It will be remembered that during his visit to Perth the Prince of Wales
(then, Duke of Cornwall and York) laid the foundation-stone of the
proposed additions to the Victoria Public Library and West Australian
Museum. Tenders were also called for the work, and duly received, but for
some reason the erection of the additions not been proceeded with by the
Government, much to the disgust of the committee of management, who have
by no means sufficient accommodation for their exhibits, samples, and
books. Yesterday, by arrangement, a deputation, consisting of members of
the committee, Sir James Lee Steere, M.L.A., Dr. Jameson, M.L.C., Dr,
Harvey, and Dr. Kelsall, with Mr. B. H. Woodward (the Director of the
Museum) and Mr. J. S. Battye (Librarian), waited on the Colonial Treasurer
and Minister for Education (Mr. F. Illingworth, M.L.A.) to advocate the
provision of a sum of money for the immediate building of the addition.

Sir James Lee Steere explained that what the deputation wanted was that
the Government should place on the minutes a sum of money, in order to
erect the contemplated additions to the Library and Museum, the plans of
which had already been prepared, and the foundation-stone laid by the
Prince of Wales last year. His Royal Highness laid the foundation-stone on
the distinct understanding that the buildings were to be proceeded with,
because he had stated that he would not lay the foundation-stone of any
building unless it was intended to proceed with it at once. His Royal
Highness had been assured by His Excellency the Governor that the plans
and estimates had been prepared, and that it was intended that the
additions should be gone on with at once. He (Sir James) did not know what
his Royal Highness would say now, were he aware that the undertaking had
not been carried out.

Mr. Illingworth : We could only plead that there has been a change of
government.

Sir James Lee Steere argued that, inasmuch as the promise had been made by
Mr. Throssell and Sir John Forrest when in office, and inasmuch as Mr.
Leake, on assuming office, had promised to carry out the undertakings of
his predecessors, the committee were justified in looking to the present
Government to provide the funds for the addition to the Library and
Museum. Mr. Throssell, after an inspection of the present buildings, had
stated it was absolutely necessary to provide more accommodation, and, in
order that that could be done, he promised to place a sum on the
Estimates. Then, after the Leake Government took office, plans were
prepared and tenders invited and sent in. The present Government,
therefore, ought to carry out the promise that had been made. There could
be no doubt whatever that matters at the Museum and Library must come to a
standstill unless the committee were given more accommodation.

Mr. Illingworth : Is it not time that they should come to a standstill?
They are in the nature of luxurious.

Sir James Lee Steere : Certainly not, and I cannot understand any person
in Australia forming such  an opinion, because in all these States,
democratic as they are, there is never a refusal by Parliament to grant
money for such a purpose.

Mr. Illingworth : In Victoria, when the population was half a million,
they had not as great accommodation as you have, and here the population
is only about 200,000.

Sir James Lee Steere said that in Victoria they had far more
accommodation, proportionately, than the committee here had. Public
libraries museums were a necessity from an educational and from a
commercial point of view. They were to established merely for the pleasure
of the people, or as things simply to be looked at, but in order to
provide a means of education for the public The institutions ought not to
be allowed to remain stationary ; they should be progressive institutions,
and any sums of money to make them such ought to be provided by the
Government. Sir James added that a report on the matter had been received
from the Director, Mr. Woodward, which showed the absolute necessity for
more accommodation. It was apparent that it was desirable that the
pictures should held by the public. At present, however, there was no room
for them to be properly exhibited.

Mr. Illingworth :That might apply if the space were a hundred times as
large as it is.

Sir James Lee Steere pointed out to the Minister that in all British
dominions the modern movement was to establish pubic libraries and museums
in all important towns. That was done as a means of education, but here,
when the director of technical education brought his art students to the
Museum they had not sufficient accommodation to properly display all the
exhibits in their possession. Mr. Woodward's report was as follows :—

“In the report of the Museum Committee to Parliament in 1897-8, the
urgency of erecting an art gallery was mentioned. Again in 1898-9, with a
further request for accommodation for the mineral and geological specimens
as well. In 1899-1900, the Committee went into full particulars of their
wants, when they formed a deputation to the Premier and Colonial
Treasurer, who approved of the designs submitted by the Public Works
Department. In 1901 the Committee received a visit from the Premier and
Parliament, and the Premier promised that the Beaufort-street wing should
be proceeded with at once, in accordance with the vote that had been
passed by the Legislative Assembly. Tenders were called. The promise was
confirmed when the Duke laid the foundation stone The Committee in their
report 1900-1, again called attention to the urgency of supplying
accommodation for the proper exhibition of the natural resources of the
State, the question being one of such vast importance from a commercial
point of view, now that so many visitors passing in the mail steamers come
up from Fremantle for a few hours.

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… an educational point of view, it is most deplorable that the exhibits
should have to be packed so closely together that they cannot be well seen
; that the paintings should be hung in a badly lighted portion of the old
gaol, and that fully a third of the collection should be packed away in
cases, cabinets, and boxes where they are liable to be damaged from
insects, etc.  The Rothschild collection of birds has been waiting two
years for space as well as many smaller collections. The arts and crafts
collections, so important to the students of the Technical College are for
the most part out of sight, and the remainder are distributed in odd
corners about the galleries wherever space could he found, instead of
being systematically arranged for use and study. The timber and other
specimens that have attracted so much attention in Paris and Glasgow are
now returning, but their former places have been filled by other
specimens, and there is no room to store them, as all the outhouses are
filled. About 1,000 specimens will arrive from the British Museum in a few
weeks' time ; a large collection from the Florence Museum, and another of
Japanese art from Tokio, and more black and white are expected from Mr.
Pennell.”

Sir James Lee Steere, continuing, pointed out that in, respect to the
books, they were quite as badly off as in connection with the museum
exhibits. They had no room for the books now in their possession, to say
nothing of new volumes. They were stowed away in the basement and stacked
in close, dark places where they could not be seen by anyone. The room was
frequently overcrowded by those who went there to read, which tended to
the injury of health. Dr. Kelsall had, the other day, called attention to
the want of sanitation, owing to the crowded state of the room.

Mr. Illingworth : That is a reflection upon the construction of the
building and the facilities for ventilation. In such a large building
there ought to be as much space as in St. George's Cathedral.

Sir James Lee Steere pointed out that the members of the committee gave
their services, and had no personal interests to serve in connection with
the matter. They, however, took great interest in the institution, and
desired to see it increase.

Mr. Illingworth : But there must be a limitation.

Sir James Lee Steere : I would not place a limitation on an institution
like this.

Mr. Illingworth said the committee's estimates were getting larger and
larger. Questions relating to the erection of buildings, however, did not
come within his purview at all. Those were matters for the Minister for
Works.

Sir James Lee Steere : And if we go to him he will say, “I will approve of
it if you can get the Treasury to find the money.”

Mr. Illingworth said that when Mr. Throssell, as Premier, made the promise
of the additions to the institution, he (Mr. Throssell) told him that the
one thing that the country was crying out for was a healthy crop of first-
class “noes.” He (Mr. Illingworth) had had to produce as good a crop as he
could. They must face the question that had arisen in this State. People
all over the State were crying out for mechanics’ or miners’ institutes or
institutions of that character, and our  population was but a little over
200,000. We now had a Library here that would be creditable to a
population of half a million of people. The people must realise the fact
that there were limits to resources and our expenditure. The Government
was pruning down the Civil Services and there was an outcry in all
directions ; indeed,' it was pruning down even to a point that was not,
perhaps, quite justified. The Government was reducing the staff and
refusing increase in salaries. In the face of that, how could the
Government turn round and give large sums of money to institutions like
the Victoria Public Library and Museum, which had already had vast sums of
money spent on it, and which came this year upon the funds of the State
for increased sums? Of course, the argument that the committee had no room
for its specimens would not hold good. If it had not enough room, it
showed it had too many specimens. For each person who went to the Museum
for the purposes of study, hundreds went for mere pleasure. He would be
pleased to see the Library extended to three times its present size if
they had the money to do it with. They had not, however, got the money.

Sir James Lee Steere contended that the Victoria Library and Museum stood
on a very different footing from the numerous mechanics’ institutes in the
country districts, the latter being merely local institutions.

Mr. Illingworth said he could not accept that contention. The men out in
the backblocks—the bone and sinew of the country—would have no place to
meet in but the public house were it not for those institutes. Those
people must be considered before people who lived in the cities, who
enjoyed every possible advantage imaginable, and who, if need be, could
get books from the private libraries 5s. or 10s. a year. The country
mechanics’’ and miners’ institutes had a claim upon the Government, but
the Government could not even meet their requirements. They had demands
coming in for recreation grounds and mechanics’ institutes which were
altogether beyond the revenue of the State. They could not be met with in
their entirety, in addition to the other State requirements, without a
revenue of six millions a year. They also had to face the fact that the
railways would not pay.

Sir James Lee Steere : Some say there will be a large overplus in the
railways.

Mr. Illingworth : They speak without knowledge. Continuing, Mr.
Illingworth pointed out that the State would have to pay this year as
interest, etc., on the Goldfields Water Scheme £160,000, without a
shilling return. They also had to face the fact that the sliding scale
would commence to operate in October next. The question then presented
itself as to how the money could be raised.

Sir James Lee Steere said the cost of the proposed additions would be
between £13,000 and £14,000—£8,000 for the Library and £6,000 for the
Museum and Art Gallery.

Mr. Illingworth said the committee and the public ought to be well
satisfied with what had been achieved so far, and, in respect to a further
extension, they ought to have a little patience. The question that the
deputation had raised, however, was one to be determined by the Minister
for Works. If Mr. Rason said that the work was to be done, he (Mr.
Illingworth), as Treasurer, would have to find the money.

Sir James Lee Steere : I do not think it is any good going to him, because
he will say : “You must see the Treasurer and ascertain if he can find the
money.”

Mr. Illingworth also pointed out that the Government had to face another
pro- …

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 … to be. The Government also had to face the agitation to do away with
the sliding scale ; and if that agitation prevailed, it would have to
reconsider its position. There would also be a reduction in the State
revenue if, as seemed likely, our principal trading concern were run at a
loss. In view of all those facts, and that the goldfields water supply
scheme had not yet been brought to a paying condition, it was unreasonable
to expect a very large expenditure on such a building as the additions to
the Library and Museum.

Sir James Lee Steere: Do you not think you can find £6,000 for the
Beaufort-street end?

Mr. Illingworth asked the committee to look at the question as reasonable
business men. Which would they say ought to be done—to spend the money as
they proposed in adding to the present large institution, or in miners’
institutes or schools or hospitals in the backblocks, where men had no
accommodation except the public-house, and not even a church?

Sir James Lee Steere : They would not go if they had one.

Mr. Illingworth : In such a case, what would you do? We cannot even supply
schools or hospitals or miners’ institutes all over the place. What are we
to do? Are we to put £13,000 more on to the Public Library in Perth?

Sir James Lee Steere : I would certainly spend money in increasing that
building.

Mr. Illingworth : And let the hospitals go?

Sir James Lee Steere : Men, when they are sick, should be sent to the
central places.

Mr. Illingworth said he could not agree with Sir James. He preferred
seeing hospitals in the back-blocks, where the men were amongst their
work, and where it seemed to him the hospitals were, most needed. There
were districts in the State now where people were dying because there were
no medical men and hospital facilities within their reach. They had now to
face the problem whether they were to go on spending large sums of money
on those things which were rather in the nature of luxuries than absolute
necessities.

Sir James Lee Steere : I cannot agree with you that libraries and museums
are luxuries. They are necessities.

Mr. Woodward informed the Minister that people frequently came to the
Institution and wanted to see some of the sample products of the State.
The Institution might therefore be regarded as being an encouragement and
help to local industries.

Mr. Illingworth : It does not do us the slightest bit of good in that
direction. It is simply a toy to most of the people  who go to that
Museum. The exhibits are simply interesting and nice to  see. As for their
educational value, they are worthless, except to a few people.

Dr. Harvey stated that the committee had thousands of pounds worth of
specimens at the Museum, and, unless something was done, they would lose
them. In view of the promise of former Premiers, the Government ought to
carry out the additions. If, however, the State was going to be
embarrassed by the expenditure of the £13,000, no doubt the attitude of
the Minister was the correct one. He could not think that such would be
the case, and he reminded the Minister that, the world over, the
importance of providing and equipping institutions of that kind was
recognised.

Mr. Illingworth : That is only one item. It is the large number of
demands, when taken together, that make the position serious.

Mr. Battye thought the Minister was wrong in saying that Melbourne, when
the population of Victoria was half a million, did not enjoy such
facilities as Perth had now.

Mr. Illingworth : There was no such accommodation in the Public Library in
Melbourne when the population of Victoria was 500,000 as you have here. I
was in it. I was there before you were born. In proportion to the
population, you have more accommodation now than they have. In conclusion,
Mr. Illingworth stated that the matter was not in his Department. He had
simply expressed his own private views on the general question. If,
however, the deputation would interview the Minister for Works, and
arrange with him for the erection of the desired additions the buildings,
he (Mr. Illingworth) would have to find the money. He was but one member
of the Ministry, and he could not conscientiously give their application
his support.

Sir James Lee Steere : Then, I think, we must bring pressure to bear
somewhere else.

The deputation then retired.

The request preferred on Friday last cannot, by any process of reasoning, be excluded from that category. The deputation merely asked that the Government should place on the Estimates a sum of money sufficient to erect the contemplated additions to the Library and Museum, the plans of which had already been prepared, and the foundation-stone of which was laid a year ago by the Prince of Wales. In replying to the deputation, Mr. Illingworth took up attitude which, on second thoughts, he is himself scarcely likely to wholly approve.

Almost without qualification he described the institutions whose cause the deputation pleaded as mere luxuries. Hardly less out of place was his insistence upon the counter claims of the country mechanics’ and miners’ institutes. There is, admittedly, force in the contention that the country institutes should receive their share of attention. No one, however, has urged any course to the contrary.

Where the Minister was at fault was in seeming to play one off against the other. The Government is in duty bound to do its best for both with such means it has at its disposal. The needs of the Public Library cannot be accepted as an excuse for starving the country institutes. Neither, on the other hand, must the necessities of the country institutes be put forward as an excuse for impoverishing the larger national institutions. Even supposing, for the sake of argument, that Mr. Illingworth’s strictures on the extravagance of such institutions as the Public Library and Museum were justified—which, except for the sake of argument, cannot for a moment be admitted—his refusal to accede to the request of the deputation came at the wrong time.

As was pointed out by members of the Committee, the additions asked for were promised nearly two years ago by Mr. Throssell's Government. This fact alters the whole aspect of the case. Relying on that promise, and the further promise of Mr. Leake's Government that it would respect the pledges of its predecessors, the Committee of the Library and Museum have added largely to the collections.

The result, of course, is that a state of absolute congestion now prevails in every department. A host of exhibits for the Museum, many of them invaluable to the public, are rendered useless because there is no room to display them. It is also a serious consideration that not a few of these treasures are, in consequence of their having to be packed away, in jeopardy of irreparable damage.

The same remark applies to the books as to the works of art and to the scientific exhibits. The accommodation afforded by the Library is hopelessly inadequate. There is sufficient room neither for the  readers who resort to the institution, nor for the books they want to read. If it had been intended by the Government to say, “Thus far thou shalt go and no further,” the time to have done so was before the promises already referred to were made,  and certainly before the foundation stone of the Beaufort-street wing of the present building was laid by the Prince of Wales.

Seeing that his Royal Highness participated in that ceremony, on a distinct assurance the building would be proceeded with at once, anything like a breach of faith becomes doubly regrettable, and renders Mr. Illingworth’s unsympathetic reply to the deputation even more open to animadversion than it would be otherwise.

It is bad enough, however, that the Committee should have been led to suppose that the required accommodation would have been forthcoming, and that after relying upon the fulfillment of Ministerial promises they should suddenly be told that they must make-shift indefinitely without it. If it is part of the policy of the Government, and if Parliament intends to endorse it, that the Museum, Art Gallery and Library are for some years, at any rate, to be kept at a standstill, the Committee will know what to do in the future.

Needless to say, such a decision would be very much to be regretted. It cannot be supposed, however, that any such retrogressive course is contemplated. But, whether it is or not, one thing is quite clear, that the money must be found for the proper housing of the national treasures we already possess.

For a Treasurer with a surplus of anything between a quarter of a million and £300,000 to talk of not being able to spend some £13,000 to provide the necessary accommodation is to talk nonsense. The money must be found, and can be found easily enough, Mr. Illingworth’s protestations notwithstanding. As  to the Minister’s remarks regarding the utility of public libraries, it is perhaps charitable to allow them to pass without comment. They carry their own condemnation.

Mr. Illingworth has evidently forgotten his Ruskin. Everyone knows on what a high pedestal the great apostle of art placed pictures and books as a source of national education and inspiration. His admiration of museums and his definition of their function is, perhaps, less widely known :—

A museum is (says Mr. Ruskin) be it first observed, primarily, not at all a place of entertainment, but a place of education. And a museum is, be it secondly observed, not a place for elementary education, but for that of already far-advanced scholars. And it is by no means the same thing as a parish school, or a Sunday school, or a day school, or even the Brighton Aquarium. Be it observed, in the third place, that the word “school” means “leisure,” and that the word “museum” means “belonging to the Muses,” and that all schools and museums whatsoever can only be what they claim to be, and ought to be, places of noble instruction, when the persons who have a mind to use them can obtain so much relief from the work, or exert so much abstinence from the dissipation, of the work of the outside world as may enable them to devote a certain portion of secluded, laborious, and reverent life to the attainment of the Divine Wisdom. . . .  The first function of a museum is to give an example of perfect order and perfect elegance to the disorderly and rude populace. Everything in its own place, everything looking its best because it is there; nothing crowded, nothing unnecessary, nothing puzzling.

As Minister of Education, Mr. Illingworth should be most in sympathy with educational institutions of this character. It is matter for surprise that, holding such an office, he should in this particular so signally have failed to realise its responsibilities.

In subsequently referring the deputation to the Minister for Works, after practically giving its members a flat refusal, Mr. Illingworth showed no saner appreciation of the position. However, as events proved, that course had at least one advantage. The presence of Dr. Jameson, a member of the Government, on the deputation was sufficient of itself to show that Mr. Illingworth was not in harmony with his colleagues on the question, and the more than sympathetic reply of Mr. Rason still further strengthened that impression.

The fact probably is that Mr. Illingworth spoke hastily, and allowed his views as an individual to carry him further than he intended. At any rate, it is inconceivable that the majority of the Cabinet will support him in the stand he has taken. Apart altogether from the respect due to pledges, it will be a penny wise and pound foolish policy not to make adequate provision for housing our library, our museum, and our art collection in a manner that will enable them better to fulfil  the objects for which they are intended than is now possible. It is not to say, because any young country might be pardonably proud of what we have already done in that direction, that we should now rest on our oars. Where education is concerned, not to go forward is, inevitably, to go back.