IN VIEW, BUT OUT OF SIGHT

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 110, 10 May 1923, Page 6

IN VIEW, BUT OUT OF SIGHT

The British Museum is free to the public, but a few weeks ago it was officially suggested that a charge should be made for admission. It was an absurd idea, unsupportable by any logical argument ; and it was rightly contested and vetoed. It is ridiculous to establish a great national educational institution, and then unnecessarily restrict its availability. But is it any worse to have a museum and keep people out by making a charge than to let them in free and tell them that the best of the things that they would like to see and study are in cool storage ? That is the position at the Dominion Museum. Casual visitors, serious students, museum officials, and legislators of all ranks are agreed that the so-called national museum is adequate neither in size nor in quality for the display and safety of the collection it already owns. The building itself involves a serious risk of fire, and it is so overloaded with the specimens that are on exhibition that the pleasure to be .expected from a visit is seriously' reduced. Unanimity of opinion as to the need for a better museum has, however, not had much practical result. Theoretically, no doubt, the matter is being kept steadily in view; but the official view is apt to be short-sighted, and this is an instance in which it seems possible that an eye turned in the right direction may have lost that sharpness of focus that goes with attentions.