THE PRESS SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 1979. Help for the museum

Press, 21 April 1979, Page 14

THE PRESS SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 1979. Help for the museum

When the Canterbury Museum has sought financial assistance the people of the province have been generous in helping to maintain and improve one of Christchurch’s most valuable assets. The provincial centenary appeal and the more recent Antarctic Wing extensions were warmly supported. The quality of the museum must not be allowed to decline now because additional money is needed for the less glamorous, but essential demands of maintenance, wages, and operating costs.

Representatives of Canterbury local authorities this week met the Museum Trust Board to consider the institution’s bleak financial outlook. A committee has been set up to find ways of reducing the museum’s deficit, and of putting its finances on a surer footing.

Canterbury residents contribute to the museum’s costs now' through their rates, but the amounts are generally very small The Christchurch City Council, which makes the largest contribution. last year collected $195,000 in rates for the museum, an increase of only 3.1 per cent on the amount col-

lected the previous year. The council also made a grant of $41,000 from its general rate, more than half of it as a contribution to the new Antarctic Wing. The amounts for each household are very small—the museum rate on residential properties is less than 0.02 cents for each dollar of land value. The museum’s finances have been upset by inflation, rising costs, and by the five-year gap between revaluations of properties. City properties have not been revalued since 1974 and the museum is suffering as a result. The Canterbury Museum has a national and even an international reputation, and it is not unreasonable to expect the Government to consider some further assistance. But the museum provides the greatest service to the people of Christchurch and Canterbury. If all the local authorities of the region show a readiness to assist, the amount required from each of them as an additional grant will be small. The loyalty of the museum’s stiiff, the value of its exhibits, and the quality of its displays are all too precious to be jeopardised by a shortage of money to meet essential commitments.