CAMBRIDGE ART UNION.

Waikato Independent, Volume XXVII, Issue 2764, 29 March 1927, Page 4

CAMBRIDGE ART UNION.

(To the Editor). Sir,—l hjave just been reading the balance sheet of the, Cambridge Art 4 .Union, and also your splendid article on the subject; I do not, profess 1 to ffiuch/gbput iba^ancO I c pect few women in my position do—l a mean women who only audit household s accounts. I am afraid . mere husbands .think that women’s ideas.,, regarding money matters aro delightfully obscure. Therefore, I can’t help being amused, and . curious too, about some of the items of this balance sheet. Don’t you think it- looks more like a draper’s account, with its details of 1/1 and 1/3, 7 than-a balance sheet of a business deal with the hugo sum of £24,000 odd involved? . . , It seems strange to me, too, that a business proposition, run under Government jurisdiction, and hedged round with Government red. tape, should not have been audited by a Government auditor. He might have, added all the threepences and sixpences at least together, and made it look something like a business proposition. .. I am sure the auditor with all the nice letters after his nanic did his'bj?st, and that ho is quite capable, but, afterall, the Government made the art union executive do absurd things like buying a lump of gold, and selling it at a distinct loss. Why should they not take the responsibility of auditing- the accounts? I,admit that as an old, resident r? Cambridge I was carried, away by the enthusiasm of the business men who were running the art union, and affi 0, A •bitr-fSOTe, personally,, about the result. I had such faith that Cambridge was to benefit greatly, and have a Domain nc

least as, beautiful as Now Plymouth Domain, that I helped sell many tickets, which,:with-: what I bought, gave me .30 chances, of '- a /personal 1 (prizes. Perhaps ,1 was carried away by my enthusiasm, as is a/woman’s way.. However, beside the" few thousands, I expected to win for my,self (and I quite intended to 4 give back a donation for beautifying further our “deq,r little, iontgl.. town”) I expected all improvements to be made by the D™ main, Board. .

In regard to the items of expend!-, ture, why rents and telephones,/ibr. .instance? After all, wore not the Officers highly,.paid men with, presumably, offices of their own, and proper- office equipmont such as telephones to handle a business proposition . v ‘ Then there was £245 —a big sum — merely for addressing circulars and envelopes. Was not that a' secretary’s job when he was well paid? If he was' too busy, a working bee of school ehalcU ren would surely have had local patriotism enough to write them for him. That money at least should have been saved for the town.

I noticed on the books and circulars that I received, that even those were not printed in the town or district.

As the Mayor says, we have every reason to bo disappointed,'bitterly disappointed, at the result of the art vuk, ion. It would have been better, as a moans of raising money, to have dispensed with outside expenses, and have offered evon a shilling subscription list for . a beautifying, scheme.. That could not have been ; leas- and we

would certainlyt-ha-veihad ?ali ithe money collected.—rl am, etc., *' •» • MARTHA H. BROWN. Cambridge, March 28, 1927. (Portion of iAbove letter has been excised.—Ed., Waikato independent).