HANDSOME BEQUEST

New Zealand Times, Volume L, Issue 11438, 7 February 1923, Page 5

HANDSOME BEQUEST

DOMINION ART GALLERY SIR H. BEAUCHAMP’S GIFT FOR PURCHASE OF PICTURES. PROPERTY WORTH £6OOO. A handome bequest of a valuable freehold property, valued at between £SOOO and £6OOO, was made yesterday by Sir Harold Beauchamp towards the establishment of a National Picture Gallery in Wellington. Sir Harold Beauchamp explained the conditions of his generous gift to the city in the following letter to the Minister for Internal Affairs (the Hon. W. Downie Stewart):

“For some years past I have considered that something tangible should be done by the citizens of Wellington to bring about the establishment of a National Picture Gallery—one that would be a credit to the capital of the Dominion and assist in creating in the minds of the rising generation a love for art in its best and truest form. “To that end I made provision in a will I executed a few years ago for a fairly substantial bequest in favour of the trustees of the National Gallery, which I assumed would be brought into being sooner or later. Recently, however, I have decided to act during my lifetime, and have Mow resolved to transfer to the Public Trustee a freehold property owned by me in Fitzherbert terrace of the value of between £SOOO and £6OOO. It will be noted that it is subject to a lease expiring on May 9th, 1927, the rent payable thereon being at the rate of £250 per annum, free of rates and taxes. Upon the expiry of this lease, it is my desire that the Public Trustee should sell the property if the terms are favourable and invest the proceeds. Pending realisation, the rents, and, after realisation, the interest from the investment of the proceeds and the accumulation of rents due, to be capitalised until a sum of £IO,OOO is attained; thereafter the income from the £IO,OOO is to be paid by the Public Trustee to the Board of Science and Art set up under, the Science and Art Act, 1913, to be used by the board in the purchase of pictures for the Dominion Art Gallery, established in Wellington Under that Act. In the selection of the pictures to he purchased, the board is to endeavour to obtain those of the highest artistic standard, irrespective of the nationality and place of residence of the painter. The board, of course, can delegate to experts in London or elsewhere its choice of a particular picture. In the event of a Dominion Art Gallery not having been built when any pictures are bought, these pictures are to be lent by the Board of Science and Art, pending the erection of such building, to the Wellington'Academy of Fine Arts for exhibition to the public. “The only stipulation I make is that all pictures purchased out of the proceeds arising from this fund shall be known as the ‘Harold Beauchamp Collection.’

“If you will be good enough to accept the offer contained in this letter on the terms and conditions set out herein, I will at once instruct my solicitor to prepare a conveyance of the Fitzherbert terrace property from myself to the Public Trustee.” ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS HIGH APPRECIATION OF GIFT. A special meeting of the council of the Academy of Fine Arte was held yesterday afternoon, when the announcement of Sir Harold Beauchamp’s bequest by the president (Mr T. Shailer Weston) was received with the greatest enthusiasm. It was stated that with such a gift the future of the Dominion Art Gallery was assured. The following resolution was carried : “The council of the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts records its high appreciation of Sir Harold Beauchamp’s generous and public-spirited action, which, it is sure will have a marked influence upon the future of art in the Dominion. The council feels that no more fitting gift could have been made, to the people of New Zealand at this period of its history, and trusts that the noble example set by Sir Harold will he followed by others of our citizens.”

The property in question is No. 47, Fitzherbert terrace, being part sections 591 and 592, Lots 1 and 3, Hospital Reserve, Thomdon, containing I rood 22.8 perches, and having a frontage of 66ft 6in to Fitzherbert terrace by an irregular depth of 214 ft to 263 ft 6in. The land (together - with the buildings erected thereon) is let to Miss E. M. Baber (assigned on March 20th, 1922, to the Samuel Marsden Collegiate School Trust Board) for a term of ten years from May 9th, 1917, at £250 per annum.