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THE MELBOURNE PUBLIC LIBRARY.

IT is a remarkable fact that the two institutions of which the colony of Victoria has most reason to be proud its University and its Public Library— were founded at a period when, and under circumstances sufficient, in the estimation of most people, to render the initiation and accomplishment of such an enterprise improbable in the extreme. Thirty years ago, the settlement of Port Phillip formed part of the colony of New South Wales. It had only been occupied for fifteen or sixteen years, and, at the commencement of 1851, it contained a population of less than 100,000 souls, scattered over a territory about equal in area to that of England and Wales. Its chief port and only large town had received the name of her Majesty's first Prime Minister and political preceptor. The surveyor who laid it out, and who is still living, seems to have had some happy prescience of its future magnitude, and he gave a width of three chains to five great thoroughfares running east and west, and to nine others running north and south. The discovery of gold in 1851 occurred almost simultaneously with the separation of the district from New South Wales, and its erection into a distinctive colony, upon which was conferred the name of our Gracious Sovereign. An immense influx of immigrants took place, and society was completely unhinged by the rapidity of its growth, by the dislocation of all its industries, and by the vast amount of treasure which was exhumed from the bosom of the earth. It would be scarcely an aggeration to describe it as a period of delirium. The population of Victoria, which had been only 76,000 in 1850, rose to 364,000 in 1855, and to 537,000 in 1860. In four years the

ex

revenue of the colony increased from a
quarter of a million to nearly three
millions and a quarter; the total im-
ports, which had been of the value of
only 744,9257. in 1850, amounted to
17,659,0517. in 1854; and the value
of the gold raised, between 1851 and
1860 inclusive, amounted to the pro-
digious sum of 95,726,870. Property
rose in value enormously; fortunes of
fabulous amount were made in trade
and commerce; a powerful impulse
was communicated to speculation and
enterprise of every description; and
the one word in everybody's mouth
at this feverish period was-gold :—
"Gold! gold! gold! gold!

Bright and yellow, hard and cold,
Molten, graven, hammered and roll'd;
Heavy to get, and light to hold,
Gold gold! gold! gold!"

Such masses of the precious metal used to be found within a few feet of the surface, that a single stroke of the pick-axe would often transform a penniless adventurer into a man of fortune; and the sober narratives of some of these extraordinary finds read like the inventions of a romancer. There was naturally a good deal of reckless dissipation in those days, and sovereigns were as little thought of then as shillings are now. Mechanics could earn five-and-twenty shillings a day, and the fortunate possessor of three or four three-roomed cottages could cal culate upon drawing a rental of a thousand per annum from them. Publicans were coining money, and shopkeepers, when they allowed you to purchase their commodities at an advance of 500 per cent upon the prime cost, did it with all the air of conferring a personal favour. Servants there were none to be had; and Bridget, who had once blacked your stove and brushed your boots,

might be seen arrayed in a gorgeous satin dress, and lolling in a hired carriage, as the bride of a lucky digger, who had come down from Ballarat or Castlemaine to find a wife, and to squander some of his hoard of gold in treating all comers to champagne, at a pound a bottle, in the Criterion Hotel. Society was turned completely topsyturvy, and the only wonder is, in looking back upon those days, that it was not utterly disorganised, and that the machinery of government, both political and municipal, did not come to a standstill.

Fortunately for the colony, many of its early settlers were educated gentlemen, and among those who took a prominent part in the administation of its public affairs were the Right Hon. H. C. E. Childers, Col. Pasley, Sir Andrew Clarke, Sir William Stawell, the present Chief Justice of Victoria and Chancellor of the Melbourne University; and the late Sir Redmond Barry, one of the Judges of the Supreme Court. To the energy and foresight of the first and last of these Victoria owes the institution of its University, and to Sir Redmond Barry, more particularly, the foundation of its admirable Public Library.

The latter dates back to the year 1853; to a period, that is to say, of the wildest excitement, when the auri sacra fames appeared to be insatiable; when art, literature, and science, were held in the greatest contempt by the eager adventurers who were pouring into Victoria from all parts of the world; and when, in the estimation of men whose thoughts were engrossed by money-making, there must have seemed something perfectly quixotic in the proposition to spend some thousands of pounds in the commencement of a public library, planned on a scale of palatial grandeur, and calculated to cost upwards of a million of money before it was completed. Its founder thought otherwise, and posterity will gratefully acknowledge his wise and beneficent provision, and the unremitting care and affection with

which he watched over the birth and

growth of his public-spirited project. Sir-then Mr.-Redmond Barry was a young Irish barrister of good family, who had emigrated to Australia when the settlement of Port Phillip was in its infancy. He seems to have foreseen its future importance, and took up his abode in the rudimentary township of Melbourne, in preference to establishing himself in the more attractive city of Sydney. In course of time he was appointed one of the judges of the Supreme Court of the colony of Victoria, and having an ardent affection for literature, music, and the fine arts, he devoted himself to the promotion of their study and practice with characteristic energy and pertinacity. In the first instance, the local legislature voted 10,0007, for the erection of a suitable building to serve as a Public Library on a block of land nearly two acres in extent, and surrounded by four streets, in a central position; 3,000l. being at the same time appropriated for the purchase of books. Five trustees were appointed, with Mr. Justice Barry as their chairman. The building was opened by the acting governor of Victoria on the 11th of February, 1856. A further sum of 20,000l. was voted by the legislature, in addition to a liberal grant for books; and an additional reading-room was opened by Sir Henry Barkly on the 24th of May, 1859. In the leading columns of the Argus the institution of a National Gallery of Art was warmly and perseveringly advocated by Mr. James Smith, one of the political writers and the artcritic of that journal; and a sum of money having been appropriated by the legislature for that purpose, a Museum of Art and School of Design were established in connection with the Public Library, and a Technological Museum was subsequently incorporated with it. We need not trace the gradual expansion of these excellent institutions during the last twenty years. Suffice it to say, that at the present time the library con

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Thus it will be seen that the Melbourne Public Library fulfils, to some extent, the purposes of a popular university; while the advantages it offers are open to all comers, without . any restriction, as regards the library itself, and with only a few necessary formalities, as regards the other departments grouped under the same roof.

Its administration is conducted by a Board of Trustees, twenty-one in number, including the Chief Justice, the Chancellor of the University, eminent politicians, university professors, and men of letters, as well as representatives of banking and commerce; and there are sub-committees to which are entrusted the management of the various sections. Their offices are purely honorary. A secretary, a librarian and staff of assistants, a curator of the technological museum, a teacher of painting, and a teacher of drawing, with the necessary attendants, compose the staff of the institution. The library is open from 10 A.M. to 10 P.M., Sundays excepted; but there is a growing feeling in the community that it should be open on that day also, with a change of assistants, as the experience of other cities, both in Australia and in Europe and America, is considered to confirm the desirability of such a step, more especially in a place like Melbourne,

where so many young people are living in lodgings, and stand in need of some place of resort in which they can pass a few hours on a Sunday without detriment to their health or morals. The Museums and National Gallery are open to the public from noon until dusk throughout the year; but they also are closed on Sunday, which is the only day in the week upon which numbers of persons possess the requisite leisure to visit them, and there is a very general desire that this restriction also should be removed.

Internally the library consists of a reading room 240 feet long, 50 feet wide, and 30 feet high, with tables and chairs ranged along its whole length for the convenience of readers. On each side are ten bays, each of which is also furnished with a table and chairs. There is likewise a room set apart for ladies frequenting the institution. A gallery, accessible by two flights of stairs, runs round the whole building, and is filled with books of reference and works not likely to be in popular demand. This also is open to the public. The books are everywhere classified according to their subjects, each bay, as a general rule, containing those which are comprehended in one particular department of literature. On the basement story of the building is a spacious apartment devoted to newspaper readers, containing complete files of the various Australian journals.

As we have said, no restriction whatever is placed upon the frequenters of the library, excepting that they are expected to manipulate the books with clean hands, and to return them to their places when done with. The use of ink is forbidden in taking extracts, as it might lead to the injury of the works copied from, and none are allowed to be taken out of the building. In all other respects the student or the desultory reader is as free as he would be in his own library, if he should happen to have one, and for the time being he is "monarch of all he sur

veys." He may consult a hundred different works in as many minutes, if he thinks proper, or he may concentrate all his attention on one. There are sectional catalogues to assist him in his researches, and obliging attendants to answer his inquiries. He can be as studious or as discursive as he pleases, and it lies within his power to range over the entire field of literature, both ancient and modern.

This unlimited freedom, it is only right to add, has been very little abused. An exceedingly small number of books have been stolen, and a few have been mutilated by the excision of plates or of leaves. The place is frequented by a moderate percentage of greasy loafers and disreputable fainéants; but the evils incidental to such a promiscous gathering, in a city like Melbourne, are insignificant by comparison with the advantages which the institution confers upon those who are qualified to benefit by it, and who resort to it for instruction or recreation. In the evenings, more especially during the winter season, the place may be described as crowded. The most perfect silence and good order are maintained. No sound is heard but the rustling of leaves or the muffled foot-fall of a reader going to replace a volume on the shelf, or taking his departure for the night. The frequenters include persons of all ages, from the stripling of fifteen to the white-haired veteran, who complains that the type is so much smaller and so much less distinct than it was when he was a young man. The classes of society most numerously represented are the operative and the lower-middle class, with a fair sprinkling of the déclassés. As to the books most in demand, works of fiction, biography, history, and voyages and travels seem command the preference, but those of a higher character obtain a reasonable share of attention. Sporting literature appears to be intensely popular, and some books of this kind

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-histories of the turf, for exampleare saturated and malodorous with the porous exudations of moist-fingered readers. These have also suffered by the predatory fingers of petty larcenists, who have torn out plates of famous race-horses; but, on the whole, as was remarked just now, these mischievous depredations have been few in number, and the great majority of those who habitually resort to the Melbourne Public Library feel that they possess a proprietary interest in the institution, and that they are under an obligation to protect its contents from spoliation or injury accordingly.

There are few countries, in fact, where so much is done by the State for the wage-earning classes of the community, as in Victoria. The State undertakes the gratuitous education of their children; it reserves large areas of valuable land in and around every centre of population, for recreative purposes; its land legislation is framed so as to offer every facility to small settlers; and its fiscal system has been adopted with a special view to secure to local industry a monopoly of the local market; although that system, being in direct opposition to every sound princple of political economy, has failed to do so, and has really promoted the prosperity of the neighbouring colony of New South Wales, which has wisely adhered to free trade. Furthermore the State, in Victoria, subsidises hospitals in which people can obtain the best medical treatment, medicine, and maintenance without cost; and it has discontinued applying any portion of the revenue accruing from the sale of the public domain, to the assistance of immigration, because the operative classeswho, being numerically stronger than all the rest put together, control the elections-imagine that every new comer is a competitor to be feared, instead of a co-operator to be welcomed. Lastly, the State spends about 16,000%. per annum on the Melbourne Public Library, Fine Arts Galleries, and

Technological Museums; while it also subsidises every free Public Library, Mechanics' Institute, or Athenæum, throughout the colony; and there is scarcely a township of any importance that cannot boast of an institution of this kind, supplied with a good collection of books, newspapers, periodicals, maps, &c.

Emperor of Germany, the King of the Belgians, the King of Italy, and the King of the Netherlands; the Governments of the United States, of the Argentine Republic, of the Hawaiian Islands, of Spain, and of the Swiss Confederation, figure in the list of donors. So do the Governors of most of the British dependencies; the Parliament of Great Britain, and many of the chief public men and institutions in the mother country; and literary and scientific associations in all parts of the world. A summary of the donations thus received, gives the following totals:

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British Government and
Societies
British, India, and Colo-
nial

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Governments and Societies 4920

And this suggests the mention of an excellent feature of the library under notice : we allude to its lending department. Any free library or cognate institution in the country districts, as well as in the suburbs of Melbourne, can obtain, for a period of three months, the loan of from 200 to 400 volumes-duplicates of those in the Public Library; and, on the return of these, a fresh collection is sent out to replace it. The cases are so constructed as to serve the purpose of temporary book-shelves in the place to which they are consigned; and as this regulation is eagerly taken advantage Bequest by Will of, a stream of good literature is constantly circulating through the colony; and the cost to the institutions thus benefited is only that of the carriage of the books themselves. At the present time, there are upwards of 6,000 volumes in circulation in this way.

Of the contents of the Public Library, it would be impossible to speak at any length without exceeding the due limits of a paper of this kind. It contains few rare editions, and still fewer literary curiosities. Utility has been the object principally aimed at; and what have been chiefly studied are the requirements of a practical and energetic community, containing an abundance of readers and very few bibliomaniacs. History, biography, the applied sciences, poetry and the drama, voyages and travels, theology and serial literature, make up no small part of the collection, which has been enriched by many donations from European sovereigns, and from the various learned societies of Europe and America. Her Majesty the Queen, the late Emperor of the French, the

Foreign Governments and

Societies
Private Donations

Total

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1664

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The bequest was made by the late Count Castelnau, the naturalist, who was consul-general for France in Victoria, and died there.

The alphabetical catalogue of the Melbourne Public Library fills two substantial quarto volumes of upwards of 1,000 pages each, and is to be followed, in due time, by a classified catalogue; for which an admirable model is presented by that of the Parliament Library of Victoria, compiled in 1865. This also, it may be remarked, in passing, contains a very fine collection of works in every department of literature, about 50,000 in number; as it had the good fortune to be, for five years, under the management of an enthusiastic man of letters, with a wide knowledge of general literature, who was enabled, by the liberality of the local legislature, to enrich many departments of it with books drawn from all parts of Europe.

With respect to the Public Library of Victoria, what is wanted to secure its efficiency, and to perfect its admin

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