MORE MEMBERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 140, 16 June 1938, Page 8

MORE MEMBERS.

CITY MUSEUM'S NEED. WORK OF EDUCATION. keeping pace with cost. The educational value of the Auckland War Memorial Museum to the com munity, and adequate recognition by the public, are involved in a decision made yesterday by the Museum Council to inaugurate a membership campaign. "We are faced with a declining income and increased costs," stated the chairman, Mr. C. R. Ford, as a commentary on a survey of membership fees over the past eight years, indicating that the sag in the depression period had not been adequately recovered. He went on to state that it was necessary to get another hundred members, and the question was one for the council to consider earnestly. In the course of discussion Mr. A. G. Lunn stressed the value of personal effort by the present members in bringing before their friends the special educational value to them and to the community at large of the museiyi. He recalled a successful effort of tn.> kind by Mr. Vaile, and felt strre that the required increase in membership could be secured. "We have a wonderful library here that is open to all members," he added, "and that alone is worth the guinea to anyone." In the course of discussion the chairman mentioned that the staff had done excellent work in increasing the membership after the drop during the depression, and he agreed that in a town the size of Auckland it was not too much to expect a thousand members. In fact he felt that if the effort were carried on through the regular meetings and lectures at the museum in conjunction with an organised effort by the present members the figure mentioned might be approached. It was decided to work out, with the director's assistance, a plan for a coordinated personal effort by the present members to add at least 200 more names to the membership list within the* next few months. At the meeting four new members were e.ected in Messrs. A. M. Wilson, H. G. Partridge, R. A. Harrison and J. Paterson (life).