The Press TUESDAY, MAY 7, 1946. Canterbury Museum

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24868, 7 May 1946, Page 4

The Press TUESDAY, MAY 7, 1946. Canterbury Museum

The Canterbury University College Council, which administers the Canterbury Museum, was informed at its last meeting that- his Worship the Mayor intends to ask the Christchurch City Council in the near future to affirm its support for the proposal to renovate and extend the museum as the centennial memorial of the province. The Mayor’s intention is to be warmly commended. He was reported at the same time to have said that, in the opinion of some he had consulted, it was a little too soon, yet, to call a meeting of Canterbury local body representatives to consider the choice of a provincial memorial, to be supported, if possible, by all. This may be a sound opinion, though it is a little difficult to see what stands in the way of a decision in principle, at this stage, and why it should be deferred if it can be taken. The sooner the primary decision is taken, the better. There will be many details to be worked out, financial, architectural, administrative, and so on, if the museum is chosen; and unless the plan is to hang uncompleted till long after the centennial has passed, this work should soon begin. In present conditions, which are not likely to improve rapidly, the whole process of building, from sketch to finish, is wearily slow. But whether the Mayor is rightly advised or not, his approach to the matter is obviously a good one. Although the museum is a provincial institution, not only in foundation and name but in i policy and fact, as the advance of its educational services in the last decade has signally proved, Christchurch has the best opportunity to use it, does use it most, has on any basis of reckoning the greatest obligation towards it, and should recognise that. If the City Council resolves to support the museum project, and—as it is not unreasonable to expect—does so unanimously, a meeting of Canterbury local body representatives would be given an excellent lead. A good deal must depend, of course, on the way the case is presented. To assume that the City Council supports the proposal, its advocacy will still' need all the help that the college and museum authorities can give. Fortunately, they have in the last year or two had the occasion (as well as the need) to master their own brief, when they represented to Canterbury local bodies the arguments for a small rate to maintain the museum. They reached a wide success, initiated when the City Council unhesitatingly assented; but it was not quite sufficient. The majority of local bodies agreed, most of them to levy the rate, a few of the smaller ones, alternatively, to make an annual grant. A few more wished to defer final decision. Hardly any outright refusals were encountered. But the reluctance of one major body to give its present consent, it is understood, has meant that a proposal which requires the consent of Parliament, and for that purpose requires the agreement of all major bodies, at least, is temporarily obstructed. Now it is not necessary, or even possible, at the moment, to say just how the museum memorial project should be financed; but it can be said, with certainty, that the memorial plan must rest on full security for the maintenance of the museum, and, with high probability. that any scheme to provide the capital for reconstruction will have to be linked with the scheme to provide annual income. It will be unfortunate if the latter is suspended much longer. Meanwhile, it should be recalled that, when the local body conferences of 1938-39 finally abandoned the proposal to make the museum the national centennial memorial of the province, they unanirfiously resolved that the proposal should be reconsidered, in due time, as one appropriate to the provincial centen-« nial, and commended it accordingly. The due time is approaching fast; and it is encouraging to observe that, with his Worship the Mayor, other representatives of the community are turning their thoughts to the subject.