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work under the cooperative system. The lowest tender for ordinary construction was ?42,000 and for fireproof ?45,300; the others were considerably higher.
On 13 April 1898 the foundation stone was laid by the Premier, Mr Seddon, and when the session began the walls were almost complete. Because of the noise it was decided that the work would have to cease. All may have been quiet there, but it was very much otherwise in the House. On the second day the Leader of the Opposition gave notice of a motion that the House regretted that His Excellency's advisers without the necessary authority had greatly exceeded the specific appropriation of ?7,000, such action being a dangerous subversion of the House's control over public expenditure. There was an acrid debate but the Government survived.
As a result of the attack, however, the Premier decided to abandon the idea of a three-storeyed building and to limit expenditure to ?25,000. The Library Committee initiated another debate in which members tried to get the Government to reconsider its decision. It was unsuccessful but during the debate some of those who had condemned the spending of more than ?7,000 advised the Government to keep to the original plans.
The architect was upset at the change and stated that the alterations had destroyed the symmetry of the building so that it was no longer a monument to his ability. As a result his name was removed from the foundation stone, and today the building, which was said to be the finest example of Victorian Gothic in the country, does not bear the name of its designer.
The Library was completed in 1899, but took some time to dry out and it was not until early 1901 that it was occupied. It is a fine building, but has many defects from a library point of view. The main reading room is probably one of the most beautiful rooms in the country, but the high windows reduce considerably the book capacity as well as allowing too much bright light on to the stock, and on to the readers.
THE EARLY LIBRARIANS
Ewen McColl, the first Librarian, died in 1881. It is hard at this time to evaluate his work, indeed the Committee was very much in control and he was its instrument. It is probable, for example, that the fine collection of newspapers of the time was due as much to the initiative of the Committee as to the Librarian.
He was succeeded by Angus MacGregor, a Scot, who had been associated, it seems, with the Dunedin Athenaeum and appears to have been a man with somewhat wider interests than his predecessor. During his time the Library bound its large collection of pamphlets, many of which are now of great value, and in addition absorbed the more worthwhile books from the Wellington Provincial Library. He also began the accessioning and shelf marking of the books. The Library was beginning to become an organised collection.
He early realised that there was little likelihood of a new library building, but his reports show that he grasped the essential aims of a library, and particularly a legislative library. His reports deplored the lack of copyright deposit in New Zealand, while he did much to make the resources of the Library available to students.
One of his main tasks was to build up the collection relating to New Zealand in the Library. This has always been essential material and in his day the Library began to fill the gaps, a task which is not yet completed. Collier's interest was great and he compiled the first New Zealand bibliography, published by the Government Printer in 1889.
The Committee then appointed Mr H. L. James, B.A., Acting Librarian. Mr James had joined the staff in 1889 and continued as a member until 1923. He was a born librarian, hampered by devotion to detail and the desire to do the almost impossible. Generally whatever he did was sound and has stood the test of time. For 10 years until January 1901 he was in charge. Though two attempts were made to appoint him Librarian, and one to appoint the Serjeant-at-Arms, Colonel De Quincey, Librarian, it was not until 1900, when the new building was almost completed, that the necessity for further staff made some additional appointments necessary and a Chief Librarian was appointed.
However useful they were from the members' point of view, they were not the best examples of the cataloguer's art. In 1890 the Committee authorised a new edition and the supervision was entrusted to Mr James, the work of compilation being done by Mr B. E. Stocker, M.A. The manuscript was completed in May 1894, but the cost of printing was so great that the length of the entries had to be cut again and again. The first volume was issued in 1895 and the second in 1897.
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