THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6, 1887.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIV, Issue 7915, 6 April 1887, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6, 1887.

The attendance at the meeting yesterday to consider the manner of celebrating Her Majesty's Jubilee on the 21st of June, and the desirableness of establishing locally some permanent j-memorial of the event, was not, perhaps, ; so large as the interest felt in the occa- : sion would have led one to expect. This, no doubt, was due to the fact that at the hour selected it so happened that, owing to unforeseen circumstances, many who would have been present were obliged to attend at other important meetings. Still the feeling of. those who deemed it their duty to attend was very cordial, and the resolutions adopted took a thoroughly practical direction, and may be expected to result in the ultimate adoption of such 'a .plan of action as will command general satisfaction. His Worship the Mayor stated from the chair that he had grounds for believing that the General Government intended proclaiming the day a public holiday, and leaving it to the local bodies to make such arrangements as they might respectively deem fitting for the due* celebration of the day. Those arrangements indicated by His Worship seemed very appropriate, and possibly others may be suggested by the members of the committee appointed to consider the whole question. We still adhere, however, to the idea thrown out by us yesterday, that the Government should decide on some plan which, in its main features, ; would be applicable to the colony in general, and give to the celebration of the event a recognition more national in its character than the mere proclamation of a holiday would secure for it; and we continue in the belief that this is eminently worthy of consideration on the part of the Cabinet.

With respect to the proposal that some permanent local memorial of the Queen's Jubilee should be devised, the suggestion of the Mayor to take measures for the formation of a Jubilee collection for the Art Gallery is in every sense an excellent one. Of all these methods for attaining this end, which have been thought of here or elsewhere, which His Worship had been at pains to collect, there is none so practical and simple as the one submitted by himself; and as was well remarked by Mr. Boardman, there is none which all the members of the community in respect of age, sex, or occupation could so ready avail themselves of. The others only applied to special sections of tha people, but all alike could go to the Gallery and see the pictures. As a source of education, as well as of enjoyment for all classes, there is nothing to be compared to a good collection of works of Art; and, now that the people have a Gallery for the special accommodation of these, there can be no more laudable effort than that of encouraging every one in the community to become a contributor to the purchasing of works deserving of a place in a building which they can proudly look upon as their own. In giving a sum of money, however small, to a fund to s be devoted to this purpose, the people would have the satisfaction of doing something for the formation of a collection which would be an appropriate memorial of Her Majesty's Jubilee, and at the same time be a precious legacy to all after generations of their loyalty and culture. And if, at the same time, the idea, hinted at by, Mr. Boardman, of a certain amount of the surplus money belonging to the Auckland Savings Bank being devoted to such an object can be carried out, the people of this community would, with the gifts of other generous donors, soon be in a position to boast of having the best furnished art gallery in Australasia. The formulating of this proposal so happily suggested by the , Mayor, together with Mr. Boardman's excellent suggestion, will also engage the attention of the committee on arrangements already referred to, and a satisfactory report to the meeting appointed to be held a fortnight hence will no doubt be forthcoming.