ealand library
authorities, where the secondary cities are small, where the pattern of
local government is uneven, and where the population as a whole has a
high standard of education and is avid for books. Costs in New Zealand,
per head of population, are bound to be relatively high; vigilance is
necessary to ensure that they are no higher than they need be.

It has been apparent that cooperation between local authorities will be
the major factor in making economies on a national scale. A note of the
work of the Working Party on Library Cooperation of 27-28 August 1956
appeared in last year's annual report, and it was recorded that the
Minister of Education, at the request of the New Zealand Library
Association, had authorised payment of travelling expenses for its
Committee on Regional Planning to enable its work to be carried out.

The committee worked during the year and met in Wellington for two
full-day sessions on 6 and 7 June 1957 for consideration of the
"establishment of regional and district library services as the best
method of providing a more effective library service for the whole
country". Its report was made to the New Zealand Library Association.
After consideration by the executive of the Local Authorities Section,
some amendments were made and the report published by the Association as
_Co-operation: A New Phase_. Fifteen hundred copies were printed and
were circulated to all local authorities for discussion.

The report states:

"1. The main problems facing public libraries are:

(i) The unfair distribution over the whole community of the costs
of library service.

(ii) The continuing growth of the cost of municipal government to
the point where it has become an embarrassment to the cities
and boroughs concerned.

(iii) The failure of some local authorities to provide for library
services."

"8. The basic factor in improving library services will be cooperation
among local authorities. Such cooperation should be the condition of
increased Government assistance."

"10. Government assistance to such federations should take the form of
cash subsidies on all expenditure approved for subsidy by the
federation, and by the Minister (or National Library Board)."

This report formed the main topic of discussion at the New Zealand
Library Association conference in Invercargill in February 1958. The
Association approached the Government for fa