MUCH NEEDED PROTECTION.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 269, 10 November 1923, Page 6

MUCH NEEDED PROTECTION.

IThe announcement thai the Govern- j | ment is removing some of tbe valuable ' Maori exhibits and other material from .■ the Dominion Museum in Wellington to ', fire-proof rooms in a private building, is ' i more important than many of our readers may imagine. The condition of , the Dominion 'Museum is a danger and . a disgrace. The institution has grown in importance year by year as tbe collections are added to by local acquisitions , and gifts from abroad, yet these very :' valuable collections have been house! j' in a wooden building which has been . officially described as "old, unsuitable, overcrowded, leaking, and decayed." It ; has been impossible to display the 1 material properly, and the staff must suffer agonies of .anxiety about Are. t Visiting scientists have stood aghast at t this risk to the beginnings of a national ' collection, and must have wondered what kind of respect the Government and people of New Zealand have for science . when this material, especially that . relating to our own native race, could be , exposed year after year to such danger. , , Three years ago the Director said tho . failure to provide better housing was I a standing disgrace. The Government , has been short of money, and probably • ' it also feels that as this Museum serves , i Wellington as a local Museum, Welling- , • ton might help in itg improvement. The , ( Director said in the report from which wo have just quoted that it should get ' from the people of Wellington the sup- ' ' port given to the provincial museums : i in other centres, but Wellington would ' . .not show this interest so long as the : museum remained an ordinary Govern- ' ' | ment department. Wellington, by reason 'of being the capital, is less self-reliant ' • I than the other cities, and it does not ,' sco why it should put its hand in its , I pocket for what is called a Dominion ' business. Other places, however, which ' ' provide their own museums, may pro- ' ; perly ask that Wellington should con- ■ tribute something towards an institu- , tion that directly benefits that city so much more than the rest of New Zealand. In the meantime it is satisfacl tory to know that part of the collection i has been placed beyond the reach of ' fire.