THE' PEAT COLLECTION.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 87, 13 April 1933, Page 6

THE' PEAT COLLECTION.

AN UNWARRANTED PURCHASE.

(To the Editor.)

Keen as I am on the acquisition of museum specimens, I do not think public funds should be spent in this direction when part of th» public is short of food. It is only fair to say that the Wellington Museum had nothing to do with it, and the purchase is a political one. It is strange, however, that two Auckland Ministers; —the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates and the Hon. J. A. Young—should be so anxious to put the collection past Auckland It waj made in this province of northern material, and the owner was very anxious for it to the Auckland War Memorial Museum, and offered it accordingly. Having no money, some friends of the museum endeavoured to get an art union permit from the Government, with the result that it was bought ovejr our heads for £3000. The Government recently voted 110 less than £100,000 of public money for the museum building at Wellington, and finds 110 difficulty in buying collections for it. If we ask for assistance —moral or financial— we invariably meet with a flat refusal, notwithstanding that we pay the whole costs of our own museum and about one-third of Wellington's. I know the Peat collection well. It consists mostly of gum specimens which have been out of demand for many years, and the only price I have previously heard mentioned is £2000, and the story of other buyers is not very convincing. However, I suppose the Government is to be congratulated upon having so much money in these hard times, even if it is spent in Wellington. We certainly do not see much of it here. H. E. VAILE.