CHAPTER FOUR
The founders and the administration of Auckland’s early libraries.
‘Libraries, we find, were conceived by a small group of socially-minded philanthropists as a social corrective; they were next legislated into being; then presented or imposed upon sundry communities; then supplied indiscriminately with books - with the emphasis now on reform, now on education, and now on recreation; and finally tacitly accepted as an agreeable community endeavour which was commendable rather than essential’.
The construction of public institutions such as libraries, schools and churches feature prominently in the early history of many small communities in the Auckland province. The crucial part they played in the development of these settlements is recorded in the multitude of local histories celebrating their centenaries, or in many cases, 150 years. As settlements became more permanent, a steady stream of libraries was founded. Although many only existed for a brief period, others still operate today. Some of the ‘libraries’ consisted of a small assortment of old and well read material donated by members of the community while others were significant collections of carefully selected editions. The background of the people who established libraries in both the rural and urban areas is examined in this chapter alongside questions about why libraries were established at a time when there would have been a significant number of facilities needed more urgently to ensure a safe and comfortable life for settlers.
The question of whether these libraries were imitations of British institutions, founded by middle class philanthropists in a bid to uphold public order and morality, or, whether they fulfilled the settlers’ genuine desire to gain access to books and self improvement in an isolated colony will be examined alongside factors such as permanence, the economic ability of a settlement or town to support a library and issues relating to accessibility. The link between the development of libraries and an increased emphasis on the provision of educational facilities in the areas of primary and adult education also needs to be examined. This link, Elaine Fain suggests in her analysis of the development of libraries in colonial America, was part of crusade against ignorance, vice, subversion and possible revolution.
An examination of the occupational background of those who established libraries, their ideologies, and the rules and regulations under which each institution was run, has helped to construct a picture of the driving force behind the development of Auckland libraries. Copies of local histories, library records and minute books, and copies of the Rules and By-laws which governed each institution provide a rich collection of data to examine the questions outlined above. A major find was the collection of documents filed by a significant portion of the province’s libraries between 1878 and 1919 in response to the 1875 Public Libraries Powers Act. These documents provide a comprehensive list of library trustees and committee members, and their occupations. They also outline the financial status of each library committee and, in some cases, include copies of their constitution or rules.
Growing concerns over ‘de-civilizing’ and the emergence of the second generation of New Zealanders, in particular young men, considered devoid of many of the social graces expected at ‘Home’, brought about the establishment of associations or institutes which supported mutual or self improvement. The first generation of settlers had had to toil long and hard to gain the most basic of amenities and some settlers were concerned that their sons now had too much time on their hands and were lacking in social role models. In an editorial in the Daily Southern Cross, G.Mitchell suggested that ‘many youths are growing up here without the facilities for acquiring useful knowledge which their fathers possessed in the old country’. The establishment of libraries and Mutual Improvement Societies not only gave young males a chance to gather and learn from one another, but also guaranteed that it could be done in an ordered and controlled environment.
To gauge public support for the establishment of a public library or reading room, interested parties would place a small advertisement (Figure 20) in the local papers, advertising a public meeting to discuss the idea. These meetings often drew large numbers to the local schoolhouse or public hall, as many saw the library as a community asset which could enhance the stability of the area. After the presentation of a well argued speech on the virtues of libraries and literary institutions, often given by a member of the clergy or local ‘aristocracy’, the public would respond enthusiastically with promises of donations of both books and money. The Library was considered to be underway. All that was needed now was a building, several hundred books, funds, and someone to run it.
Those present at the public meeting formally elected a committee to set in motion the procedures necessary to get the library established. Reports of the meetings held by library committees are recorded in fastidious detail within their minute books. They record the accounts of the monthly meetings, who attended and where the meeting was held, and provide a record of the inward and outward correspondence. They also furnish a list of books purchased, with details of how stock was selected and which booksellers were used most frequently. The financial accounts found in the back of many minute books provide details of annual income and expenditure. They list the financial subscribers, grants received, and details of any fundraising activities. These are set against the outgoing costs such as rent, candles, salary, insurance and cost of books and newspapers. All this information is intermingled with details of problems faced and victories eventually won, such as the completion of the library building, production of a ‘press’ or bookcase, or the receipt of government grants.
The first job of the newly elected committee was to establish an executive committee. This conformed to the traditional formula of electing a President, vice-president, and Secretary and Treasurer (a post often combined with being the Librarian), and was preceded by discussions on the collation of a variety of governing by-laws or rules. The composition of some of the executive committees examined shows that those chosen to undertake the task were generally already involved in other facets of community affairs. Most were professional or businessmen who were not only involved in the library but sat on the local church or school committees. Their input into community facilities was paramount in the success of many small towns. Only in the villages developed near mining or timber milling areas were there significant numbers of unskilled or semi-skilled workers, such as miners or mill hands, who helped to establish the library.
Because of the occupational imbalance of most library committees it might be suggested that they were not in tune with the real needs of the community. However, Phyllis Dain argues that because library committees and trustees were not representative of the community, ‘it does not automatically follow that the community is ill-served or that more representative boards would have yielded more responsive institutions’. She argues that because ‘an "elite" started and governed public libraries does not mean that ordinary people did not want them or could not make good use of them’. Her statement that the attitudes of the trustees and the librarians appointed by them accounted for the lack of library use in the United States will be examined within the New Zealand situation, where statistics show that only a small proportion of the population were members of a library. In 1891 only 2,791 out of Auckland’s population of 73,086 were recorded as members of literary institutions.
In his article on writing library history Frank Woodford argues that the ‘history of a library reflects clearly the history of the community it serves, and it does it better than can the history of almost any other local institution.’ He cites the case of a Detroit public library where ‘More people representing all sections and degrees of the population, all age groups, all economic and social levels of society, enter its doors than go to city hall or even the police station. No structure of a public type more closely touches and affects the lives of the people, or exerts a more profound influence on the character of its community than does the public library.’
John Calvin Colson contends that the debate over the worth of library history often revolves around ‘semantical shadows’. He agrees that it can be argued ‘that the personality traits of individuals contribute importantly to the development of institutions in which they play leading roles.’ Whether the contribution made by the leaders and founders of New Zealand libraries can be perceived as similar to those in America where the leaders were seen as ‘conservative if not reactionary, in that their principal concern was maintenance of their control over society, and that the library was established as an instrument to that end’ is an interesting question.
Michael Harris suggests that one of the causal factors behind the early development of libraries in America was that a group of vigorous and enlightened leaders emerged from an intelligent middle class counteracting the attempts of the aristocratic intellectual class which had hoped to make the public library an elitist centre for scholarly research. The ‘egalitarian’ colony of New Zealand, although fostering middle class ideologies, had little by way of an aristocratic intellectual class which could support such a movement.
An examination of those involved in the first library in Auckland city, the Mechanics Institute, shows that amongst the original members and committee there was a group of local businessmen and social leaders who were full of altruistic and public spirited views. Their educational background and wealth enabled them to view the establishment of the library as an act of philanthropy. At a meeting on 27 July 1842 attended by over 150 people, a provisional committee of ten was set up and promises were given for the donation of 400 books. Those elected to the provisional committee were William Buckland, John Derrom, Mr. Ducros, Mr. Watson, N. Warner, C. Robinson, William Turner Snr., Dr. A.S. Martin and Patrick Hennesey. On 15 August a further meeting elected a committee of fifteen to administer the Institution. The rules stated that ‘nine [of the committee] had to be "practical mechanics".’ Those who certainly were not mechanics were well-known Aucklanders, Dr John Logan Campbell and his partner William Brown (both wealthy businessmen), Dr A.S. Martin, C.W. Ligar (the Surveyor-General) and Henry Falwasser (who established and published the Auckland Times, George A Bennett, a Lieutenant from the Commanding Royal Engineers, was elected President. At the meeting the chairman, C. B. Brewer, barrister-at-law, stated that it gave him great pleasure ‘to perceive so many influential gentlemen present who take an interest in the improvement of the working classes. The Institute has had for its sole purpose the instruction of the working classes by means of schools of various descriptions when lectures will be given by gentlemen of ability’.
The Whangarei Literary Institute was established on 14 February 1871 at a public meeting at the Courthouse. At the meeting it was proposed that a Mechanics’ Institute be established with a library attached. The object of the Institute was ‘the formation and maintenance of a Public Library and Reading Room, and that monthly meetings be held for Mutual Improvement’. A committee of Whangarei’s elite was nominated to take charge of the establishment of the Institute. Chairing the committee was Sir Osborne Gibbes. A man whom A.M.Rust describes as ‘a scion of old English nobility, a typical gentleman of that ilk, a thorough sport, [who] had a high sense of humour’, Gibbes was a Justice of the Peace who ‘took his part in public affairs as a magistrate and coroner, and [was] a member of the Road Board and other public bodies’. He was joined by a committee which consisted of Robert Reyburn (Vice-President), Captain Joseph Fletcher, Mr Wooley, Rev John Wallace, Mr Kay, Daniel Horn, T. Scott, Mr Simpson, Mr Naylor, and H.Rowlands (Secretary).
Robert Reyburn shared Gibbes’s high profile in politics. While Gibbes served on the Legislative Council, Reyburn represented the district on the Auckland Provincial Council. Also serving on the committee was a later arrival in the area, Daniel Horn. Horn had arrived in the area in 1863 with his brother Jeremiah. In his history of Whangarei, Rust describes them as having been ‘exceedingly wise and well-read men… [who] could talk and debate on many scientific and social reform subjects, …[in] all of which they were keenly interested’. They were a welcome addition to the intellectual and cultural subculture of the community.
This learned group presided over the development of the library and instigated the meetings of the Mutual Improvement Society until their mass resignation on 12 April 1872. This demonstration of feeling about the running of the library is discussed in detail later in the chapter. The issues must have been resolved because Horn and Reyburn feature as trustees of the Institute when it was registered under the 1875 Public Libraries Powers Act in 1879. On the deeds of incorporation the majority of library trustees listed were businessmen, professionals and white collar workers although several small businessmen and tradesmen also served on the committee. The occupations of the committee in 1879 were noted as a surveyor, teacher, storekeeper, agent, clergyman, miller, blacksmith, telegraph lineman, and a number belonging to the miscellaneous and unspecified grouping of occupations of farmers and settlers.
What is most interesting to find is the group of women formally listed as members of the Whangarei Institute. This was the first instance that women are recorded on the registration deeds as founders or trustees of a library. The three women, Margaret Cubitt, Mary E Mair and Eliza W. Rust all came from a middle class background. Both Eliza and Mary were children of two of the first settlers in the area, John and Isobel Rust. Isobel Rust was left to bring up six daughters and a son when her husband died suddenly, leaving her almost destitute. She started a school and taught her children to be self-reliant and to assist others in times of need. Her stoic determination to improve her situation may have served to ensure that both her daughters supported the idea of a public institution which promoted and aided mutual self improvement. Margaret Cubitt was the wife of local Anglican clergyman, L. L. Cubitt, who was also a member of the library.
Using the data gathered from the deeds filed under the 1875 Pubic Libraries Powers Act a breakdown of the occupations of the members of committees and trustees has been drawn up. (see Appendix VIII). This list includes committees for 116 libraries, but unfortunately does not create a clear picture of class status as the majority of the occupations listed were farmer and settler. This occupational group makes up whole committees in areas such as Kaipara Flats, Pokeno, Lower Matakana, Rodney, Kaurihohori, Hokianga (Herd’s Point), Kamo, the Wade, and in areas closer to the city such as Titirangi, Otara, Pakuranga, Mangere, Takapuna and Pukekohe.
To assist in an occupational break down of the others discussed, categorization used by Paul Husbands in his study of Freeman’s Bay has been used. Husbands divides the male population into seven broad groups. Using these categories the composition of the committees are 176 businessmen and professionals, 43 ‘white-collar’ workers, 125 small businessmen, 114 tradesmen, 23 semi-skilled workers, 67 unskilled workers, and 613 miscellaneous and unspecified (this group includes those listed as settlers and farmers, and women. The 37 women listed have been designated into miscellaneous and unspecified as their occupational status was consistently absent.) (See Appendix IX)
Investigation of the background of some of the women listed has shown that a substantial number of them were either the post mistress or were connected through the school as a school teacher or through the attendance of children. Susanah Cullen was one of the few women who listed herself by occupation. One of the first settlers at Maungataroto, she designated herself as a farmer. She and her husband Frank were both supporters of the library.
Husband’s occupational category only becomes problematical when it applies to those designated as tradesmen. Further investigation showed that some tradesmen listed in small towns as blacksmith, boot maker, or carpenter were in fact running their own small businesses, and should have been included into the category of small businesses. Those in the semi or unskilled group were generally in areas where mining or timber milling was present. In the mill settlement of Mercury Bay, the Athenaeum was established by as diverse a group of trustees as has been found so far. Alongside Richard Monk, who was a Maori linguist and interpreter, a Member of Parliament and responsible for the designing and construction of a train line, were a locomotive driver, a sawyer, and a miller. In this town over 140 men were employed by one mill alone. Unfortunately the library records from Mercury Bay appear not to have survived.
The manner in which constitutions, by-laws, and rules and regulations were drawn up often divulges a great deal about the background of the people who wrote them. While some libraries listed a few rules to ensure the smooth running of their organization, others provided a vast number of rules and by-laws, often numbering well into the thirties. They included rules for membership, acceptable behaviour within the Reading Room and Library, methods of claiming fines for outstanding books, and outlined the duties of the Executive Committee.
Dain suggests that ‘library officials could be severely punitive to erring readers: to deal with problems of overdue books, theft, and mutilation they shared the prevailing faith in punishment as not only proper retaliation but as a deterrent. Rigid rules and regulations were regarded as necessary to carrying out the public trust as all those responsible for public institutions saw it. They did indeed distrust the masses, an attitude probably reinforced in some places by the idea that the library, a newfangled "free service" was only a step removed from charity’. The inclusion of rules which stated that ‘the membership shall not be transferable, but if any member die [sic], his or her heir may succeed to membership, and have his or her name entered as a member by agreeing to conform to the rules and by-laws of the Institution’ show the degree of seriousness and self-importance that some founders placed on their organization.
An examination of the records of a cross-section of the libraries and societies shows that most committees followed a formula for the shaping of their rules and constitutions. In many cases the library committee would write to another local library for a copy of its by-laws to use as a basis for their own. The Secretary of the Kaitaia Public Library wrote to Messrs Kidd and Wildman, booksellers in Auckland, requesting a parcel of books and asking if they ‘would be good enough to procure and forward a copy of the Rules and By-laws of Some Public Library in Auckland’ so the rules could be drawn up and pasted on the covers of books.
A great deal of time was devoted to drawing up very formal regulations for the running of the library. How the committees imagined they would be able to enforce such rigid bylaws in such unstable and transient communities is unclear. Until the passing of the 1875 Public Libraries Powers Act most institutions would have had to use hard arm tactics on their borrowers to retrieve their property as there was a legal question raised over the ownership of the books. The Act was drawn up to provide libraries with a legal means to retrieve non-returned books.
The records of the Maungakaramea Library in 1899illustrate how committees tried to deal with the problem of non return of books. Members Rowland Hill, John Wright and W.A Watson received letters requesting payment for the outstanding books and were notified that their membership had been forfeited. Only Wright returned the books, so a letter outlining future legal action was sent to the others in April. Whether this went any further is not noted, as deliberations over the future siting of the library became a higher priority.
When a library was first established most committees were determined to open for long periods. They clearly felt that once the community started using the library and/or reading room facilities, they would be in constant use. Some minute books disclose how committees were in such a rush to ‘open’ the library that they did so when there was very little material available to draw the readers in. They opened their doors with only 20 or 30 volumes on the shelves, and an assortment of periodicals from ‘Home’ and several local newspapers. However, it was not long before the hours were changed to bring them in line with the reality of the library usage.
The committee set up to run the Whangarei (also known as Wangarei) Literary Institute initially planned to open the library on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from noon until 7pm, providing access for 21 hours a week. Within a month the hours had been downgraded to Saturdays from noon until 9pm. By mid year another five hours were cut back so the library was open during dinner hours from 12-2pm, and 7-9pm. Because they were depending on the unpaid services of one of the committee to service the library, it became clear that they could only open for a limited period, particularly as usage was light.
Other libraries were more realistic in their hours of opening. Many, like Wairoa South Public Library, opened for two hours on a Saturday between 2-4pm. Turanganui Library, in Gisborne opened after dinner on Monday and Wednesday between 7-9pm and on Saturday between 2-5pm, 7-9pm. Mahurangi Library, Warkworth, opened on Thursdays between 12.30 and 1.00pm for the ‘accommodation of the settlers’. In 1878 the hours were extended by an hour to include Mondays between 9-10am. In 1887 after a call for tenders for the position of Librarian, the hours were further extended to an hour on Monday and Friday, immediately after the steamer left. The lowest tender for £6.10.0 was accepted from Nathaniel Wilson Jnr. (the son of the founder of the Portland Cement Works).
The most interesting timetable of hours was that of the Maungakaramea Library which opened ‘monthly on the Saturday preceding the full moon, or the Saturday on which the full moon falls at 7 o’clock’. This enabled members to get to and from the library safely by the light of the full moon. It probably saved on candles for lighting the library. Each time it changed the hours the Committee was obliged to hold a general meeting of members to ensure that sections of the rules and by-laws which stated the hours were formally amended.
Although many library by-laws and constitutions spelled out in great detail the roles of the members of the Executive Committee, they failed to specify the librarian’s role or remuneration. Only the by-laws of the Tauranga Mechanics Institute designated the duties of the librarian. Rule 18 specified that ‘the duties of the Librarian shall be to keep open the Reading Room during such hours as the Directors may appoint to keep lighted as many rooms as may be required to see that they are properly cleaned to issue and receive books to make catalogue to collect and receive subscriptions fines etc and to pay them over to the Treasurer and to perform such duties as the Directors may deem necessary’. It would seem from this list of duties that the role was more of a caretaker than a librarian. Apart from receiving subscriptions and issuing a few books, the only vestige of library work involved was the manufacture of the catalogue. In most libraries this was merely a list of the books which were numerated as they were received in the library. Some were roughly listed under very broad subject headings. Most lists failed to include authors or the complete title. There was none of the detailed bibliographical data found in current catalogues. It could be that the limited numbers of books published meant that most borrowers knew what the three volumes of Macaulay were about, or who wrote Self Help.
Phyllis Dain suggests that most librarians in the US, were middle class, and because of their attitudes were unable to work effectively towards providing a library service for the working class reader. Librarians, she states, were bookish people and ‘like intellectuals generally, seldom came from the unpropertied and poorly educated masses’. Some librarians in the Auckland Province were nominated to the role purely because they had the space to accommodate the books in their homes or stores. Untrained and unskilled in the art of librarianship, the librarian and the library committee presented themselves to the community as the privileged guardians of knowledge.
Few such ‘librarians’ were compensated for the hours they put into caretaking the library. In 1876 the Whangarei Literary Institute paid £5 a year towards rent of the Reading Room and the Librarian’s salary. It was unlikely this covered the hours previously listed in 1872, which were from 9am - 10pm daily. By 1905 the Maungakaramea Library was paying the librarian, Mr. Boniface, a salary of £2.10.0 a year plus free reading for opening the library every Saturday between 2-5pm. The Kaitaia Public Library voted in its first female librarian on 8 November 1884. Miss Alice Matthews became the librarian with remuneration of £1 per year. There was no reference to her hours or place of work.
The committee for the Thames Institute would seem to be the most forthcoming in their remuneration for their librarian. They provided accommodation for the librarian as part of the salary package. The librarian’s living quarters consisted of 4 rooms, and he received a salary package of £69.18.9 per annum. The Library and Reading Room were only two rooms of the wooden building and consisted of a 31’ x 10’ room for the circulating library and Reference Room, and a Reading Room of 31’ x 29’.
When it came to issuing stock some libraries devised a ballot system to ensure the fair distribution of new books, magazines and newspapers. Members’ names were balloted for the rotation of new stock. At Waipu the first reader placed a brown paper cover around the book for its protection and the item was issued for seven days. Most libraries had a cumbersome method of issuing books. A book was provided which had the members listed alphabetically. Under each name the borrowers or librarian would list the number of the book and when it was issued. There was no method of easily accessing which subscriber held a book urgently required by another reader.
The Maungakaramea Library held a book which listed books issued over the period between 1905 up until the mid twenties. This listed the new books and how many times they were issued over a period of years. The most popular book for 1902 was A Daughter to be proud of, and in 1905, By Way of the Wilderness, each issued between seven and nine times. The records also list members and which books they had been issued. They give a range of borrowing statistics for 1906. While L. P. Adams read over 73 books in 1907 and N. A. Watson read 49, J. and F. Hayward only managed 28 and 11 respectively.
Visitors to many areas were able to use the reading room and in many cases to borrow from the Library under certain conditions. By 1873 visitors to Whangarei could use the Reading Room for a fee of 1/- per week, or 2d a visit. An honesty box was placed strategically for non-members. After one year the amount placed in the box reached a grand total of 13d. Other libraries such as the Mahurangi Library, asked that a deposit of L1 be paid by ‘any person not being a settler in the District.’ Part of the amount collected went towards the payment to a librarian of £3 per annum.
Book selection was always the sphere of the library committee, never the task designated to one specific member or the Librarian. The Librarian was purely the custodian of the books, never a skilled library professional. Until the establishment of the New Zealand Library Association, the New Zealand public seemed unaware of the potential of the library technicians who fronted the bigger public libraries throughout the colony. To aid book selection most committee members were called upon to submit lists which were then debated at great length at most meetings before an order would be sent off to Auckland booksellers for prices. Other libraries maintained a book which was ‘left on the table’ in the library for members to enter their recommendations. The ultimate decision was then made by the library committee executive.
When it came to books being purchased through Provincial Council grants this decision was taken from the library committee and made by either the Education Board or the Provincial Council Library Committee. At Mahurangi the Library Committee were so strong in their belief that they had the knowledge to select books for the community, that they wrote to the Auckland Provincial Council in 1871 about the grant allocated to them, stating that ‘the Committee are of the opinion that as the Mahurangi Library has been established for 13 years governed by a committee of five annually elected by subscribers which arrangement has given general satisfaction any aid given by the Government should be handed over to the Committee to purchase such books as they think best suited to the tastes of the subscribers…. But unless the Committee are to [be] entrusted with the expenditure of the money as it understood has been the case with the Auckland and Thames Libraries, they will be compelled to refuse assistance hedged around with restrictions…’ There was such a strength of feeling against the principle that a Board of Education Committee, or members of the Provincial Council could consider censoring the books that were placed on their library shelves, that the Committee was prepared to forego the Council grant if they were unable to specify the books they wanted. Although some libraries queried the right of the Education Board to dictate, particularly when the Board sent unwanted titles or refused to purchase any fiction, most libraries were pleased to be getting any extra funding at all and merely submitted lists to the Board as requested and awaited the outcome.
There was a clear belief by many library committees that the Board wanted to censor novels purchased with government subsidies. However, Gillespie-Needham shows that this belief cannot be substantiated. Evidence from order lists during 1878 shows that there was ‘a quantity of romantic fiction such as the works or E. Maitland, M.E. Braddon, Elizabeth Wetherall, Mrs Edwards, Rhoda Broughton, George White Melville and Charlotte M.Yonge’ being purchased for libraries through the Boards. This demonstrates how library catalogues can be helpful in establishing reading patterns, but shows that they should not be used as a tool on their own, as some books were selected to add tone to the collection yet remained on the shelves unread.
In 1870 the Rules of the Mahurangi Library were rewritten to allow subscribers to select books to be purchased. The new Rule stated that ‘any subscriber or subscribers shall have the power to name any book or books, and it shall be the duty of the Committee to purchase such books provided that the cost shall not exceed the amount of the subscription of such subscriber or subscribers’. Book selection at the Lower Matakana Library was done in a less than professional manner. The Chairman instructed the Committee, when faced with a list of books from George Chapman, that they begin by ‘striking out the most expensive books from the lists and order the remainder from the bookseller who would supply them at the lowest price.’
Finances were always very tight. The survival of many libraries was more through good luck than good financial management. To keep the library operating, committees had to beg for donations from the community or in one case, and there must have been others, lie about membership to procure the support of government grants. Analysis of the minute books shows that, after the first few years, community support for libraries consistently fell away.
A small case of fraud came through the minute books of the Maungakaramea library. A meeting on 13 July 1878 to consider the establishment of a library at Maungakaramea was attended by only a small number of residents. However, those present decided to set up a library committee to look at establishing a library. By 10 August the committee had accumulated enough capital to send away for 70 books. Sixteen locals had contributed £24.5.0 to start the library. By the end of the year the library consisted of 94 volumes which had been placed in a specially designed and locked bookcase. Subscriptions and government grants kept the library viable, although the membership had dropped from twenty six to six by 1880. Despite this the committee was determined to keep the library going. It falsified records signed under oath in front of a Justice of the Peace in a bid to continue receiving a government subsidy. Any government money or subsidy received had to be allocated to books and an annual return had to be made to the Education Board to ensure that the monies were expended correctly. In 1883 the account book registered 10 financial members. However, the committee submitted an annual return to the Education Board stating that it had 84 members. (see Figure 21 for example of return) This document was supported by the signature of a local justice of the peace. The population of the community may well have been as large as 84. However, the library was not seen as a high priority by the majority of settlers and it had only a small number of users.
The idea for a library in Maungakaramea had been originally mooted by local school teacher, William Goodrich Rogers, who was keen to see a library extend education to the older children in the district. From the records of library use and the books which were purchased up to 1905, there is no evidence that Roger’s aim had been taken into consideration when books were selected. Encouraging the use of the library by children and young adults may have stemmed the flow of members away from the library. Between 1885 and 1905 the library had only three financial subscribers per annum.
The Mahurangi library suffered similarly. Established in 1859, it had a chequered career throughout its 55 years because of a lack of finances and community support. However, it managed to survive until its hand over to the Warkworth Town Council in 1914. Originally set up by a group of 19, its numbers remained fairly static until the burden of debt forced the committee to consider closure. In March 1891 the community was notified that unless more members joined, the ‘institution’ would be sold to meet liabilities. A subsequent fundraising activity at the Masonic Hall raised L4.17.8 so that the debt could be repaid. The library continued until July 1893 when the committee once again faced the dilemma of unpaid debts. Faced with the resignation of the ‘librarian’ after 20 years voluntary service, and mounting debts with no increase in membership, the committee once again approached the community for support. A petition from 37 residents was forthcoming. It stated that they were prepared to become members if the library was relocated to a more convenient site, and if the hours were extended to provide better access to borrowing. No decision was made owing to the small number attending the meeting called to discuss the matter.
By December 1894 the winding up of the institution was still the main topic of the minute books. A public meeting on 22 January 1895 showed that the 37 residents who had promised support had not made good that promise. Nathaniel Wilson, a member of the Executive, stated that he would not support the transfer of the building and the change of trustees unless it was done legally under the provisions of the 1875 Public Libraries Powers Act. Wilson stated that the Act called for all members to be ‘incorporated’ to be able to vote, and unless this was done he had ‘no faith in the mere promise of support.’ This difference between a subscriber and a member was debated and remained unresolved, so a legal opinion was sought. The final solution was that the same bunch of men carried on the institution for a further six months while they attempted to procure public interest. Another public meeting held on 6 July claimed a small attendance and the decision to hand over the institution to an unspecified number of residents finally occurred on 10 August.
In 1896 the library claimed at least 50 members and held a healthy balance of £30.10.9 on its books. Exactly what brought about this change in community support is unclear. The new regime, the change and leniency of the rules, or a much needed injection of new stock may have been major factors. The records show that the committee started hiring large numbers of books from Metcalfe’s circulating library in Wakefield Street, Auckland. In the urban areas the circulating library ran in opposition to the small community library but here the library committee decided to utilise the services of a circulating library to augment its stock. For ten years between 1896 and 1906 a selection of one hundred books a year was hired from Mr Metcalfe. The cost according to J.H. Sutherland, was 6d each although the account books show a debit of between £5.17.8 and £2.10.0 per year. In her history of the Warkworth (Mahurangi) Library, Lucy Moore describes the system set up by Metcalfe as a forerunner to the Country Library Service which began in 1938.
Moore states that in 1897 the library committee decided to establish its own premises, although the move did not take place until late in 1898 or early 1899. But the change to a more centrally accessible building must have born fruit. The financial state of the library continued to improve, supported by an annual government subsidy. By 1907 the issues from the library had reached over 2,000 a year.
The fundamental principles behind the founders’ desire to set up libraries can be ascertained by accounts of the foundation meetings, recorded faithfully in minute books. The reasons for lack of support by members of the community are harder to detect, although the literacy levels of a significant proportion of the population and haphazard stock selection must be taken into consideration. The minute books record in great detail the frustrations felt by the committees as they dealt with the day to day running of their institutions. They record the anguish of committees when support from within the community plummeted, and lack of finances looked like forcing closure. There seemed to be a continual battle to procure funding for books, rent and payment of the Librarian’s salary. All this stress often lead to resignations and in fighting.
Throughout the Waipu Library’s minute books there are more details on how the hall was to be run, who could be allowed to rent the premises, how repairs were to be carried out, the cost of lighting and heating than details about how the library functioned as a cultural institution. Scattered throughout the minutes are brief snippets of information from which an outline of the role of the library and how it was run can be formed. These included details about the running of the library such as when it was open, how much was spent on books, or how the books were listed or classified are generally sparse.
The Waipu ‘library’ had more use as a local recreational facility, for skating and dancing , and for the local jockey club’s ball, than it did as a library. The running of the building which housed the library took up a great deal more of the committee’s time than the formation of the library’s collection. That is not to say that the library had a lower priority. But the amount of money which could be gained by leasing out the facility far outweighed the inconvenience of not always having access to the books. Ten to fifteen shillings could be gained through two nights rental per week as a skating rink, or five shillings a night as a gymnasium.
The life of many library and literary organizations depended on the commitment and perseverance of the founding members. In most cases the founding committee members continued to be involved with the library for many years. Loath to give up on the library when subscription numbers were down, the committee members poured their energy into holding entertainment evenings, or soirees, to raise enough money to keep things ticking over. Those who merely subscribed to the library often stayed for a short period, their enthusiasm waning as the library either failed to transform into the kind of institution they expected, or the lack of reading material drew them elsewhere. There seems to have been little sense of loyalty within the community to support the local library, unless they became pressured with its imminent closure when public support swelled , as shown in the case of the Mahurangi Library. The reasons for lack of interest may have been purely financial, as once the small number of books available had been read there would have been little reason for the public to remain financial members. This may have been the case of the Maungakaramea Public Library where Committee members remained the only borrowers for quite a number of years when the government grants ceased and no new stock was purchased.
The number of books purchased by each library depended on the number of financial subscribers, and these numbers in turn dictated the amount allocated by way of the government subsidy. While some libraries record long lists of their annual purchases others spent their allocation frugally, holding money over for the next financial year to ensure that the rent could be paid.
The catalogues of the smaller Auckland rural libraries show that some committees were subscribing to a wide selection of periodicals such as All Year Around, Good Words, Chambers, Illustrated London News, Blackwood’s Magazine, Punch, and Leisure Hour. All of these were placed in the Reading Room for at least a month before they could be borrowed. The accumulation of the periodicals was often problematical and many library committees ended up selling off the older papers at a reduced rate or going to the expense of binding them together so they did not get damaged. In some areas where the reading room or library was open only a few several hours a week, carrying the cost of a number of subscriptions had to be rethought. Often subscriptions were changed on an annual basis, to try and locate a title which might be of interest to all.
In the case of the Whangarei Literary Institute the sheer waste of funds on the provision of a reading room and newspapers led to the resignation of the committee. The committee felt strongly that two thirds of the library income went on a ‘Reading Room only used by a few members who have the regular habit of allowing some of the best newspapers provided for them lie unopened until thrown aside for waste paper,’.that they resigned. A letter to the Vice President Robert Kay from four members of the committee stated that the Reading Room was a fancy object which diverted money from the legitimate purpose of upholding and adding to the library, with a pittance being paid to the Librarian to keep the library open. The previous year the annual subscription had been lowered from twelve shillings to eight, the result being that the revenue was barely enough to ‘pay rent, librarian, salaries, and incidental expenses, leaving nothing for the purchase of books’.
Over the five years of the Institute’s existence only £51 had been made available for books out of the £142.9.0 raised through subscriptions. It was only through the £27.17s 11 ½ d raised by entertainment that a significant number of books were purchased. The old committee had suggested that the library and the reading room could not co-exist. However, the new committee responded by keeping the reading room open and used its skills to get around some of the cost by writing to various newspaper agencies and asking to receive their newspapers gratis. The response was the receipt of the Auckland Evening Star and The Thames Evening Post gratis for a year. A short term response, it was one which kept things ticking over for a while longer.
Because of a lack of finances, libraries were often kept initially in cupboards within school classrooms or in bookshelves or presses in public halls. Some were located within post offices, general stores, public houses or in the home of a committee member. Some libraries consisted of a few volumes stored along the wall of a room (Figure 17), while other filled vast areas, books piled high on bookshelves that extended between the floor and ceiling. (Figure 22)
When libraries were situated in rooms within committee members’ homes, access would have become a major obstacle for other borrowers. Lack of suitable buildings to house the library meant that the committee had to negotiate a rental for the use of the room or, in most cases, they allowed the ‘librarian’ to have free access to the books. Access could be a major factor why the libraries in some communities failed to get support from the community as a whole. Having to gain access to books through the middle class home of one of the committee would have put off many working class readers.
Once the library became established and the collection grew, many committees looked into constructing their own building. In some settlements the small library building was transported from site to site depending on the availability of land. The library generally found a resting place on a land designated for recreational or community use. The Te Kopuru library is a case in point. It was established in 1887. Between then and the turn of the century it managed to wander all over town before finding its final resting place in the local domain. The Northland Times reported that ‘mobile libraries on four wheels have nothing on the recently displaced library at Te Kopuru.’ It featured a series of photographs showing the travels of the library around town. Used until recently as a boot repair shop, the library is now the home of the Red Cross.
To begin with, most libraries consisted of a collection of books rather than a building as such. These could be easily moved around the community. At Mahurangi the library began its life in the vestry of the Presbyterian church. It was then moved to ‘Pulham’s Barn,’ and between 1864 and 1900 was sited in the Public Hall. About 1900 the collection was moved to a small cottage where it remained until 1914 when a concrete building was constructed next to the town hall.
The Waipu Library (or Waipu Library and Association) became affiliated with the Waipu Mutual Improvement Association and constructed a hall on the Main road of Waipu (Figure 23). It was situated between Jonathan McLeod’s boarding house and Farquhar McKay’s shop. In its heyday the library and hall was used extensively by the community for recreational and social events. When it was disbanded the hall was re-located around the corner and is now the Masonic Lodge (Figure 24).
The list of public libraries registered under the Public Libraries Powers Act 1875 (Appendix VIII) shows the predominance of rural libraries in the Auckland Province. Of the 116 libraries registered in Auckland under the Act only five were located close to the Auckland city boundaries and they were in the suburbs of Newmarket, Epsom, Mt. Eden, Onehunga and the Teachers Library in the city. The Auckland Public Library, and its branches do not appear on the list of registered libraries, so there may have been others. These libraries were joined by Otara, Papakura, Titirangi, Otahuhu, Mangere, Howick, Pukekohe East, Pakuranga, Takapuna Lake, Henderson Mill, Northcote and Mt. Roskill on the outskirts of the city. The majority of the rest of the 100 libraries were spread along the route northwards.
For the year ending 1873, the census shows that 41 returns were furnished to the Registrar General from public libraries, mechanics’ institutes, and other literary and scientific institutions in the Auckland Province. In the same year the Auckland Provincial Council records provided a list of 44 public libraries in the Auckland Province to the Immigration Office. (Appendix X) At this time the Council was providing funds to 33 libraries, and by 1874 this had increased to 44 libraries. Between 1874 and 1911 New Zealand libraries increased from 161 to 358. By 1896 the Auckland Province held as many libraries as the provinces of Canterbury and Otago, both areas which were heralded as being more culturally aware than Auckland. The Auckland Province now held more books than any province in the colony.
Harris argues that a common myth that the public library evolved through the intervention of humanitarian and liberal reformers who saw libraries as a vehicle in the education of the common man is not correct. He asks if libraries began with a zeal to aid the common man why did they become ‘cold, rigidly inflexible, and elitist institutions.’ In New Zealand those who founded the early libraries seem to have thought it necessary to begin by imitating the way the institution was conducted at ‘Home’. There was a belief that the institution needed to be managed properly, with clear guidelines, to survive the unstable environment of the colony. By setting out strict rules and by-laws, the committees began as they intended to go on, enforcing middle-class behaviour on those who entered the library. Because of this ideology libraries were doomed to became elitist institutions.
In the 1870s the average hours worked by tradesmen and unskilled workers left little time for recreation and leisure time was at a premium. Access to free newspapers should have been a draw card for the library reading room, where there could have been the provision of billiards or chess boards, and a smoking room. Although these featured prominently in Britain, the size of buildings in most New Zealand settlements meant that there was little space for engaging in social intercourse. Figure 24 shows the internal features of the Warkworth Library where the only provision for seating was 12 straight backed chairs strategically placed in a line in the middle of the room. They were hardly conducive to a relaxed atmosphere within the library. Another limiting factor was access, most libraries had short opening hours, limited to the availability of the librarian. This, combined with the unsuitable location of the library, away from the main part of town, may have restricted the options for tradesmen and working class members.
In his discussion of the survival of small towns in nineteenth-century New Zealand, D.A. Hamer suggests that ‘People who wanted their towns to have a long-term future consequently gave high priority to the securing of those facilities which appeared to guarantee some permanence, some commitment to such a future.’ The construction of libraries, churches, railway stations and schools was seen as part of the evolution from a temporary stopover point to becoming a town or settlement. Towns struggled for survival if they existed only for the needs of the traveller. Changes in transportation and better roading meant that there was no longer the need for a high level of duplication of services. To succeed the town needed to look inward and provide public buildings for community purposes.
The library minute books show that in rural settlements and small towns libraries were set up for, and utilized by, the same people who established them. Apart from offering the odd lecture and offering on invitation membership to a few other residents, many libraries appear to have functioned purely to satisfy the needs of those who established them. Unable to generate much community support the libraries, became cliques for the community’s elite bent on mutual rather than community improvement.
Some of the gentlemen who supported the development of libraries within the city boundaries, such as the Auckland Mechanics’ Institute and the Onehunga Institute, believed that libraries could act as vehicles for control and indoctrination. The President’s Report of the Auckland Mechanics Institute in 1843 stated that the library could now provide a selection of ‘approved’ authors to its members and it was hoped that the ongoing debates ‘will be instructive and engender a well directed taste for reading.’ In 1879 E.A. Mackenzie read a paper to the Institute ‘Concerning alcohol’ which suggested that the working classes were not being won over by socially controlled institutions. He stated that having failed to defer and reform, ‘we turn our efforts to coax and reform the masses from their drinking habits. We establish free libraries, free lectures, temperance hotels, mechanics’ institutes, working men’s clubs and labour in every way to turn them from destruction by multiplying their amusements and sources of rational enjoyment. A few may seize with avidity the advantages being offered, but the majority treat them with indifference’.
If there was a difference in the ideology between those who created libraries in the city or rural areas, how did this evolve? Can Hamer’s argument, that the establishment of libraries was part of a conscious effort to create institutions of stability and permanence to save small villages, be extended to include urban communities? Settlements on the perimeters of the city must have had similar external pressures to preserve services within easy access of the inhabitants. Despite this there was a significant difference in the style of library services offered to rural and urban populations. While hundreds of ‘public’ libraries had been established in the rural areas, most libraries within the urban areas of Auckland still tended to be connected with institutions or were commercial operations.
As the population of the city had expanded, so had the diversity of social facilities. There was now a huge variety of recreational activities to entertain the population. This element of recreational choice may play a large part in explaining why public libraries were not a primary concern to the ratepayer of the city. Those in the city were serviced by the commercial or circulating library. The library did not function as a community facility. Within the small community, social life tended to be centred on the community or public hall and the library. The local hall was a key feature of a rural settlement and a sense of community ownership may have aided the development of many of the small country libraries.
This sense of community has been questioned by Miles Fairburn who has argued that community structures in the nineteenth century were few and weak while the forces of social isolation were many and powerful. This isolation resulted in a society where ‘the typical colonist was a socially independent individual,’ and associations were limited. He suggests that even though a lot of voluntary and leisure organizations were available, they were severely limited because their ‘membership was drawn from a small minority of the eligible population.’ Potentially each of the institutions ‘represented a different stratum of society,’ but analysis has shown that the membership ‘was strongly biased towards the upper strata - the minority - and against the lower - the majority.’
Fairburn suggests that institutions such as literary associations and libraries were not successful because of the ‘flimsy nature of the social fabric’ He states that although ‘Mechanics’ Institutes, Athenaeums and other bodies for the self-improvement of working-men proliferated, their inability to fulfil their original roles as cultural and intellectual centres was soon apparent; after the mid-1860s they acted as little more than libraries or were absorbed by municipal libraries and even on this broader foundation many collapsed between 1887 and 1898.’ Another reason for their lack of success could be that busy settlers were unable to maintain continuity within organisations. Instead of relaxing rules to suit the needs of members some organisations attempted to force their members to attend functions by fining them if they did not participate. Some mutual improvement societies dictated that members could only miss three lectures or their membership would become invalid.
How successful were the libraries? When they were first mooted there was a ground swell of support within the community. Evidence from the minute books shows that almost all libraries went through periods when their membership numbers fell. Why the support suddenly fell away after a short period could be explained by a number of factors . The most significant could have been that members not involved on committees felt they were being controlled by those who ran the library and resented the inability to take part in the book selection process for the library. Or it could be that difficulties with access and inadequate stock levels simply led to a loss of interest.