THE ART SOCIETY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXII, Issue 82, 8 April 1891, Page 2

THE ART SOCIETY.

(To tho Editor.)

Sm,-rSo many letters have appeared lately re art matters in Auckland, andallontho one Bide, that bhe public who bake an inberest in art are led to believe that there is something seriously wrong, whereas, wero tho truth known, there is very little indeed to causo alarm. Letters have appeared signed by " Artist" and others, but to those within the inner circle the sourco of those is well-known.

Messrs Sbeele and Watkins are responsible for tho present disturbance, and any others who may have joined them have no complaint against the Art Society, bub have been influenced by these two gentlemen. I have been a member of tho Society since its formation, and a considerable portion of thab timo a member of Committee, and I can truthfully assert bhab bhe bwo gentlemen named, while members of bho Society, had tho utmost consideration shown them by thoso conducting the affairs of tho Society, and havo no more causa for complaint than any other member.

At the last annual meeting of the Society, attended by Messrs Steelo and Watkins, they were both proposed as members of Committee. Mr Steele declined, stating that ho could nob spare the necessary timo; Mr Watkins was duly elected, and attended a few meetings. He then resigned, his reason for doing so I never knew ; so that they both had an opportunity of having a say in bhe management of the Society. If Messrs Steele and Watkins honestly desire the promotion of their profession and art generally in Auckland their course is a very simple one. Let thorn join the Society, and ab the next annual meebing offer their services as members of Commibtee, and I have no hesibabion in saying bhey will both be elected. It has been a matter of considerable trouble in tho past to gob artists to act on the Committee, they, as a rule, being unable to devote tho time required, and I think artists and members of the Society are greatly indebted to those who, although not artists, have placed their services at the disposal of the Society. As the members of tho Academy seem most anxious to join hands with the Art Society, ib would be well for them to do so without further delay, and put an end to this unseemly quarrelling. But to suppose thab the Society of Arts, an old-established Society, wibh a good cash balance to their ciedib, and a yearly increasing list of members, should make overtures to a struggling fledgling, whoso existence for any lengthened period is doubbful, is simpiy absurd.—l am, etc., T. L. Drummond.