DESIGN OF MUSEUM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20112, 24 November 1928, Page 15

DESIGN OF MUSEUM.

THE MEMORIAL FEATURES.

REPLY MADE TO CRITICISM.

QUESTION OF A CENOTAPH. Dissatisfaction with the revised plans for the Auckland War Memorial Museum, which were stated to havo excluded tlie purely memorial features sought above all by those who served at the war, was expressed at a meoting of the Auckland Returned Soldiers' Association on Thursday. The president, Colonel T. 11. Dawson, presided.

The president asked whether the city was to have a purely utilitarian museum. 'This never had met with tho approval of returned soldiers, and it was the memorial features now excluded in tho actual construction which had appealed to a large number of thoso who made donations toward tho cost of tho building. It was originally understood there was to lie a cenotaph in front, and this proposal had undoubtedly induced many persons to support tho project. In tho opinions of ex-soldiers tho Cenotaph came first, with the museum building forming a suitable background. " The committee docs not agree that the criticism offered was justified," stated a letter received from the Citizens' Museum Fund Committee, in reply to a recent communication from the association, expressing the opinion that certain memorial features should not havo been excluded.

" You imply that tho committee lias deliberately and without justification excised the memorial features of tho building. That -is entirely contrary to fact." The letter stated those responsible for the supervision of tho museum construction had kept three tilings in view. It was desired first that tho building should bo dignified and impressive, secondly that it should bo suitable for the purposes of a museum, and thirdly, that it should comprise appropriate memorial features relating to tlie Great War. The committee asserted no other building in the Empire embodied such a utilitarian form ami such ;i largo and purely memorial content. The memorial hall had to be abandoned as a separate part of the schenio when ilie original plans for the building were being reconsidered. There then remained the hall of memories and the war trophies ball. The latter was retained in its entirety, but as the building progressed it was considered the upper portion of the large central hall of the building could bo better utilised as a hall of memories than tho room now allocated to tho instiii!.' library. Provision had been made for a shrine, and with the enlargement of the hall there was ample room for a largo gathering of peoplo on any special occasion. This hall had been redesigned and was now the central point of memorial significance in the whole building. Tho paved court of honour and the Cenotaph formed no part of the original scheme, and found a way into the winning design only by chance. Ilie provision of a roll of honour was abandoned bv the committee in view of tho difficulty in other centres in completing such a list. It was impossible to say further than that tho commitlee intended to have a Cenotaph erected should funds permit. Considerable discussion arose concerning the crinmittee's explanation, and further action was left in tho hands of the president and Messrs. E. W. Jnder. 8. C. Ueid and T. S. Miller.