I920.] 



ViLLACxE Institutes. 



153 



"The Institute should be the headquarters of organised local 

 activities of all kinds. Trade union branches, friendly societies, 

 pig clubs and bee clubs, and agricultural and horticultural 

 societies of one sort and another, adult schools, and classes 

 arranged by voluntary organisations, Women's Institutes, 

 schools for mothers, chess clubs, and so forth, should be 

 encouraged to use the Institutes ; and one or more rooms, as 

 may be necessary, should be provided for the purposes of their 

 meetings. The Institute should contain a hall large enough^ for 

 dances, cimema shows, concerts, plays, pubhc lectures, and 

 exhibitions. At the Institute there should be a public library 

 and local museum. If aiTangements can be made for games 

 and sports, so much the better. The Institute, in a word, 

 should be a centre of educational, social and recreational 

 activity." 



It has been pointed out m a Memorial to the Committtee that 

 the schools possess certain advantages for library accommoda- 

 tion, as the master is more or less in direct contact with the 

 villagers, and the school children can readily carry the books 

 home to their parents and relatives and also act as a medium 

 of return. The school, however, may not always be the best 

 depository for the periodical consignments of books to be 

 brought from the general central library, and where Village 

 Institutes and similar organisations exist the books may be 

 better placed therein. 



Accommodation. — ^Under present conditions these activities 

 are carried on to a greater or less extent, but more often than 

 not they are hampered partly by the lack of accommodation 

 free from definitely sectarian or cramping philanthropic control, 

 and partly by the unsuitability of such accommodation as 

 exists. In the opinion of the Committee nothing short of a 

 great national programme designed to provide in every parish 

 an Institute suited to its needs will meet the requirements of 

 the rural community in the near future. 



Cost. — With regard to cost, it is suggested that the Institutes 

 should be estabhshed out of public funds. The Committee 

 states that the cost could not be borne by Parish Councils or 

 even County Councils ; it mentions also that the Institutes 

 would be used more and more for public and quasi-public 

 purposes. 



A National Concern. — In the main, the Committee considers 

 that the establishment of Village Institutes should be a national 

 charge. Direct encouragement should be given to the estab- 



