of £800 on the preparation and publication

of a new catalogue

the President explained with respect to printing the catalogue that the committee called for tenders are accepted what they supposed was a low tender Alter the tenderer had gone on with the work for some time he found that he was absolutely unable to perform his contract, and it was therefore taken out of his hands The work was then entrusted to another printer I

was not possible to get a creditable production for a smaller sum than that which had already fe

in Mr J they drew attention to the fact that there.

on the table of the reading-room a depraved too literature, which reflected in a most outrageous, shame ful, and disgraceful manner upon the essay other member of the Royal family, and staff" Christian religion and everything;tbi;wuingofcMj decent, and proper He thought that the mu face of such literature in that institution would °P««?.,0', to deter some persons from becoming members of

The motion for the adoption and printing of the report was then submitted and carried

on the motion of Mr Bond it T."^J^JE the thanks of the members be awarded to the gas men who on behalf of the institution have gT'«Tu«y given lectures in the ball during the put JW a those who have given donations to Wawn"

the proprietors of newspapers who have supplied copy to the reading-room gratuitously ""."l8nt"d

Votes of thanks were accorded to the Postal other officers for the services they had reached the IN

institution in a That

On the motion of Mr Leave it T resolved,- " ' an illuminated address be presented to testators, dent, Mr Dalgarno, in recognition of services are in rendered to the institution " . . . (

A special meeting of the members of the School

Arts was then held. by. Mlmniut

On the motion of Mr F. J 1 "OMAS, the following bylaw was adopted -"In the even of Jagg occuring during the year in the oü.c»oí.pre« vice-presidents, or treasurer, the same shall be Wieajfby the committee from amongst their me as a net annual meeting Otl«^«"B*JT tee shall be filled up by them for the life wwdJ of the scrutineers' report, re the order. of the T T votes recorded Should there not be sufficient"

on the scrutineers list to supply all the defects such remaining shall be My! np be away from among the members of the «"**»* W vacancy in the office of auditor shall be filled up the

committee at their discretion

The meeting then terminated