VALUABLE GIFT.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19142, 27 October 1927, Page 5

VALUABLE GIFT.

PICTURES AND STATUARY. CITY OF AUCKLAND BENEFITS. [THE PEBSB Special Btrrlet.] AUCKLAND, October 26. "It is one of the most magnificent gifts that tha City of Auckland lias ever received/' said the Mayor (Mr George Baildon) this morning, in announcing that Mr Moss Davis had given a priceless collection of art and statuary to the citizens of Auckland. The collection was shipped by the steamer Corinthic, which arrived at Wellington yesterday. Included in the collection are:—A bust of Napoleon I. An oil painting by Murillo, the subject being St Joseph with the infant Saviour, with angels in the clouds. It is from tho collection of Sir W, H. ITcilder, Bart. A white marblo statue of Venus, by Pajau, signed, and dated 1790. An oil painting by Lord Leighton, entitled "Melitton," exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1882. . An autographed letter by Lord Nelson, written a week before his death, to Captain George . Hope. The text i s; —"you tvill, with tho Agamemnon, take a station west of Cadiz from seven to ten loagues, by which means; if the enemy should move, I hop 6 to have instant information, as two or three ships will be kept at present between the fleet and your' two ships, and it seems thought by Captain Blackwood that a ship or two might attempt to drive the frigates off, and if that may bo the case, you will bo at hand to assist." An autographed letter by Lord Tennyson. The text is:—"l have hai a rough introduction to Cornwall. I started-in tho dusk, and asked yo girl of ye inn on ye way to ye sea. She opened a back door and I walked on a pavement paved with cobbles." An autographed letter by Lord Lytton, who says:—"There seems nothing new in literature worth reading. Dickens's 'Chimes' seems to mo sad stuff." An autographed letter by Charles Dickons, who Bays: —"I am severely unwell with vile bilious disorder, which must be promptly subdued. I have been taken in hand by the doctor with a most unpleasant alacrity." Fifteen unpublished autographed letters by Charles Dickons to various correspondents. A miniature, "The Crucifixion," by Appollonius do Bonfralettes do Capranica, Papal Minialore to Popes Pius IV. and V., 1550-1570. Six small miniatures by Antonio da Moza, period 1500-—figures of the Almighty, the Redeemer, and four priests. Phootgraphs of cheques drawn by Charles Dickens. - A collection of Maori implements.