Auckland Institute. 347 



The committee appointed l>y the Council bo '(insider the co-ordination of science 



and industry, whose lirst report appeared last year, lias continued its labours during 

 the present session, and has prepared a second communication. This, together with 

 reports from other committees set up by the various branches of the New Zealand 

 Institute, has been placed before a general committee of the Institute sitting in Wel- 

 lington, which, it is understood, will shortly forward a full statement of its views to 

 the Government. 



Museum. With the exception of a short period necessarily devoted to cleaning 

 and rearrangement, the Museum has been open to the public daily throughout the 

 year. The attendance has been excellent, although not quite equal to that of the three 

 years I !t 1 4 to 1916, the total number of visitors being 87,350. 



Considerable progress has been made in the Museum during the year. The 

 numerous recent additions to the Maori collections have rendered it necessary to 

 rearrange a large part of the contents of the .Maori Hall. The work is not yet com- 

 pleted, but sufficient has been done to make the collections much more intelligible to 

 visitors, and more readily inspected. A plate-glass show-case has been provided for 

 the fine series of taiahas, battle-axes, &c, in the possession of the Museum. These 

 are now much more worthily exhibited, and the space they formerly occupied has 

 supplied accommodation for other articles. 



As detailed in last year's report, the completion of the new mineral-room, .and the 

 transfer to it of many specimens formerly exhibited in the gallery of the main hall, 

 will provide some additional space for the representation of the New Zealand fauna. 

 It is intended to utilize the table-cases on the south side of the gallery for the reception 

 of the New Zealand shells, and a considerable amount of preliminary work has been done. 

 such as the cleaning and repainting of the cases, the preparation bf the trays and tablets 

 for the specimens, cataloguing, soiling. &c. It is hoped to commence the actual 

 arrangement in a short time. In the taxidermist's department Mr. Griffin has nearly 

 completed a very realistic group illustrating the breeding-habits of the black-fronted 

 tern, one of the most graceful of New Zealand birds. The group, which has cost a large 

 amount of patient work and preparation, is of an entirely different character to those 

 already exhibited, and will be generally admired. 



The additions and donations received during the year have been numerous and 

 valuable, as will be seen from the list appended to the report, but only the more 

 important can be mentioned here. In the ethnographical department special reference 

 should 1).' made to three historical bone meres, purchased and presented to the Museum 

 by the Hon. A. M. Myers, Mr. Henry Brett, and Mr. R. H. Abbott. Two of these were 

 formerly the property of the celebrated chieftain Rewi Maniapoto, whose name will 

 always be remembered in connection with the Maori War and the defence of < hakau 

 against our troops. The third belonged to the well-known Urewera warrior Hauwai. 



Mr. H. E. Partridge has donated ten plaster bas-reliefs of the busts of Maoris and 

 Hawaiians, modelled from life by the well-known sculptor Allan Hutchinson. These 

 will be most useful to the Museum when attempts are made to prepare modelled groups 

 of Maoris engaged in their old-time avocations. 



Another valuable addition consists of ten limestone slabs bearing pre-Maori rock- 

 paintings or pictographs, obtained by Dr. Elmore, an American scientist, from certain 

 rock shelters in North Otago. The cost of excavating the slabs, together with others 

 intended for the Otago Museum, was borne by the Otago and Auckland Institutes. 

 Although these pictographs, together with others in Canterbury, have been known 

 for many years, they have not attracted the notice that they certainly deserve. 



Single articles of note consist of a remarkably tine and delicately carved charm, 

 or mauri, presented by Mr. F. R. Hutchinson : a large and beautifully polished stone 

 adze, contributed by Mr. R. W. Duder ; and one of the rare neck-ornaments carved 

 from the teeth of the sperm-whale, donated by Mr. Percy Monk. 



In last year's report the Council stated that arrangements had been made with the 

 Gizeh Museum. Cairo, for a first instalment of Egyptian antiquities. The collection 

 has since arrived, and has- been placed in a special show -case. It contains about a 

 hundred examples, the most interesting being a series of vases, bowls, libation-vessels, &c, 

 discovered by Dr. Quibell in an 11th dynasty tomb at Sakkarah, near Memphis. The 

 collection forms a very welcome acquisition, arid it is hoped that arrangements may be 

 made for other consignments. 



Mr. Henry Shaw, whose previous gifts of Japanese porcelain, bronzes, ivories, &c, 

 are still fresh in the memory of the Institute, has made an additional presentation of 

 Satsuma and Kioto porcelain, comprising more than fifty articles, together with a few 

 temporarily lent. A special case has been provided, in which the specimens are now 

 exhibited. The thanks of the Museum have been voted to Mr. Shaw for this renewed 

 instance of libera lit v. 



