CARROLL PORTRAIT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20110, 2 December 1939, Page 4

CARROLL PORTRAIT

GALLERY PRESENTATION TRIBUTE TO STATESMAN CAREER OF DISTINCTION (Special to the Herald.) WELLINGTON, this day. Efforts made by a group of friends of the- late Sir James Carroll, M.L.C., to establish a fitting memorial to the distinguished Maori statesman, in a position where it will rank with those of other prominent New Zealanders, culminated in the presentation of a portrait of the late “Timi Kara” to the National Art Gallery. The presentation ceremony took place in the Maori Hall of the Dominion Museum, Wellington, on Wednesday, in the presence of a distinguished gathering, which included many personal friends of Sir James Carroll. The portrait, which was the work of a Palmerston North artist, Linley Richardson, was handed to the trustees of the National Art Gallery -by Sir Apirana Ngata, who paid a warm tribute to the memory of his late colleague and leader It had been left for a subsequent generation to honour in its right degree the work of Sir James Carroll, he said, and '.to commemorate the services of one who in his day had done everything which he considered would contribute to the lasting welfare of the Maori people. His policy often had been referred to as one of “taihoa," but his conservatism had been more than justified by events of later years, during which lands once sold by the Maoris had had to be bought back to preserve their heritage.

Gisborne Committee’s Inspiration Statesman, orator, sportsman, philosopher, and tohunga, Sir. James Carroll had been all things to all men, and had left his mark as one of New Zealand’s most distinguished sons, added Sir Apirana Ngata. A committee of his friends and admirers, with Mr. D. J. Barry, Gisborne, as its chairman, and Mr. C. H. Ambridge, also of Gisborne, as its honorary secretary, had conceived the happy idea of perpetuating the memory of their late ariki by means of a portrait hung in the National Art Gallery, and this ceremony had developed out of that proposal. The virtues and human qualities ol the late Sir James Carroll were the theme also of remarks by Mr. J. R. Kirk, who warmly endorsed what Sir Apirana Ngata had said concerning the political representation of the Maori point of view by the man they had known as ‘‘Timi Kara.”

It was a pleasure to feel, said Mi. Kirk, that so great a figure in the history of New Zealand was to have his niche among those portrayed in the gallery, where it might provide inspiration for the younger generation of New Zealanders.

Cementing Inter-Racial Ties

The Mayor of Wellington, Mr. T. C. A. Hislop, accepted the portrait on behalf of the Board of Trustees, ana said that it was fit that the National Collection should contain a portrait of a man so long associated with the development of the Dominion, particularly in view of the great work he had performed to cement the friendship between European and Maori. His work would live in that which he created, and it was particularly appropriate that the portrait should' be presented by another leader of the Maori race, Sir Apirana Ngata, who had also done so much to help the Maoris. Mr. Hislop also expressed appreciation ot the work of the artist, Linley Richardson, who was presenfstThe ceremony.

Among others present were Mr. J. W. Heenan, Under-Secretary, Internal Affairs Department, a member oi the Board of Trustees, Mr. Stanley W. Fearn. member of the Board of Trustees, the Hon. W. Perry, M.L.C., Mrs. Murray Fuller, Mr. R. N. Jones, Mr. H. Carr, Professor Sutherland, Canterbury College, Dr. W. R. B. Oliver, Director of the Dominion Museum, Mr. F. H. Bass, secretary of the Board of Trustees, and Mr. E. D. Gore, secretary of the Art Gallery management committee.