HIGH PRAISE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 85, 11 April 1933, Page 5

HIGH PRAISE.

AUCKLAND MUSEUM.

MR. S. F. MARKHAM'S VIEWS.

MVAL INSTITUTIONS.

An arresting tribute to the standard of the Auckland War Memorial Museum was paid, last night by Mr. S. F. Markham, of the Museums Association, London, when addressing a conference of the council of the Institute and Museum, the Library and Art Gallery Committee of the City Council, and representatives of the contributing local bodies. Views of the museum movement generally and on the services which museums might render to community in New Zealand were also given by Professor Richards, of the Queensland University, who toured Australia with Mr. Markham. Mr. A. G. Lunn, president of the Institute and Museum, presided, and welcomed the speakers, and a welcome was also extended to them on behalf of the Library and. Art Gallery Committee by Mr. D. Donaldson. Mr. Markham reaffirmed his opinion that the Auckland Museum is at present the. best educational museum in the southern hemisphere; but lie hoped that this praise would not lead to selfsatisfaction and stagnation. He warned the meeting that leadership might very easily pass to rival institutions, in New Zealand and Australia, which were participating in the present forward museum movement. He instanced the Technological Museum in Sydney, which, although at present overcrowded in an old building, had splendid collections most admirably arranged, and which, with the contemplated new building, would possibly surpass Auckland. He mentioned also that the. Adelau\ Museum was making great strides, and that Wellington, with its new building, would soon be a competitor. The Melbourne Museum and the , Australian Museum, too, with their superb collections, would, with the advent of new buildings, quickly outpass Auckland's effort.

Assured Finance Needed. In order to retain its present leadership, Mr. Markham said Auckland would need first to look towards assured finance. He pointed out thqt in finance Auckland, though standing .high in NewZealand, was still very much behind equal towns of the Northern Hemisphere, such as Cardiff, which contributed 3/ per head of a population to its museum, and Norwich, which contributed 1/3 per head, while Auckland's contribution at the best calculation could only amount to lOd. He congratulated the city and surrounding local bodies on their agreement to cooperate in supporting the museum, but pointed out that this scheme,was not unique, for. in England sometimes a whole county would contribute to the support of one central museum.

In this connection, Mr. Markham considered that the local bodies had made a veTy good arrangement with the City Council and that they all received, excellent value, in the museum service, for their contributions. He hoped that the museum would further develop its. activities and extend them through ths suburbs and into the country districts. He stressed the importance of the school services and urged that they be increased both in extent and in variety of effort. He finally urged that there should be more co-operation instead of competition between museums, that the museum should act as the spearhead of culture in a community,' and that this spirit was the antithesis of competition for specimens.

New Movement. Professor Richards also expressed his appreciation of the high standard of the museum, its building, its interior arrangement and its display. He spoke of the new movement in the museum service which was just commencing in Australia and New Zealand, a movement of active participation in community interests rather than a static display of specimens. He urged that a museum should be regarded as a measure of the cultural status of the community, by which he meant, not only the financial support given to the museupi, but the efforts that were made within it to touch upon all cultural interests in the communitv.

Professor Richards pointed out that a museum's duty was three-fold, first, to serve and care for the art and natural history treasures of the community, secondly, to display, in the best possible educational manner, such specimens as will serve the purpose of education; and he urged tliat the displays should be as simple and well set out as possible rather than merely extensive. The third duty was that of research, in connection with which he pointed out that Australian and New Zealand museums already had a splendid record, but it was to be feared that this activity, in the past, had perhaps occupied an undue proportion of the museum's energy, and he urged a readjustment of emphasis towards educational activities.