BELGIAN RELIEF FUND.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 70, 23 March 1915, Page 6

BELGIAN RELIEF FUND.

THE trVDAUER GIFT. ( 'OLLECTT OX ARRA KG EMEXTS. TSi<> Auckland Belgian Committee met yesterday afternoon to consider a scheme for obtaining subscription* throughout the Auckland province towards securing .Mr. Partridse's gift of the Lindauer collection of pictures for Auckland, and at the same time raising the necessary £10.000 required by the donor to be contributed to the Uelsrian Relief Fund. .Mr. Knhert Burns. Actin«Coiisul for Belgium, presided. Mr. Neville Nowcomb suggested that each borough council, road board, and local body in t lie prorimv should be invited to subscribe the value of -a particular picture in the collection, which numbers seventy works of art. while wealthy Individual citizens and residents of the Xorth Island inijrht ateo be inclined to assist in securing the retention of the gallery, in the Dominion. The chairman pointed out that under the terms of the gift the committee «erp empowered to dispose of the pictures abroad if the people of New Zealand were n-ot sufficiently patriotic to subscribe the £ 10.000. i -Mr. Wesley though it would lx- a good idea first to have the £10.000 allotted among the seventy pictures on a system of points, and Mr. Xeweomb emphasised that under the conditions .Mr. Partridge himself would be practically making a donation of £15,000 to [the city apart from the £10,000 to be raised for the fund. The chairman referred to the further gift of manuscripts, copyright certificates and other matter promised by the donor β-hould the pictures be retained in Auckland, and also the gold medal awarded the collection at the St. Louie | Exhibition. Hβ expressed the opinion that the natives of Xcw Zealand would also assist in securing a collection of , such ancestral and historical interest for retention in the country. A sub-comraittee consisting of the chairman, and Messrs. Newcomb. Milne and J. P. Warren viae set up to arrange details for the approval of the committee. It was agreed that, if possible, the amount required should be raised by subscriptions from local bodies and institutions and wealthy citizens. OTHER GIFTS TO FOND. Reference was made to tie generous gift by Dr. E. E. Porritt. of Wanganui, of a farm of 159 acres at Rukuhia. It wae mentioned that the land had been valued at over £3 10/ per acre, and that a mortgage of £2 10/ per acre had recently been paid off. The disposal of the farm was deferred pending a full report on it by Mr. Spragg. The donation of fifty sheep by Mr.' E. D. Holt, of Cape Runaway, towards the Belgian Fund were landed" at Orakei yesterday, and will be sold to-morrow afternoon by Messrs. Dalgety and Co., when it is expected that some spirited bidding will take place. In reply to an offer from the "Humpty Dumpty" Pantomime Company, to make a street collection on Fridiv or Monday on behalf of the fund, it was decided to thank the company, but to state that the committee had resolved not to have any more street collections at ppieent. DRAMATIC COMPANY'S TOUR. APPEAL BY PRLME MINISTER. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) ■WELLINGTON. Mbnday. TUte Pliramer-HaU Dramatic Company, •which 'has been organised to tour the Dominron. and it he profits of wimjh are to be donated to the Belgian Farmd. hae opened ite season here. The Prime Minister. Right Hon. W. F. Maesey, addressed the audrenw briefly, bespeaking the goodwill at" the public lor the company, and eeking for ■sympathy for the Belgians in taberr dwbrete. $ew Zealanders (ivod in a land of proeper.'ty, and the'rr duty wee cJtaar. Mr. Maseev also aHuded feelingly too rche loss of the Allies' battleships in tStp Da-rdaneUee. A feature of the evening's proceedings was the scale of a silV: souven-ir programme containing tjh-e pigna'tures of His Excellency th*> Governor, the Kairl of Liverpool, members or the Cabinet, Sir Jftseph Waixl. the Mayor and. nremlwre of the PHmmcT-HaM Company. Tin is was gold repeatedly, amd realised £75.