TURNED AWAY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXV, Issue 16568, 4 June 1914, Page 3

TURNED AWAY.

NEW ZEALAND ARTIST IN i AUSTRALIA. BARRED BY HEAVY DUTIES. [From Our Correspondent.} WELLINGTON, June 3. Art is not discouraged by the NewZealand Customs tariff, which places f.uite a nominal duty on imported picLures, but they do thing;s differently in Australia, and a Christchurch artist, Mr J. C. Madden, returned hero from Sydney to-day with all thu piot ires ue took over to sell. Ho encountered a tariff wall imposed to help Australian painters and ho has come back a strong advocate of privileges for the New Zealander. He states that he went over to Sydney by the Willochra on May i) Inst with a collection of paintings >:i various subjects exemplifying his work. When ho got to Sydney and proposed to land his pictures ho found ho was up against an inexorable barrier in the Customs officials. Thoy wanted a minimum of £1 on the smallest watercolour sketch and on the others gave themselves the option of the minimum or 2o per cent of the declared value whichever would produce the most in the way of duty. Mr Madden prctostd that all his collection consisted of lis own work, and that wherever in ither countries a duty is imposed on imported works of art he had always :' and that the artist's own work was xompted. Not so in the Commonwealth. The artist had to pay the luty ju.t as much as the dealer. As :e v amount of duty would have run to some Hundreds of p"iind- Mr Madlon elected to leave his pictures in d. ft "!••' fl'ev lveiv : :. d h leaders who declared that they would nvo been prepared to do biio.noss bin it to pay the duty, so there was no •in? doing and Mr Madden returned vh Irs pictures a"d some ideas on th<? •'jject of encouragins and protecting ';.•> local artist. The point about it, according to Mr :ddcn, is that an Austral'an artis; n paint in London or any other wintry in the world and send his 'won. nek to Australia free of duty. There ; no charge on the work of Anstr.nl;ns. no matter where they be, but the reigner, which includes the New Zea-a-ider. is faced with a duty that i> i.Mctically prohibitive. Mr Madden locs not blame the system in the Commonwealth. The duty was imp.osed, ae lelioves, some four years ago at tup . istnnco of the various societies of rtists who on the broad view of promotion refused to distinguish betv/eeu brushwork and boot manufacture.

i'he Federal Government agreed and iho duty ever since has done much .:o mcourage Australian artists and Australian art. On the other hand New Zealand with its free trade in art has in the last few years been literally ;wn raped with imported works of nrt if all qualities, and local artists in theatrical p 'lanco have "done -i freese." Mr Madden claims that Ne.v Zealand artists are just as much entitled to protection and encouragement : :i New Zealand as Australian artists are in Australia.