Report of Representatives on Board of Trustees of National Art Gallery and Dominion Museum

It is a pleasure to be able to report that during the year some staff members of the Dominion Museum received some recognition of their work by being given higher status by the Public Service Commission. Nevertheless, salaries and status of the staff are by no means as high as we think they should be. Constant pressure is exerted by the Management Committee to bring about improvements, but with only a moderate degree of success. The vexed question of the fixed establishment for staff has not yet been solved, for notwithstanding the Committee's recommendation of over a year ago that the total professional staff should be increased by seven, nothing has been done. Your representatives lose no opportunity at Board meetings of pressing for a revision of the establishment fixed in 1950–51, but the consequent resolutions of the Board seem to get lost in the administrative machine.

Proposals for constitutional reform were given a new lease of life late in 1958. The Management Committee of the National Art Gallery withdrew its opposition to proposals made in the previous year and the Board then approved of the Museum Management Committee's preparing a detailed scheme for submission to the Board. The first meeting of the Committee, in 1959, gave some time to draft proposals, and in the light of the discussion a more detailed scheme is to be prepared for a later meeting.

It is expected that the process of seeking autonomy for the Museum will be a long and difficult one, but we are convinced that only by having direct control of finance and staff will the Committee be enabled to allow the Museum full scope for its activities.

The question of building extensions to house the constantly increasing acquisitions has also been raised during the year. The Board has been asked to consider in principle the functions of the Museum in respect of war relics and technological and historical material, and to indicate what should be done in providing additional accommodation in the light of the decisions it arrives at on the policy to be followed by the Museum.

Notwithstanding the administrative handicaps that are implied in the comments earlier in this report, the staff of the Museum continue to deal with a great many enquiries from other scientists and the public, to assist in the educational work carried on by the Education Officer and his assistant, and to perform a great deal of solid scientific work in the field and laboratory.

H. C. Mcqueen
C A. Fleming