OTAGO’S MUSEUM

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26227, 10 August 1946, Page 8

OTAGO’S MUSEUM

FROM SMALL BEGINNINGS ACCOMMODATION IS NOT A NEW PROBLEM UNIVERSITY AFFILIATIONS In adopting the building of a central block to the Otago Museum as its " token ” centennial memorial. Dunedin has followed in a lesser degree the example of Christchurch, which recently chose a new museum building as its centennial project, and the similar Auckland decision for its memorial to the 1914-1918 war. It has been clear from inquiries made by a Daily Times reporter that the decision of the Otago Centennial Association has been received with the greatest satisfaction by everyone who is interested in the full developmnet of Otago Museum, but it has been, emphasised that this addition to the building will not be the full realisatiori of the institution’s accommodation needs. “It fe a valuable addition, however,” the reporter was told, “ and future extensions must come in due course.”

This problem of accommodation has become acute in recent years, but it has always figured prominently in the troubles of those responsible for tlie administration of the Museum. An Increasing public appreciation of It at Uhls stage is regarded as a welcome return to the principles and ideals which found expression in the activities of the long-siglited pioneers of last century.

In the middle 60’s the museum idea was widely current in the rapidlygrowing centres of Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin, and the holding of the 1865 New Zealand Exhibition in Dunedin, gave a valuable impetus to the movement in this district. • The Beginnings

The natural history collections for the Exhibition were organised by Dr James Hector, later Sir James Hector, and at the _ close of the Exhibition these collections were not distributed, but were kept in store by the Otago Provincial Government, presumably with the object that they should form the nucleus of a museum. The first meeting of the Otago Museum Com--mittee was held on July 1, 1868. The Provincial Superintendent, Mr James Macandrew, presided, and the office of honorary secretary-treasurer was filled by Mr Julius Vogel, the co-founder of the Otago Daily Times and its first editor, who later became Sir Julius Vogel. The members of the first committee were Captain T. A. Fraser, later a member of the Legislative Council; Mr L. 0. Beale, a well-known civil engineer: Mr R. M. Robertson, M.P.C.; and Mr W. D. Murison, M.H.R., who later became editor of the Otago Daily Times. , The immediate outcome of that meeting was the activity of a sub-commit-tee comprising Captain Fraser, Mr Beale and ,Mr A. Beverley, a prominent watchmaker and mathematician, who founded the Beverley scholarships at the University of Otago. That committee was given the responsibility of taking charge of the Hector collections. On September 15 of the same year, 1868, Otago Museum was open to the public in the Exchange Building. Mr A. C. Purdie was the first attendant in charge. It was not until more than a year later that the first meeting of the co\mcil of the University of Otago, was held. In 1873 the Otago Provincial Council made its first annual grant of £SOO to the Museum and appointed Captain F. W. Hutton, R.E., as curator. Captain Hutton later became Professor Hutton, F.R.S. He had Mr Edwin Jennings as taxidermist to the Museum. Tne Museum Committee at this time comprised Messrs W. D. Murison (chairman). L. O. Beale (treasurer) and Arthur Beverley, Professor J. G. Black and Dr E. W. Alexander, with Captain Hutton as secretary-curator. In 1874 the Provincial Council voted £12.500 towards a museum building, and the foundation stone of the present building was laid in Docember of that year. The annual grant was increased to £6OO in 1875, and the new museum was thrown open to the public on August 11. 1877 Vested In University

Throughout this period the Museum Committee had been an independent body, but in the meantime negotiations were developing between the committee and the council of the University of Otago. The University Council was anxious to appoint a professor of natural science and had Captain Hutton in view for the position. The teaching of natural sciences called for laboratory and other accommodation which the council was unable to provide. The upshot of these deliberations was the Otago Museum Act, which the Central Parliament passed on November 29, 1877, and by which it endowed the Museum with farm land in Central Otago and vested the whole in the council of the University in trust for the Museum and the Athenaeum.

This association between the Museum and the University was one of expediency and was a successful solution of the problems of the period. As the years passed, however, each member of the partnership developed until both had outgrown the building provided in the first Instance for one of them.

And so the, position was reached that two virtually • completely independent organisations, each with the University Council as its legal head, have been working alongside each other in a building inadequate for the requirements of either of them.

Working under the direction of the University Council, the Museum Committee down the years has become a more and more powerful body whose wishes have bean accepted and acted upon by the council. A strong body of opinion has developed that the Museum should resume the independence that was its original lot and that it should be in full fact the museum of the province of Otago, as it was intended to be in the beginning. To that end legislation amending the Act of 1877 and the consent and co-operation of the University Council would be necessary. Resumption of Independence

It is not intended to suggest that this is a unanimous opinion or that there are not grounds io- argument in support of the existing affiliation. It is considered in some quarters, however, that the realisation of the plan to house , the Department of Zoology in a new ’ building widely separated from the Museum will result in the co-operation of the University Council, and the conclusion ' cannot be avoided that proposals for the segregation of the Museum will take form in the next few years.

The constitution of the present Museum Committee illustrates the range of interests embodied in its control. The chairman is Mr Mark Hanan, a co-opted member who fills the place served with such enthusiasm and distinction by the late Mr Willi Fels, and the vice-chairman is Mr H. P. Kidson. The six representatives of the University Council are the chancellor (the Rev. D. C. Herron), the vice-chancel-lor (Mr W. Downie Stewart), and Messrs James Wallace, W. R.' Brugh. Kidson, and J. C. H. Somerville Dr M. F. H. Blain and Messrs John Wilson and H. I. Sinclair represent the Dunedin City Council. Mr James Begg and Mr A. C. Mathieson represent the Association of Friends of the Museum, and a third representative has to be appointed to succeed Mr Fels. Mr George Simpson and Mr C. V Dayus are the two representatives of the Otago branch of the Royal Society, and the Government representative is Mr W. G. Burns. Mr Hanan and Mr L. M. Satterthwaite are co-opted members. '