DOMINION MUSEUM

Southland Times, Issue 19461, 28 January 1925, Page 8

DOMINION MUSEUM

CAUSE OF DELAY. BOARD OF TRUSTEES RECOMMENDED. (Special to the Times.) WELLINGTON, January 27. TTie Standing Committee of the New’ Zealand Institute reported as follows at the annual meeting of the Institute to-day:— The resolution passed at the last annual meeting was conveyed to the Hon. Minister of Internal Affairs, and the outlook for a new building is decidedly brighter. Cabinet proposed to give a subsidy of £50,000, provided the citizens of Wellington raised a similar amount. Subsequently, on a proposal to include an art gallery with the museum, the amount promised by the Government was raised to £lOO,OOO. The President (Dr. P. Marshall) said he thought they all felt that the Government at least to some extent appreciated its obligations to the Dominion in this matter, but so far as his information went, not very much money had as yet been raised locally, and therefore not much of the grant could yet be claimed. Dr. Alan Thomson said that a number of those specially interested desired to know where the site of the museum was going to be, and also who would control the museum. Mr H. Hill (Hawke's Bay) remarked that if the Government had any spirit or love for scientific development, they should not think about the people. When the people saw the Government doing something then the people would perhaps do something themselves. Professor Easterfield (Nelson) remarked that the point made by Dr. Thomson was that the public would not subscribe money and hand it over to a Government Department. He thought that members of the Institute believed that a Dominion Board for the museum was a necessity if the museum was to be well run. Professor Worley (Auckland) endorsed the suggestion that a Board should control the museum, and on the motion of Dr. Chilton seconded by Professor Worley, it was agreed that the Government be urged to bring in legislation placing the control of the museum in the hands of a board of trustees.