RETURN OF IMAGE

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33655, 3 October 1974, Page 3

RETURN OF IMAGE

The wooden image of a Fijian god. on display at the Canterbury Museum, will be returned to Fiji next week. The museum trust board recently agreed to a request from the Prime Minister (Mr Rowling) to return the image as a good-will gesture. The image will be handed to the Fijian Government bv the Minister of Maori Affairs (Mr Rata) to mark the hundredth anniversary of the cessation of sovereigntv to Britain by the Fijian chiefs. NOW RARE In 1877, the 4ft 6in image was taken from an abandoned Fijian temple in the Levuka district and sent to the Canterbury Museum bv the Rev. William Flyod. It is now one of the few of its kind left in the world. During the last two weeks, museum staff have repaired cracks in the figure and made it presentable for the handing-over ceremony. A woodcarver, Mr P. Mulcahy, made a base in the form of a rounded post, believed to. be of the same style as the original.. The director (Dr R. S. Duff) said the museum had taken a prominent part in U.N.E.S.C.O. discussions favouring the establishment of small museums in the South Pacific islands and encouraging the repatriation of selected artefacts no longer found in some islands. “Over the years we havei been grateful for the return from museums in Britain of. many valuable Maori artefacts,” said Dr Duff.