THE MANUKA WRECK

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17179, 8 February 1930, Page 3

THE MANUKA WRECK

LOSS OF PICTURES HOW LONDON RECEIVED NEWS Jt is interesting to note, through reading copies of the London newspapers ol December 17 and 18, received by the Vancouver mail, that the British press have given great prominence to the loss of the pictures by leading British artists which occurred m the wreck of the .Manuka. Four-columu black headings, “£2S,C(X) British Artists’ Work Lost in Wreck, and similar headings, are displayed by tiie majority ot the papers, whilst the Manchester Guardian devotes a column to the importance of the loss to the art world in general, and the following is an extract from its article following the cabled news of the wreck: “A Double Disappointment to the Painters. —Nearly 30 of the British artists who waited with such anxiety through a week of winter gales (o hear that the Italian masterpieces had arrived safety in the Thames, have learned to-day that pictures of their own have been wrecked on the New Zealand coast during a summer fog. Theirs is a double disappointment, because the pictures were not only going out to he exhibited throughout the Dominion: there was every reason to believe that most- of them would be purchased there. ’ The Daily Chronicle, also in a sub-leader, states the following: “The sinking of the liner .Manuka, carrying valuable pictures by Sir William t'irpen, Dame Laura Knight, Mr. Arnesby Brown, Mr. S. J. Lainorna Birch, and other artists, intended for exhibition in New Zealand, .gives point to our expression of uneasiness at the time when the Leonardo da Vinci, with a cargo of priceless Italian paintings, steamed into a gale. We expressed doubt. then, as to the wisdom of entrusting so many.of the world’s masterpieces to a single vessel. With this object-lesson before us. would it not lie a wise precaution on the return journey to divide these irreplaceable treasures among several ships?" Fortunately, Mr .Murray Fuller s collection ot contemporary British art was divided, one portion of the collection being sent direct to. Wellington from London.