THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY, JULY 17, 1926. THE COUNCIL AND THE GALLERY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19844, 17 July 1926, Page 10

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY , JULY 17, 1926. THE COUNCIL AND THE GALLERY.

The measure' of public interest manifested in the art gallery question justifies a return to the subject on our part, especially in the light of the latest turn of events. Already a member of the City Council has given notice of his intention to move in a direction that "ill bring under review the Council’s decision of this week and reopen the whole question of its reception of the publicspirited offer that has been made to it. Since the last word has not boon hoard in the matter, it may be useful to examine briefly some of the arguments advanced in opposition to the proposal for the acquisition of the building on Logan Park. The objections urged by members of the Council on Wednesday evening wore generally quite unimpressive. Even the argument that Logan Park is too far away from the centre of the city to bo a suitable site for a public art gallery is not by any means convincing, and loses much of its force when impartially examined. Even were it to bo conceded that Logan Park is somewhat out of the way at th e present time to bo entirely suitable as the location of an art gallery, it does not follow that such would be at all the case ten or twenty years hence. And it is surely most necessary to view the park and its possibilities with an eye to the future. Moreover, if, on the score of responsibility, Logan Park is to be regarded as an unsuitable place for an art gallery, what shall be said respecting all that has been done to bring the Park within easy reach of the citizens, all the money that has been expended on the construction of the highway with the specific object of rendering that portion of Dunedin easy of access 't Are we to regard all that money as expended to a large extent

fruitlessly from tho viewpoint of the permanent achievement of the desired object? Such a question needs no answer. Logan Park was found very accessible during the Exhibition period, and nobody has suggested that it will be too far away for those who wish to take part in, or the crowds that will go to look on at, football and other games. The argument respecting inaccessibility turns out, therefore, to be more or less a bogey after all. Again, as for Logan Park being intended for sports only, a point upon which certain members of the City Council are still harping, (lie contention to that effect involve.-, of course, tho placing upon the term “recreation” a construction which is at once narrow and without any real justification. And even were the contention admissible, tho objection raised loses its force, seeing that the sports body .immediately interested in the area in question—the university body—lias acquiesced, .subject to a small compensating concession, in the use of the Exhibition Art Gallery building for tho purpose for which it has been offered to the city. The most curious objection raised at the recent meeting of the Council to the city’s acceptance of that gift was that based on tho idea that visitors to the art gallery would have to endure too much noise from the sports grounds in the vicinity. The concern expressed by some members of the Council in this connection is really affecting. They have forgotten, apparently, that the art gallery was situated almost in the midst of the carnival area at the Exhibition, that it was within a stone’s throw of the Amusement Park with all its din of clamorous devices, and that cheek by jowl with it was the Stadium and the Exhibition sports ground. Yet in the art gallery all the voices of the Fair were left behind and all was peace and tranquillity, as visitors often realised to their great contentment. On the score of noise the present gallery in Cumberland street, situated in one of our busiest thoroughfares, amid the clash of street and railway traffic, and serenaded continuously by screeching locomotives, might, with very much greater show of reason, be made a target for criticism. Opposition to the acceptance of the generous offer held out to the city should be made of sterner stuff than is discoverable in the lugubrious apprehensions of certain members of the City Council. The arguments in favour of the acquisition of the building on Logan Park are based on more substantial material. On financial grounds, and on the score of the architectural suitability of the building, the transfer to Logan Park would be attended with advantages which nobody has questioned. The Council has tho choice between transferring the art collection to the Park without any cost to the city, or of retaining it in its present quarters and having to spend over £2OOO merely to protect the pictures, and a much larger sum on the internal remodelling of an unsuitable building, with a prospect, no doubt, of still further outlay in the future for its extension. The structural superiority of tbe building on Logan Park for tbe purposes of an art gallery has never been in dispute.