NEW AUCKLAND MUSEUM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17831, 12 July 1921, Page 7

NEW AUCKLAND MUSEUM.

DOMAIN WAR MEMORIAL. VALUABLE MAOIU RELICS. MORE ADEQUATE DISPLAY. A two-fold purpose -will be served by the new Wax Memorial Museum which i is proposed to erect on Observatory Bill, in the Auckland Domain. Firstly, it is to contain a collection commemorating; the great war, and fully illustrating tha share taken in it by New Zealand soldiers and sailors. There will, for instance, ba a hall of memory, intended to perpetuate th names of this Dominion's 'fallen soldiers, and to emblazon the meritorious deeds of many herces. There will also be war collections of all kinds, tangible evidences of the deadly strife that for more than four years enveloped the greater part of the world. The second porpoia will be effected by a peneral n-.usrum in which the valuable treasures possessed bv the present Auckland Museum will ba more fully and adequately displayed, and room provided for their proper expansion. The curator, Mr. T. F. Cheeseman yesterday made a statement in which he outlined some of the views he holds as to how the now museum may be arranged and profitably enlarged for the benefit of present and future citizens. Confining his remarks in tho meantime to the Maori collections. Mr. Chee*einan said that Auckland had in its musoum an unequalled series of exhibits illustrating the manners., customs, and mode of life of the Ma.>ri rate. That collection was being well taken care of, and was in good order and condition, but, from want of spate, was not exhibited in a manner worthy of its great value and importance. Nor was it being exhibited in a manner worthy of the dignity and position of the largest city in the Dominion. One of the chief reasons for removing the museum collections to a new and much lanror building was to provide a fitting home for the Maori treasures, a homo in which they would command the attention, not only of tho citizens of Auckland, but also of visitors from all parts of the world, and which would be large enonjrh to permit of the full development of & general Maori collection. Arrangement of the Maori Hall.

Competitive designs, said Mr. Cheeseman, were now being invited for the new building in the Domain. In it the following space would be allotted for tho Maori exhibits. First, an area 120 ft. by 60ft. for a Maori hall, with a double row of pillars down the centre supporting the floor above, and lighted by tall side windows placed opposite to the spares between the pillars. Doublefaced show cases would stand transversely between the wall and the pillars, thus cutting up about two-thirds of the area of the hall into alcoves, each of v>hich could be devoted to the exhibition of a separate class of articles. This was practically the plan adopted in the George V. gallery, the most recent addition to the British Museum, and had the great merit of aiding the classificsAion of tha exhibits.

The broad central space between tfra pillars in the Maori hall of tho new Auckland building, said Mr. GheesemiJi, should be used for large plateglass showcases to contain specially prepared models of Maoris—life-sized restorations—engaged in various old-time avocations. One group of men could bo shown engaged in the manufacture of stone adzes, or meres, and a group of -women could bo represented making flax cloaks,, or, as thisy -were absurdly called to-day, " mats." *And so on with many other departments of Maori life. The 7>laori activity of tho past could be better revealed in this manner than in any other. Ten minutes' inspection of such groups would teach more than could bo gathered from several hours' reading. * Large Exhibits in a Special Court. The placing of the Maori carved houses and canoes had been the most difficult part of the. scheme te arrange for, said Mr. Cheeseman, on account of their great size. It had been decided to place them in an open court with glass roof, lving alongside the Maori hall, the waif of which, on that side of the hall, would be reduced to a row of pillars. Visitors would thus be able to pass from the hail to the court, through any of the alcoves on that side. The Maori collection of the future, when arranged on the lines indicated, would, Mr. Cheeseman held, present a most impressive appearance. As the visitor entered the hall he would seo to his right and left the well-lighted alcoves in which the smaller articles such as tho meres and clubs, the hei-tikis and other ornaments, the adzes and chisels, the fish-hooks and numberless other exhibits, would all be displayed. Down the centre would be groups of models each illustrative of a separate phase of Maori life. To tho left, the broad spaces between the pillars would allow a full view of the carved fronts of the Maori houses and the magnificent war canoe. This part of the collection might well pass, indeed, for the " marae," or courtyard, of one of the pas belonging to the Maoris who formerly dwelt on the shores of the Waitemaia.