A NEW MUSEUM.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 454, 12 March 1909, Page 5

A NEW MUSEUM.

MT. COOK BARRACKS TO BE CONVERTED DECISION OF THE GOVERNMENT. . PROBABLE COST, £10,000. At a full meeting of Cabinet yesterday, the voxed question of providing a new home for tho Dominion Museum was again considered and it was finally decided that tho Alexandra Barracks, on Mount. Cook, should bo utilised for tho purpose. Considerable alterations will bo required, and tenders for this work aro to bo invited. Hoports that wcro IoW. before Ministers showed that tho existing museum building, which is of great ago, has fallen gradually into a yery serious state owing to structural decay and particularly to the ravages of tho borer. Cabinet accordingly regards it as very desirable to have tho large and valuable collection of exhibits, books, and records transferred to a more suitable place as soon as possible.. Tenders arc there-. tore to be. called lor immediately, and an endeavour w,ll bo made to have the work completed without delay. It is expected that tho cost will bo something under £10,000. A PRACTICABLE SCHEME. GOVERNMENT ARCHITECT'S OPINION. Tho | proposal to convert tho Mount Cook barracks into a national museum is not a now one. It was actively discussed in the press at tho beginning of last year. Some, persona who are acquainted with tho interior of tho ouiWing, and .with tho massive construction ?' lts many cells, expressed surprise that the idea should \ w lor one moment entertained ot opening tiwso up to form tho roomy halls that aro essential to a museum. Tho cost and labour that bo involved in such a work would be, they said, enormous. ' The present barracks contain a few largo rooms already, but the building consists mainly of the cells before-mentioned, which have dividing walls of solid brick. Externally and in. tornally no structure more unlike a museum could well be imagined than, the Mount Cook

Expert opinion, however, was moro encouraging. Air. John Campbell, Government Architect, submitted a rqwrt on the subject w lx° ~'?" Mllllstcr for Public Works (Hon. W. Hall-Jones). Tho report stated that tho structure could bo converted at n very moderate cost to torm a suitablo museum building. Before making his report. Mr. Campbell carefully inspected tho present barracks in company with Mr. A. Hamilton, Director of tho Dominion Museum. Ho wns convinced that alterations could bo made to meet Mr. Hamilton's requirements. It is understood tnat tho report recommended several alternatlvo schemes of adaptation, from, which Cabinet could select the scheme which it thought most advisable. Tho decision of tho Government Architect that tho conversion of tho massive building to other purposes is practicable at a moderate cost, confirms tho opinion of the lato Mr. Thomas Turnbull, architect, who reported, some- years ago, that tho cell partitions could be broken down and tho edifice transformed to suit tho purposes of a university college, "at a reasonable sum, without disturbing tho stability of tho building." ; ■ Mr, James Barry, Luildcr, estimated at that time, after inspecting the structure in company with Mr. Turnbull, that tho conST C ° Uld b ° Cnn ' ied ° Ut at a COSfc of THE BARRACKS PAST AND PRESENT. At this stage it is interesting to remember that onco upon a time it was proposed to erect a hugo prison upon the Mount Cook ground. It was to bo an elaborate affair, after the stylo of "Wormwood Scrubbs" 1 rison in England, a typo which may bo conveniently described as impregnable. Plaii3 were drawn, and the work was duly begun labour. One wjng, the central, wa ?," l i!^ st completed, and the basement walls of tho two north wings and the dom'o \yero up before the peaceful citizens of Wellington realised tho preciso nature of the huge excrescence; which was about to bo created-on Mount Cook.

An outcry was raised, and, after a suocessiul agitation, the project was abandoned, and tliQ works stopped, leaving a forlorn wing ' and the rudiments of the rest of tho building • as mementos of what might havo been, i A fair idea of what the completed structure would have looked like, may bo ob- ; earned, •if the reador will imagine first of all a dome-shaped structure, with walls six feet thick, the foundations of which are still in oxistpneo in the shape of a circular wall. ■ This was to have served as the . prison kitchen, laundry, store-rooms, etc.— . in a word, tlio domestic quarters of the , prison staff. Branching out like plnying- , airds in a man's hand (the hand being reI presented by tlio dome) were five wings, , similar in appearance to that which now constitutes the Alexandra Barracks. Somo idea of tlio strength of tlio building may be gathered from its construction. The. basement walls are six feet thick, narrowing towards tho top to about three feet in ; thickness, the idea, presumably, being based on the psychological principle that tlio pro- ; liability of a prisoner' attempting to escape diminished in proportion to his elevation from tho ground. A deep cutting, a moat in fact, was to have run right round the prison, -thus making its resemblance to the stronghold of Norman times the more striking. ,■.'••::. About 1808, or thereabouts, tho alterations necessary to tho conversion of a prison into a military barracks were completed, and sinea that time, the building has been tho homo of the Uoyal New Zealand Artillery, and, save for some. disadvantages- which must always exist when a building designed for a certain purpose is converted to suit , quite a different class of tenant, it was niafJo a very comfortablo barracks. Tho ground-floor (tlio basement of the prison that was to be) contains tho officers' rooms, store-rooms, and a small field-service Jecturo room, whero recruits are instructed in the principles of signalling, telegraphy, and so forth. Upstairs are tho men's quarters and recreation room. The latter is large and cheery, well-lighted, and contains two billiard-tables, cue-stands, and markerboards. At one end of tlm room is a small , singe, whilo along the sides lire reading tables. , ~ , .

A VEXED QUESTION SETTLED. Once. Uje exhibits of tho Dominion Mnsoum art) safely housed on Mount Coo!;, it will ho pretty safe to assume tbnt tho question of what to do with the heavy reel brick building will bo actually ami conclusively settled, A few years ago, as noticed above, i< strong agitation was sol afoot; to convert it into a university building, • Later, the Technical School Donrd wanted it for a new technical school, and kept tho proposal very persistently before the Government. At the beginning of last year, it wns aimost taken for granted that the Government; would take tho step which it lias now at last 'decided upon. Tlio future of the Dominion Museum lias been of lato years as uncertain as thai, of Mount Cook. Ono proposal that reached the stage of sketch plans and consideration by Parliament was that a new building shouiii bo erected on tho tennis ground at tho rear* of the old Parliamentary Utiildiiifis. ltrre.ntly tho museum building has been externally repainted, and whon this action was criticised as a> waste, of money on account of tho uro of tho building, an architect's opinion was quoted to tho oflt-ct that the old structure ■ would servo sufficiently well for offices for anothor ton years. It is expected that ono or more Government Departments will be located thoro when tho exhibits bavo boon romoved and somo alterations made,. Mr. A. Hamilton, Director of tho Dominion Mnsoum, expressed himsolf somo timo ago as keenly anxious to get into larger premises, as ho was confident that tho museum would mako twice tho progress if its contents worn housed to proper advantage, and ho could dovelop its various features on a natural plan,