GIFT TO SCOTLAND

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 27, 31 July 1937, Page 10

GIFT TO SCOTLAND

BARRIE MEMORIAL

COTTAGE OF HIS BIRTH

DUNEDIN-BORN DONOR

(From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, July 7. A plan to transport Sir James Barries birthplace at Kirriemuir, Scotland, to America "stone by stone" has been prevented by Mr. Duncan Elliott Alves, of Bryn Bras . Castle, North Wales, and Devonshire House, Piccadilly, who was born in Dunedin. 67 years ago. . .

"I knew Sir James Barrie well," he said in an interview, "although I was not an intimate friend. Our meetings

were chiefly at social gatherings and in connection with charitable organisa-

tions. It seemed to be almost a crime

to allow the old cottage where he was born to be shifted bodily away. So for purely philosophical reasons I decided to save it as a memorial for Scotland."

Mr. Alves has never seen the cottage, and he thinks it unlikely that he will ever do so. But he has taken steps for it to be handed over to the National Trust for Scotland and he has made arrangements for an endowment to be set aside to provide for its preservation. He prefers not to divulge the figure at which the transaction was made. The cottage waa owned by Scottish people, and he paid, to use his own words, "a much bigger figure than I anticipated." He knew, however, that had he not bought the cottage it would undoubtedly have gone to America, "which Barrie would have loathed." One of the chief reasons why Mr. Alves prefers not to mention the price paid is because an inundation of begging letters would follow. "And they are so difficult to refuse," said Mr. Alves.

The cottage, "a mere handful of stones," is very old, and is typical of the houses built for the weavers. who at one time ran a thriving" business at Kirriemuir. Barries father was a weaver. Nearly ten .years ago the house,was bought by Major H. Lander. At that time it was suggested that'it should be handed ,to the. nation, and that the little washhouse should be transferred to Kensington Gardens. Three years later the ownership of the house was transferred to Mr. Wanamaker, the millionaire American stores proprietor. The cottage had previously been offered to the Kirriemuir Town Council, who, however, are unable to spend public funds ;in acquiring it. Later it was bought by Sir Lacon Threlford, a retired chartered accountant. .

A move was under way in Kirriemuir some time ago to start a Barrie museum, and. the Synod of the United Original Secession Church had agreed to sell the "Auld Licht" manse for this purpose. Sir James Barrie had offered assistance for the scheme, but with his death it is likely that it, will fall through.

Mr. Alves left New Zealand for England with his parents when he was about 17. He went out again some twenty years ago and toured the country. Although he spends, on an average,.: six months abroad every year, he does not anticipate visiting the Dominion again. . His mother was : a close kinswoman of Thomas Carlyle, and Mr. Alves has devoted years of his life to philanthropic work. He is the founder of the Imperial scheme for securing and building up oil position and reserves of oil for British naval and national purposes, and he assisted in founding a Chair of Oil Technology at Birmingham University. The son of a civil engineer, Mr. Alves was Mayor of Carnarvon from 1926 to 1932, and received the Freedom of the. Borough in 1931. In 1931-32 he was High Sheriff of Carnarvonshire, and is well known throughout the country for his charit.able work. He is president and patron of numerous associations in Carnarvonshire, Sussex, and Kent. One of his chief recreations has been hunting.' Mr. Alves'presented Gribble's Royal Academy picture, "Our Golden Argosies," to the Federal Council Chamber, of the Australian Commonwealth Government, and he also presented the same artist's Royal Academy picture, "Nelson's First Prize," to the Royal Naval. Hospital, Greenwich, The authorised statement that the cottage was to be. presented to the nation was made by Messrs. Kenneth Brown, Baker, Baker, solicitors for Sir Lacon Threlford, and Messrs. Leach, Sims, and Co.. solicitors for Mr. Alves. It was said that Mr. Alves hopes that his gift will further the suggested object of creating a fund to co-operate with existing associations interested in children's welfare, and thus put into practical form a wish which he understands was uppermost in the mind of Sir Janus Barrie.