TREASURES OF BRITAIN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20058, 22 September 1928, Page 13

TREASURES OF BRITAIN.

COSTLY HOUSING SCHEME. PAST ECONOMY DEPRECATED. COMMISSION ISSUES REPORT. (Received September 21, 7.5 p.m.) British Wireless. RUGBY, Sept. 20. Building schemes involving a cost of £779,000 for tho proper housing of Britain's priceless collections are recommended by tho Royal Commission on National Museums and Galleries, of which Lord D'Abernon is chairman. An interim report says: The nation's museums and galleries have been treated as tho "Cinderella" of the social services owing to the concentration of national expenditure solely upon essential needs. The British collections certainly are not assessed anywhere and any estimate of the capital wealth of the nation which ignores them is incomplete. Any reliable estimate of tho nation's treasures is impossible, says the report. Nevertheless, some idea of their money value may be indicated. One of the smaller collections in London alone has been estimated by a competent authority to contain treasures worth £15,000,000. An estimate of tho inexhaustible resources of the larger collections at the British Museum, tho National Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum must be merely speculative. As one instance tho Elgin marbles today arc beyond price. In 1816 they were purchased from Lord Elgin, who had saved them from crumbling and decay on their original site, for £35,000. Numberless instances could be given of immense appreciation in tho value of literary or ait.istic acquisitions, says the repjrt. No better investment of public money lias been made. We consider that economy in their maintenance has been pushed beyond the point of reason.