ment, to replace those destroyed by fire in 1907. All the present State buildings, with the exception of Government House, face on Lambton Quay or adjacent streets; consequently soon after detraining at Thorndon or Lambton, the visitor feels the dominating influence of established authority.
Of the municipal buildings the chief is the town hall, a massive pile with columnar front on Cuba Street. In this building Wellington has one of the finest pipe-organs in Australasia. Some critics say that it surpasses Sydney's more costly municipal organ.
Near the town hall is the public library. Architecturally, it is not particularly impressive, but to Americans it should be an interesting object, for here, in 1911, American literature won the approval of the capital's juvenile readers. American works had for some time been popular with adult patrons of the library, but youthful subscribers were prejudiced against them. Anything American, it seemed, was thought by them to be fustian. At last came a change, and now, to quote a Wellington newspaper, "The cold shoulder and the disdainful eye are no longer turned upon American volumes. A solid inquiry has set in for American literature, and the army of the curious grows daily. The children of Wellington have 'discovered' the Americans, and like them."
Wellington also has an art gallery, but apparently many of its residents had never heard of it when I inquired for it.
