GIFT OF £25,000.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19257, 12 March 1928, Page 8

GIFT OF £25,000.

ART GALLERY FOR THE CITY. MR R. E. M'DOUGALL'S GENEROSITY. On Saturday the announcement ■wfc made that Mr R. E. McDougall, the proprietor of Aulsebrook and Company, had offered to present to the City an art gallery to cost at least £25,000.

The details of Mr McDougall's generous gift were communicated by the Mayor to a representative of Tub Pbess as follows: —

Mr E. E. McDougall has intimated to the Mayor that he is prepared to present an Art Gallery to the City, the only condition being that the City provide the site, which Mr McDougall would like to be one in the Botanic Gardens. But he does not make this an absolute condition. The idea is that the approximate cost will be about £25.000, but that will be the minimum, and not necessarily the maximum.

The whole matter will be in the hands of a very small committee, 1 consisting only of Mr McDougall himself, the Mayor, and Mr S. Hurst Seager. The intention is to ask for competitive designs, Mr Hurst Seager to be the assessor. It is hoped that in a few days the whole of the details will be arranged and that within a comparatively short time building operations will begin. The Mayor leaves Christchurch for Nelson to-day to attend the Municipal Conference, but will return at the end of the week. Mr Hurst Seager also has an engagement that take 9 him out of town. The Mayor intends, as soon as he returns, to push the matter on with all possible expedition.

A Distinctive Site. "One thing I do want," Mr E. E. McDougall said to a representative of The Pbess, "is a distinctive site in the Botanic Gardens, well away from the Museum, so that the Art Gallery will stand out by itself. It is about time that the City had a decent Art Gallerv.''

Mr McDougall added that the conditions attached to the gift were that a suitable site is granted by the Domains Board, and that the design adopted should be adopted as the result of a competition. While the condition regarding the site was not hard and fast, Mr McDougall indicated that it was next door to being so. A building worthy of the City is what Mr McDougall has in view, but ho recognises that of higher importance than the appearance of the exterior is the proper, scientific lighting of the interior.

The Mayor's Thanks. Commenting on Mr McDougall's gift, the Mayor.said:— "I feel quite certain that all the citizens of Christchurch will rejoice with me over this phenomenally good news. Many of us have realised for a long time that it is a reflection on our City not to have an- up-to-date Art Gallery, and I myself have given much anxious thought to the way in which one could be secured. Mr McDougall's offer comes at an opportune moment and almost staggers with its munificence. On behalf of all the citizens, including myself, I should like to express our sincere thanks. To other citizens who may have money of which they could dispose, I would like to suggest that they might imitate Mr McDougall's example by providing the City with some other things it desires. ''

The Deputy-Mayor (Mr D. G. Sullivan, M.P.), in endorsing the Mayor's remarks, said that Mr McDougall's generous act was a high example of citizenship unsurpassed in the City's history. He hoped that other citizens who were in a position to do so would, in a degree proportionate to their ability, follow Mr McDougall's example to mark the City's diamond jubilee.

A Previous Offer. As is known pretty generally, this is not the first occasion upon which Mr McDougall has shown direct and practical interest in patters pertaining to art in Christchurch and particularly in respect of an Art Gallery for the City. Towards the end of 1025, when the ratepayers rejected the proposed loan of £25,000 for the purpose of providing an Art Gallery in keeping with the other public buildings of the City, Mr McDougall offered to subscribe £SOO towards the cost of the building, and, at the time, it was hoped that other wealthy citizens would come forward with voluntary subscriptions and help to make the new Art Gallery an accomplished fact.

An Opportune Gift. The Mayor's reference to the gift being opportune is capable of two applications—opportune in connexion with the City's celebrations of its diamond jubilee, and opportune in connexion with the conditions of the will of the late Mr James Jamieson, under which he bequeathed to the City his very valuable collection of pictures. The late Mr Jamieson, who was an ardent art connoisseur and also one who took a deep and direct interest in the Botanic Gardens, left his collection to the City on the conditions that an Art Gallery should be erected on a specified site in the Botanic Gardens and that the building should be started by May, 1929. Mr McDougall's gift will make it possible for the requirements of Mr Jamieson's will to be complied with.

Mr E. Wallwork's Appreciation. "On behalf of the Society," said Mr E. Wallwork, president of the Canterbury Society of Arts, "I must say that it is a most generous offer, and, naturally, all members of the Society are very pleased at Mr McDougall's action and view his offer with extreme gratification.'' Mr Walhvork added that it was good to think that the City possessed a man of Mr McDougall's type, and one able to make such a fine contribution to Christchurch culture. Christchurch had now come into line with Auckland, Dunedin, and Wanganui, where the erection of art galleries had been made possible through the generosity of private citizens. Mr McDougall's gift meant that the City would be able to receive the Jamieson bequest, and also to avail itself of the offer of the Society of Arts to accept as a gift its collection, which has been increasing during the past 48 years. Mr Wallwork considered the suggested site in the Gardens an admirable one, and remarked that the New South Wales National Gallery is in the Sydney Domain, and the branch galleries in Manchester are situated in areas surrounded by lawns and gardens. The Site in the Gardens. A site for the new Art Gallery, other than the site in the Botanic Gardens favoured by his late brother, Mr James Jamieson, does not appeal to Mr W. G. Jamieson, one of the trustees under his brother's will. "The building should be erected in the Gardens, and, if possible, on the

site on which my brother, for many years before his death, had set his heart," Mr Jamieson said to a representative of Thd Phess when discussing the question of site. The site which the Domains Board granted for an Art Gallery is situated west of the Museum building, and practically is in line with the southern wall of that building. A drawback to this site, apart from the interference with uiany trees that contribute to the natural beauty of the surroundings, is that access to the building at night, or after the Gardens were closed, would not be always possible. College SQHare. , The site favoured by t,he_ late Mr Jamieson is.on the western iine of the lawn that fronts on Rolleston avenue. It will be recalled that some years ago a scheme was put forward for the formation of a public square by throwing this • area open to the public by removing the existing holly hedge and placing the present entrance gates 011 the line of the new fence, roughly about 125 yards westward and in front of the clump of pines. Other alterations in the present lay-out would be necessary. The desired site for the Art Gallery is, approximately, in front of the new fence and about midway along the line of the fence, well set back, so that there would be; in front of the gallery, a line expanse of lawn. The scheme for the square, which, on account of the proximity of Canterbury College and Christ's College, might be called "College square," is supported by Mr James Young, curator of the Botanic Gardens. Mr Jamieson, in explaining matters to the renorter, > remarked that thefe were many precedents for the removal of iron pallisades from public parks and gardens, and of every obstacle that hindered the free access of the public. He instanced Albert Park, Auckland, and Mr Young gave other examples. "There is little doubt," Mr Jamieson said, "that the trustees will make every endeavour to induce the authorities to give effect to my brother's longcherished wish regarding the site of the gallery. He built up his collection largely with the view of. & gallery in the gardens to house it."