The Canterbury Museum

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21582, 19 September 1935, Page 10

The Canterbury Museum

The ceaseless war against dust in the Canterbury Museum, as discussed by the curator, Mr R. Speight, in an interview in " The Press," is one of "many disabilities under which the museum is labouring. The need for protection from dust was not properly realised when the museum was equipped with the present showcases, and in many other respects also the building is out of date. It was erected before the requirements of a museum had been seriously studied, and little thought was given to the preserving of the exhibits, to lighting and ventilation, to the storing of reference and research collections in addition to those open to the public, to the housing of the museum library,'to facilities for preparing and renovating exhibits and for investigational and maintenance work in general, and to the health and comfort of the staff and visiting public. The study of all these requirements during the last half-century has made the designing of museums a highly specialised branch of architecture. Christchurch alone among the four cr.pital cities has not benefited from the new ideas. In Auckland the war memorial has taken the form of a new museum, a magnificent building on a magnificent site, and the enthusiasm and practical support of the public show that Auckland residents are justifiably proud of their museum.- In Dunedin there is talk of new building plans, and a fine anthropological wing, recently opened, illustrates modern ideas on the lay-out of a museum. In Wellington the new Dominion Museum is so far advanced that it will be occupied early next year. Christchurch alone has nothing to show, though it has reason to bo thankful that the roof did not cave in under the weight of the recent snows.

Canterbury College, whose endowment revenues have been drastically curtailed, cannot be expected to set things right; but in any case public support for a public institution is a good principle. The museum is meagrely staffed and financed. For several years the full-time scientific staff has been limited to one member, and the income of the institution has been far too small to allow of the progress which the public has a right to expect. The library has suffered, and few but casual opportunities'can be taken to add to the. collections. Perhaps this is not wholly an evil, since new acquisitions intensify the difficulty, already acute, of storing or displaying material; but it is certainly a proof of the desperate state of the museum. Again, since collections are useless and meaningless unless dealt with by trained experts, investigational work has come to be one of the major functions of a modern museum; yet it is not reasonable to expect a scientific staff of one, however versatile and

energetic, to prevent the museum from falling into disrepute as a research institution. It is impossible, finally, not to feel anxiety about the well-being of irreplaceable collections in the museum, such as the Fereday collection of insects, the moa bones accumulated by Hutton and von Haast, and the Bishop library. The museum and the public deserve better than that these and other collections should be allowed to deteriorate; but unless considerable and early assistance is provided they will, and the museum fall still further and more lamentably back towards the shameful condition of a decayed institution, without function, purpose, or even hope. Fortunately, Canterbury local bodies, after a series of conferences held some time ago, have shown their practical interest and acknowledged a certain obligation to a provincial foundation by voting sums of money to the museum. These are not large, even in total; but what has been well begun may be handsomely continued. It is regrettable, however, that the Christchurch City Council, though it had equal opportunities with the other bodies, of learning the facts, has taken no action, and it is to be hoped that the neglect will be made good. The next estimates, a year hence, probably provide the earliest occasion for a grant; but the question could be discussed and the council's intentions made known long before that. The museum is, rfter all, of chief value to the city, and it is chiefly the city's responsibility to see that its value is maintained and raised.