THE ELAM SCHOOL OF ART.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 9404, 10 January 1894, Page 6

THE ELAM SCHOOL OF ART.

The session which has just ended has been a busy one for this Institution. The attendance daring the past year has been about 40 students per day, and .' occasionally the number has been nearer 50. In spite of this a large number of would-be students have applied for admission, who could not. be admitted, but the Trustees hope. to- be able to make arrangements which will enable them to admit all, or nearly all, of those who have already applied for admission during the present year. The present income of the Trust is a very small one, and does not enable the Trustees to furnish the room* with all necessary art requisites, or to hold all the clauses they could wish, bub with the assistance of the City Council, who provide rooms in the Library building rent-free, they are doing good work in provding absolutely free arb education for 40 students per day. A considerable proportion of these, we are glad to learn, are either teachers or studying to be teachers in the public schools, and these ladies and gentlemen will appreciate the gif b of the late Dr. Elam, which enables them to study the four art subjects they are required to pass, viz., freehand drawing, model drawing, plane and solid geometry, and perspective, without any cost to themselves. The Elam Art School has always been open on Saturdays, both morning and afternoon, to enable pupil-teachers and others who are engaged during the week to attend, and if possible, the trustees would like to hold classes on one or two evenings a week, as they are assured such an arrangement would meet with general satisfaction from students, bub unfortunately this arrangement would involve an additional expense, which they are at present unable to meet. That the work at the school is appreciated by the students themselves has been shown on several occasions in a pleasing manner. During the lost year several gifts in the shape of objects of art, suitable for models and purposes of art, have, been received by the master, Mr. Payton, from former student?, who desired that they might be utilised in the Elam School of Art, and serve as a token of appreciation of the benefits received there by the donors. Mr. Payton has also received a number of letters from ex-students, stating that they have been materially benefited by the work they had done while at the Elam School of Art; one of the last of these voluntary testimonies to the usefulness of the school being from a student who had gone to Australia, and who stated chat the touching he had received at the Elam School had enabled him obtain a good position in an architect's office without much difficulty. Mr. Payton speaks highly of the zeal shown by the students in their work, and the goodwill existing between master and pupils was pleasingly shown by a surprise-presentation of a miniature gold palette, accompanied by an illuminated address signed by 70 students to Mr. Payton some six monbhs ago. The " Neglected North" has become a by-word, and certainly art is one of the matters in which the North has been much neglected. Christchurch and Danedin are enabled by Government endowments to spend four or five times as much per annum as the trustees of Dr. Elam's bequest can do on art schools, and yet Auckland with its beautiful position and surroundings has been often described as the " Natural home for art in New Zealand." Private generosity has atoned a great deal for public neglect in many matters in Auckland, but it would be a graceful act on the part of the Government if they could see their way to supplement! in some way the small income at present derived from Dr. Elam's bequest, and to put Auckland more on an equality with Christchurch or Dunedin in ! the matter of art teaching.