Report of Representative on National Historic Places Trust

Early in 1957 the Trust established Regional Committees in seventeen districts. In most cases these have made considerable progress in carrying out their primary function of surveying the historic sites in their regions, assessing their historical significance and reporting to the Trust the order of priority of the projects they consider should be undertaken. The number of projects put forward are, as might have been expected, beyond the present capacity of the Trust, on account of its limited financial resources. To keep the Regional Committees in touch with the policy of the Trust, the chairman, the secretary, and other members of the Trust have visited several of the committees, and inspected some of their proposed works. As another means of integrating the work of the Committees, and in order to keep them and associated members informed of Trust activities, a newsletter is being issued from time to time. The first of these was published last November.

So far no planned campaign to build up a significant income from the subscriptions of associate and corporate members has been undertaken, but the number of public bodies (forty-one) that have become corporate members is encouraging. The roll of associate members now stands at one hundred and sixty. Associate and corporate members have the right to elect a member of the Trust, and the first election was held recently.

The Trust does not yet consider that it is in a position to acquire by purchase any major properties, but a considerable amount of work has been in the field of its other functions of recording and marking sites of significance. An exploratory team under the director of Dr. R. Duff, examined and recorded cave drawings and paintings in the Waitaki Valley. These are likely to be submerged when the Benmore hydro-electric scheme is completed. Successful experiments have been carried out in recording rock-carvings by means of latex casts.