GREAT GATHERING

Evening Post, Issue 28, 1 August 1936, Page 10

GREAT GATHERING

BUILDINGS CROWDED

AN IMPRESSIVE SCENE

From 1.30 p.m. private cars and taxis deposited hundreds of people at the imposing dual stairways to the National Group, up which was already streaming a crowd of people who had come by other means. Long before-2 p.m. the main hall was full of standing people, others sitting on steps and whatever they could find. At the western end of the hall was the space reserved for the guests of honour on a raised dais covered with the Union Jack and New Zealand .' flag. The speakers had a view of deeply massed people. Occasionally a. gleam of wintry sunlight shone ,from the lofty skylights. • -

The. galleries all through the building 'were filled by those who could not.get even standing room in the main hall, and these heard the address by loud speaker.

It was an impressive scene, added to by the dignified speeches which fitted well the "atmosphere of * culture permeating every part 'of the magnificent building.

When his Excellency had concluded his speech, the Prime Minister unveiled the commemoration tablet, just off the main entrance. Following this ceremony the Government House party left to the strains of the National Anthem. The building will remain open until 10 o'clock' tonight, and the Art Gallery will be open from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. tomorrow. ,

The ceremony over, selections on the Carillon, pealed out with their message of the dedication of the other part of New Zealand's national memorial, while the public toured the huge buildings, which will take i many visits before half its. valuable' contents can be appreciated. .

still greater co-ordination on the part of the peoples of the British Commonwealth of Nations. "We know there are some who think that an art gallery is a place where they are going to find something in the nature of fine pictures and paintings, but to my mind it covers, a wider sphere than that, bringing a deeper education and having an ennobling effect upon the children, the people of the future. MAORI ART. Mr. Savage then spoke of the importance of encouraging Maori ar'j and crafts. It was the desire of the people of New Zealand that' Maori arts and crafts should reach the very highest standard to which Maori craftsmen could take them. "I wonder sometimes why there is not more Maori arts and crafts in the surroundings of the citizens of New Zealand, for they are wonderful. During a comparatively short time Maori art has reached a very high pinnacle and : can go still higher, and I am not going to lose any opportunity to help our Maori brethren in their arts and' crafts, and I am sure that the trustees will not be found wanting in this respect." Mr. Savage spoke of the part which the practice of arts. and crafts might play in trie affording of greater pleasure in the machine age which was upon the world today. ' The Prime Minister paid a tribute to past Prime Ministers for the part they had played in the realisation of an ideal. *