"The Oldest of Them All" (Wairarapa) Multi-Cache

A library for Carterton was a priority for early settlers and the one established in 1874 was one of the longest surviving private subscription libraries in the country.

Early settlers were holding “readings” in each others homes as early as 1870. Listeners each paid a penny to be present and the money accumulated was spent on new books. As the book collection grew a room in Carterton’s first town hall was rented to house it.

By December 1878 some 700 volumes had been bought. Carter raised another fifty pounds on the libraries behalf and contributed another 12 pounds himself for more books..

The community decided to build a library; Charles Carter helped again by obtaining the land and providing extra funds. The imposing mock-Roman building was completed, Mr W. Booth supplying the timber. The first trustee’s of the building were Mr Booth along with Mr Adam Armstrong and Mr R. Fairbrother. A Librarian’s residence was in the back of the library and until 1988 were still being used.

A public reading room was opened in 1896 and the Carterton Borough Council made an annual grant of twenty pounds for the library and for public use of the rest room.

Adam Ayles was appointed librarian. A former Royal Navy Chief Petty Officer, Ayles had been a member of the 1875 Nares expedition to the Artic in an attempt to be the first to reach the North Pole. The attempt failed but Ayles was hailed as one of the heroes of the expedition. He held the Carterton Librarian’s position for three years resigning in March 1899 under mysterious circumstances.

Throughout this time the library was managed by a voluntary committee elected annually. The Carterton Borough Council increased its grant to two hundred and fifty pounds and the Wairarapa South County Council contributed fifty pounds. However maintaining the building and service became an uphill battle.

In May 1963 at the library’s 87th Annual General Meeting the decision was taken to ask the borough to take over management. At the last meeting of the committee Mr W. Vaughan handed over the keys to Cr. Andy McCallum.

Since coming under Council control the number of books, range of services and size of building have all increased. In 1967 the Council decided to join the National Library Country Library Service scheme; today continued by the national Interloan scheme.

Saturday morning opening was introduced in 1995 followed by an automated catalogue and issuing system in 1996. A major renovation of the library building took place in 1998 with the new extension being opened by Mayor Georgina Beyer on 5 March 1999.

During 2001 the Carterton District Council entered into an arrangement with the South Wairarapa District Council to share a library service. The current Wairarapa Library Service operates a shared automated catalogue and issuing system, interloan service and summer holiday programme. The joint Library Committee sets strategy and policies for all four libraries.

The library now holds over 26,000 books with a staff of four and serving a membership (shared with South Wairarapa District) of 9,000.

To find the cache you will need to go to the published co-ordinates and answer the following questions to solve the following S 41 0A.BCD E 175 3E.FGH

When placed the cache a 400ml clear Sistema container contained the following items

Please NOTE that if you must sign the logbook for each individual cachers or proof of a photo for group logs, otherwise your log may be deleted.

PLEASE NO PHOTOS or logs of the final please as this is a Multicache and we dont really want to spoil it for all the other cachers otherwise your log may be deleted

Please hide the cache exactly how you found it as we dont really want it to get muggled as they can appear without notice