HUTT JUBILEE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 30, 5 February 1941, Page 8

HUTT JUBILEE

OLD DAYS RECALLED

INTERESTING MUSEUM

An interesting museum with objects chiefly relating to old New Zealand has been established in the Lower Hutt Horticultural Hall by Mr. W. Toomath in connection with the Lower Hutt jubilee. A small admission charge is being made and the proceeds will go towards the funds of the carnival committee which is raising money to build an R.S.A. hall in Lower Hutt.

Articles, pictures, maps, books, and documents have been lent by various persons and institutions, among them the Dominion Museum, and Turnbull Library. Lady Wilford, the Early Settlers' Association, Mrs. Repeka Love Mrs. C. E. Carter, and Mr. W. B. Allen.

There is a Maori section showing mats, kei kei hats, kits, etc., an ancient wooden cooking pot, and a snaring pole for catching birds. It is not generally known that Mungo Park was an ancestor of Mrs. Love. His travelling trunk and a large number of photographs of the explorer are ori exhibition.

Among other exhibits Mrs. C. E. Carter has a number of celebrated paintings of Maoris.

An obviously very old axe on display is reputed to be one of those given by Wakefield as part of the price of the land he purchased. There are samples of shingling hammers, pit saws. and old s rifles, a gallon earthenware jug brought from Scotland in 1850, a travelling trunk belonging to Mr. Thomas W. McKenzie when he arrived in the Adelaide, brass candlesticks from the Wellington Congregational Church of 1858, and a silver medal (about four inches in diameter) awarded to Joseph Hall in 1880 for exhibits in the Hutt Agricultural, Horticultural, and Pastoral Association shows. There is a number of paintings of early Hutt by H. S. -Fitzherbert, a fine collection of steel engravings from Brees's drawings, a collection of paintings by New Zealand artists, and many articles and documents from the collection of Mr. W. B. Allen, of Carterton. Of topical interest is a collection of photographs, and cartoons, many of them autographed, from the collection of the late Sir Thomas Wilford. Among the personalities are Briand, Laval, and the Aga Khan.

A side-saddle and samples of ladies' wear of the jrear 1840 are displayed, and a bust of Wakefleld and maps, drawings, and documents of early Wellington are of interest. The Lower Hutt City Council exhibits drawings of bridges going back to 1840. side by side with plans and data showing the present and prospective growth of the city.

An aviary and an aquarium are also among the attractions. The museum is open each day and evening.

The Rev. H. E. K. Fry has stated that he is prepared to allow interested persons to peruse the registers of St. James's Church. These date back to 1841.

Fcfr tomorrow the carnival committee has arranged an attractive programme of Maori events on the Recreation Ground, The Ngati-Poneke Young Maori Club from Otaki will be in charge, and there will be Maori dances and songs.

The German tank and field guns in the park at Hyde, Cheshire, are being broken up for return to Gerjnany in another form.