HISTORICAL COLLECTION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11756, 21 July 1916, Page 4

HISTORICAL COLLECTION.

NEW SECTION AT MUSEII. SOME INTERESTING RELICS. The new department at Canterbury Museum, devoted to exhibits connected with tho early Listory of the province, is housed in a room at the end of the New Zealand fauna gallery, and already tnere- is a very respectable collection of relics. Tho present collection, however, i.s regarded merely as the nucleus of the new department, and it will be added to from time to time with the object of making it a comprehensive and interesting record of provincial history. Many of the exhibits have been in tho Museum for some time, but they now taiie their place in their proper section. First place, in historical order, and also in ''the matter of historical interest, must be given to a case of excellent photographic reproductions of autograph letters. These include letters trom Mr Gladstone to Mr Godley, from Lord Lytteiton to Mr Godley, from Mr E. 6. "Wakeheld to Dr Rintoul, and from Mr J. E. Fitzgerald to Mr Godley. An autograph letter l>om Lord Kitchener to the Museum authorities is also included in this case. Especial interest attaches to a petition signed by the boys of Christ's College Grammar School, praying for a playground. The petition bears the sprawling schoolboy signatures of many pupils who in after years played responsible and important parts in moulding the history of the province. Photographs, of course, play an important part in this department. Photography was not nuchpast its experimental infancy when the provirce was formed, but there were a few enthusiastic photographers, amateur and professional, among the early settlers, and their work provides an exceptionally interesting record of early architecture. The very earliest photographs taken in Christchurch do not figure largely in the collection, but a fine panoramic picture of the city, taken from the Provincial Council Chambers at a very early date, together with a fine enlargement of a photograph of High Street, dated 1863, give an excellent idea of the town familiar to an earlier generation. An undated collection of photographs shows Mr C. A. Calvert's quaint stone house on Oxford Terrace; Day's Hotel at Sumner; Gee's corner (now Cock and Ross's corner); the old Elizabethan style gabled houses near the corner of Gloucester and Colombo converted into shops in later years; the City Council office on Oxford Terrace, and Huck and Charles's establishment in Gloucester Street. Tho photographs are helped out by a number of old engravings of early Lytteiton and Christchurch, hut most of these ale familiar to citizens through frequent reproductions in the weekly newspapers An engraving of tha " Ann," the first mercantile steamer to visit Lytteiton (1854), does not fall into the category of the hackneyed, nor does the picture of the first members of the City Council. Early do not always' emphasise the magnificence of the present as compared with the humilitv. of the past. A case in pomt is Mr B. W. Mountfort's pencil sketch of Holy Trinity Church, Lytteiton, which shows an ornate and elaborate tower and spire' which have never been erected. . Printed posters and advertisements form an important part of tlm new department. Amongst these especial interest attaches to old timetables and freight lists published by the railway authorities shortly after the opening of he Christchurch-Selwyii Tailway , station. Also there is ihe advert.-sement of tho first-clas* passenger ship Dominion (orophctic name!), of 584 tons, which was scheduled to sail from the East India docks for New Zealand on May 8, 1851. Other relics are of a miscellaneous description. There is th«* great iron cross which tipped the Cathedral spire until cast from its place by the earthquake of 1SS8; a table brought from Sydney to New Zealand by Mr'M'Kinnon in 1840; a spar of the Isabella Hercus, which ai rived at Lytteiton in 1851; war medals; tho seal of the Canterbury Provincial Council, and the division bell usee by that august assemblage. Also there are displayed the wigs which once marked the authority of Judaes Gresson and Johnston respectively,~and a very quaint old bronze bell, found in possession of the North Island Maoris by Mr W. Colenso. A case is devoted to ancient muskets and pistols, mostly of French origin, while an old flour mill (a hand affair), threshing flail and sieve illustrate the beginnings of flour making in this province. There are a few relics of tho Maori war, and also some curious old maps of Banks Peninsula, one of French origin. The original Maor ; defences of Port Lytteiton are indicated in a verv interesting map. Tho official opening of the new department took place this afternoon.