The Daily News. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1911. MR. BULLER'S GIFT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 101, 19 October 1911, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1911. MR. BULLER'S GIFT.

It is unfortunate that some of the finest, collections of Maori Curiosities, vyvorks of art and articles of utility are outside New Zealand, and that there is no deep or widespread sentiment existing which gives national value to articles that are priceless in value because of their rarity and the fact that their like can be made no more. Lately Mr. BulLer, sqii of the late Sir Walter Buller,. has given to the nation without condition (save one) a collectidn of priceless Maori articles, mam: of which are unique and of surpassing interest as links with the past of a great race that has long s}nce lost its elemental qualification. The collection, as we have showed in a previous issue, includes a great carved canoe of. unique workmanship, a smaller canoe, believed by ni'aiiy judges to be the finest existing, a carved storehouse. garments, weapons, and implements used daily by the oldtime Maori. The collection in the hands of the Imperial Institute is to be sent 1o New Zealand, and added to that portion of the Buller collection now in this country. We believe that every link with the Maori's "storied past" should be jealously guarded and kept in New Zealand, and that the foreign antiquarians who are much keener on these matters than New Zealanders should have smaller chances of obtaining our treasures. for treasures they are. The instinct prompting Mr. Buller to relinquish his collection for llie benefit and instruction of the nation is one that is so commendable that one hopes the spirit will spread. For many years the most valuable Maori relies have been stored in "the Dominion Museum" in Wellington. It is not common to see anybody in the building, except" 1 lie director and his start'. It is unlikely that live per emt. of Wellington people know where the museum is. Audi most of the visitors are strangers to the city who casually wander in to breathe the stuffy atmosphere

and rest from the wind. Piles of articles that could never be replaced fester in odd corners. Some are thrown down in a shed or so in the yard, and in the yard itself one stumbles over Maori carvings of more or less value. The building is not beautiful. It is more or less rotten, it is more or less wooden, it is more or less rat and borer infested, and it is small, smelly, and utterly inadequate. Mr. Buller's only condition is that the Bullcr collection shall be placed in a "suitable" building. The "Dominion Museum" (save the name!) is suitable for storing firewood—nothing else. True there are more necessary things to be done than building a palatial museum, but the public takes so •'.■ ill an interest in the present museum that its contents might well be stacked out of the light of day in the vaults of the Bank of New Zealand, until such time as the country can afford a suitable house for them. A few years ago the director (Mr A. Hamilton) was in the seventh heaven of delight at being promised the Mount Cook gaol (a redrbrick "white elephant") for his treasures, but the .fact that this gaol is built to withstand the fire of naval guns or titanic discharges of dynamite would necessitate very difficult partial destruction, and nobody wants to see Maori curios in one man cells with walls 12 feet thick or so. At present Ave are not fully acquainted with the wealth of New Zealand in Maori antiquities and articles of art, for it is unlikely that private possessors will court their destruction by sending them, to the Museum. Th« young New Zealander, whether pakeha or Maori, is ill acquainted with the stirring part of his own land and national collections, which could be assuredly added to and which would help him to a better knowledge and a deeper reverence of those who bore the heat and burden of the day. It has already been suggested that a national museum should contain a collection illustrative of the whole history of this country both before and after the advent of the pakeha. The gifts of men like Sir George Grey, 'Captain Mair, N.Z.C., and Mr. Buller are by way of creating a national sentiment and -of establishing a people's storehouse for treasures of unique interest and usefulness.