The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING “LUCEO NON URO” WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 1937. Provincial Or Parochial?

Southland Times, Issue 23179, 21 April 1937, Page 4

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING “LUCEO NON URO” WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 1937. Provincial Or Parochial?

In August 1936 a widely representative meeting determined that Southland’s centennial memorial should take the form of a provincial museum and art gallery. No fewer than 35 local bodies and organizations were represented at the meeting, an influential executive of 27 members was set up, and their decision to establish the memorial was made with a display of enthusiasm that was most encouraging. A second meeting held last week to advance the project was, unfortunately, not so auspicious. The attendance was poor, and the replies from a number of local bodies to 1 the appeal for financial assistance circulated by the Mayor of Invercargill (Mr John Miller) did not show altogether the generous spirit that such a worthy undertaking might be expected to inspire. The Southland County Council was a notable exception: its unqualified assurance that provision would be made in the coming financial year, and in subsequent years, for a contribution towards the memorial was a welcome contrast to the rather lukewarm responses of other bodies. The Gore Borough Council was not prepared to take action because “it was possible that something of a similar nature, on a smaller scale, would be suggested for Gore”; and no doubt the same consideration —in favour of local memorials—has influenced the attitude in other districts. What all local bodies have to consider is whether such a notable event as New Zealand’s centenary'cannot be far more fittingly celebrated by a strong, concentrated effort towards a provincial memorial that is really worthy of the occasion, than by a series of minor, parochial efforts. The province as a whole, moreover, has some responsibility to provide a home for the works of art and the historical records and possessions that are the heritage of its people. Some of these possessions are of the highest value, but the present accommodation for them is disgracefully inadequate. Many of them cannot be displayed at all, much less displayed to any advantage. Indeed, the conditions under which they are housed have caused valuable amateur collections to be withheld from the present museum. The building which is to be the permanent home of these treasures must necessarily be erected in the centre and capital of the province, just as the Otago museum is in Dunedin, the Canterbury museum in Christchurch, and the Auckland museum in the city of Auckland. But it will belong, not to the people of Invercargill alone, but to the people of Southland; it will be open to them all and it will house their possessions. An attempt is to be made to induce the Carnegie Trust to subsidize the cost and maintenance of the museum, but apart from any help it may give there will still be a very substantial sum of money to be raised from local bodies and the public. Mr Miller hopes to obtain £7OOO from local bodies, a subsidy of over £2OOO from the Government, and the balance of the estimated cost of £20,000 by public subscription. At first sight that may seem a difficult task; but the enthusiasm and co-opera-tion of local bodies and the Southland people will make it easy.