The Dominion TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1928. A NATIONAL APPEAL

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 128, 28 February 1928, Page 8

The Dominion TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1928. A NATIONAL APPEAL

The decision of the Government to dedicate the Mount Cook site to the Dominion’s National War Memorial, National Museum, and National Art Gallery is a matter of great importance to the City of Wellington and to the whole Dominion. It is a magnificent site, worthy of the purpose. As the public is aware, the Government’s decision has been largely influenced by the effective grouping scheme submitted to it, under which the nation’s historical, Native, scientific, and art treasures will be housed in suitable buildings in architectural association with the Carillon, Campanile, and Hall of Memories, the whole presenting an impressive historical symbol. It is a fine project, but its full realisation does not depend upon Government alone. • ‘‘The Government,” states the Prime Minister in his letter to the Mayor of Wellington, ‘‘is prepared to make available the Mt. Cook site for the purposes indicated above, on the understanding that in the meantime the campanile would be erected in such a position that the present Defence Department buildings would not be materially interfered with and could remain in use by the Crown for their present or any other purpose until suc.i time as the money (up to 1100,000, which the Government has agreed to subsidise on a £1 for £1 basis) had been collected to carry out the buildings referred to above. It would then be prepared to vacate the site entirely and hand it over to a suitable Board of Trustees.” It is now upon the public to rise to the occasion. A systematic campaign for the necessary funds is clearly indicated. The present proposition had to pass through various stages of discussion before reaching its present form. It was a perfectly natural, and easy enough proceeding to decide that there should be a National War Memorial as distinct from local memorials throughout the country. It was less easy to arrive at agreement as to the site and form of the memorial. It is now almost ten years since the war ended. It has taken us all that time to arrive at the point where we are to-day—a plan, a site, and the Government’s imprimatur. How long will it take us to find the money for the citizens’ share of the undertaking? Obviously, the first essential in the subscription campaign is to establish in the consciousness of the public throughout the country the fundamentally national character of the cause. The Memorial is the Government’s responsibility—a national symbol of the country’s part in the Great War. The Art Gallery, which should be the national repository of our art treasures, and the Museum, which is to have a Dominion status, are to be erected mainly out of funds subscribed by the public, assisted by the Government subsidy. The whole project is entirely distinct from the Wellington Citizens’ War Memorial. From’ this point of view it is well that the two schemes have been definitely separated. Although we may have attained the status of nationhood, it may be doubted whether we have attained a corresponding degree of national consciousness. We fought as a nation. We gained high honours as a nation during the war. We will figure in history as a nation. But can we yet think as a nation? Here, in this proposition of the National War Memorial, with its associated plans for a National Art Gallery and Museum, we have an opportunity to do something-for the nation by way of sentiment.