AN APPEAL TO AUSTRALIANS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.
[To THAI EDITOR Or THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—In 1910 the Bush Book Club of New South Wales was started at Sydney. Its object was to provide books for the bookless in such parts of the State as were entirely unsupplied with literature either by public or private enterprise. Settlers, schoolmasters, storekeepers, shearers, sleeper-cutters, station- hands, and their wives and families—all those, in short, ready and willing to pay a small subscription, but quite unable to subscribe to an ordinary circulating library—were to be given something to read beyond the weekly paper and the children's school-books. We hired a room in Sydney as the headquarters of the Bush Book Club and engaged a lady as secretary. The books were begged; the censoring, mending, covering, packing, and despatching were done by volunteers, and the Minister for Railways arranged to have the parcels delivered free on the State lines. Censorship is necessary, as the Bush Book Club undertook that neither political nor sectarian literature should be disseminated. In three years the number of branches in the bush has risen to two hundred and eighty-six. Far away in the back-blocks on the Lachlan River or up north on the Queensland border there are people who greet the advent of the coach which brings their books from the rail-head a hundred miles or more away with a delight and satisfaction undreamt of by the spoilt and sophisticated reader in this little country. It may make the position of the bookless clearer to cite the case of a young governess who, after nearly a year of mental starvation, gave up her situation and returned to Sydney defeated by the conditions obtaining in the home of her employers. The arrival of the first consignment of books (only twelve) and papers at Barringun, "at the back o' Bourke," was made an occasion of public rejoicing. Speeches were made, and a letter, pathetic in its overflowing gratitude, was sent to the then President of the Bush Book Club. The heads of the great circulating libraries of Sydney were, and still are, among the most generous and helpful of our friends. They have presented us with books and with still good, but cast-off, covers for them.
What the Bush Book Club wants is money. One shilling and fourpence will buy two good books, and subscriptions of any amount should be sent to Miss Bolton, Secretary of the Bush Book Club, Denman Chambers, Phillip Street, Sydney. It is better that the books should be bought at Sydney, as freight of book parcels from home is expensive. Besides this, people frequently send unsuitable books, whereas Miss Bolton will buy on the spot precisely what is required. The advantages of a supply of books to lonely dwellers in the bush are many. Books are a distraction, a comfort, a source of information and education ; they make people think and give them something to talk about, and they keep men away from the nearest store where drink is sold. To newly arrived immigrants our books are particularly welcome, and children's books are sent to children who without them might never hear of a fairy or a giant. Our appeal is directed chiefly to Australians in the United Kingdom, but we hope that others who can understand or imagine the pitiable lot of the bookless in "way back" districts may respond to it. The late Governor of New South Wales, Lord Chelmsford, gave his personal approval and support to the Bush Book Club, and Sir Gerald Strickland, his successor, shows a practical sympathy towards it which is thoroughly appreciated.—We
Admiralty House, Chatham.
First President of the Bush Book Club of New South Wales. DOROTHEA MACEELLAR, A If ice-President.
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