The Evening Star SATURDAY, APRIL 14, 1928. THE MUSEUM.

Evening Star, Issue 19841, 14 April 1928, Page 6

The Evening Star SATURDAY, APRIL 14, 1928. THE MUSEUM.

A museum lias three purposes. They are the collection, jireservation, and exhibition ot works of Nature and art. If it fulfils only two of them it is less than a museum. If it fulfils only one of them it may be a showroom or a storeroom or a' destructor, but to call it by the more honored name would be an absurdity. The guardians of Otago’s Museum have long been concerned at the danger of its falling below its high functions. The Museum is doubly owned. It belongs to the University, in the sense that it is incorporated in that institution, which has the control of it, and, with too slender means, has borne most of the cost of it. It belongs also to the public. It would not be very wrong to say that the University has had the care of it and the public the use and pleasure. In a sense that embraces both ownerships it belongs to the people of Dunedin, and of Otago, who have the pride of it. But that pride would be turned to something else if it should be allowed to fall from its high estate.

The danger to the Museum strikes at every one of its functions. It has gone furthest in the respect that already it is only to a very minor degree that it can bo considered as a place tor the “exhibition” of works of Nature and art. Treasures of interest and of much value have been added to it in the last twenty years by successive donors. There have never been so many of them before. There has been no pause m the work of collection. But wo are told that loss than one-hundredth part of these rare objects is able to be exhibited. They are shamed, and Otago is shamed, when they are stored in basements. So the Discobolus was treated in a Montreal museum, causing the poet visitor to ejaculate: “0 God! 0 Montreal!” When objects are buried in basements no one can fool secure that moth and rust will not corrupt. And so the object of preservation is directly threatened. The evil does not end there. People must bo discouraged from presenting collections which cannot be exhibited except in cellars, and which cannot be protected from corroding influences. And all museums depend on gifts lor their continuance. Their value can easily be greater than the value of purchases ever can be. Acquisitions by purchase are limited by ivhat is purchasable and by what the Museum has to purchase with. Acquisitions by gift have no limits but the possessions and the generosity of other owners and collectors. It would be absurd to say, also, that more than a fraction of the objects that are shown in the Otago Museum in galleries, as distinct from basements, are exhibited as they ought to be. When they arc half obscured by overcrowding, shown in dingy surroundings instead of the brightest, the public loses. The evil has only to go far enough for a museum to become a place to shrink from instead of enjoy. Half its value for education is lost. Collectors, moreover, are given a further reason for withholding their donations. They are tempted to follow- the example of Southey, who consigned his collections to the sale room because, as he said, “Put in a museum nobody sees them.”

The arrangement of museums so that their objects can bo seen to the best effect with tho maximum of education and pleasure has been a subject of much thought in those latest years. The University Council and the triends of the Otago Museum would fain keep up with the times. For the credit of this city and this province that must also be the public’s desire. A scheme has been prepared lor adding another wing—half a wing to begin with—to tho cramped, congested building in King street, which threatens to become a reproach, instead of a cause for pride, it more room is not made in it. The public must he impressed with the patience of these guardians and lovers of the Museum. It must be impressed also with the zeal which they have shown for helping themselves. For years now they have cherished their scheme. They have taken occasions, from time to time, of making it familiar to the public. They have not pressed any general appeal, because the time has not been suitable. Rut they have not been idle. They have collected and given quietly, without any publicity whatever, no less a sum than £IB,OOO out of £25,000 which makes their goal. On the full sura a Government subsidy of £ for £ has been promised. An appeal is made now by a committee of business men to business firms and others to make up the comparatively small remainder of the amount. It will be a handsome building which is outlined in the illustration we publish today. In the new wing will be exhibited really exhibited —first, relics of primitive man, showing his evolution from the Stone Age. There will be also an archaeological section, illustrating, so far as is possible, the civilisation of Babylon, Egypt, Crete, Greece, and Rome. The Museum has a few relics of these times, and it is hoped to get casts of pottery, of statues, and other objects. The ethnographic section will illustrate tho arts and culture of living .races, more particularly the Maoris, Polynesians, and Melanesians. Asiatic, American, and African culture will also be illustrated. Of the £50,000 the building and its equipment will cost, it is estimated, from £20,000 to £25,000. Tho remainder will form an endowment which will provide for the salaries ot additional staff, lor upkeep, for the purchase of new objects, and so forth. The scheme will have one immediate advantage apart from its benefits to education and pleasure and to civic pride. IE the sum required is promptly received tenders will be called within a month of the final payment, and unemployment in the approaching winter will be diminished. In Auckland, where a new museum is being erected at a cost of some £200,000, the business community has very generously contributed. Compared with that example, this Dunedin scheme should not bo over-ambitious. We shall be glad to acknowledge donations which may be sent to this paper, and we wish the committee all success with its project.