490 Proceedings. 



done the demand for space will be slightly mitigated ; but even then it is difficult to see 

 how the natural growth of the library can be accommodated for more than a very few 

 years to come. In the library, as in all other deijartments of the work of the Institute 

 and Museum, the call for more space is loud and insistent. 



Museum. — With the exception of a short period devoted to cleaning and rearrange- 

 ment, the Museum has been open to the public throughout the year. The attendance 

 of visitors has been satisfactory, as will be readily admitted when the following 

 statistics are considered. Taking the attendance on Sundays first, the register kept 

 by the janitor shows that 25,839 jjeople entered the building on that day, being an 

 average of 496 for each Sunday. The greatest attendance on any one day was 854, 

 on the 1st June ; the lowest 28, on the 5th October, an unusually wet day. On the 

 nine cliief holidays of the year the total number of visitors amounted to 6,193, or an 

 average of 688 for each holiday. The largest holiday attendance was 986 on ' Easter 

 Monday, closely followed by 934 on King's Birthday. From the want of recording 

 mechanism it is not possible to give the actual attendance on ordinary week-days ; but 

 taking occasional counts as a basis for calculation, it seems evident that the average 

 daily number of visitors can be safely taken as 250, which would give a total of 75,750. 

 Adding to this number the figures already given for Sundays and holidays, the grand 

 total becomes 107,787. This is the first time the number of visitors has exceeded 

 100,000, although in several previous years a close approach to it has been made. 



In the present crowded state of the Museum it is practically impossible to make 

 any changes of importance therein, or to exhibit more than a small proportion of the 

 many additions that are being regularly received. Under existing cu-cumstances all 

 that can be done is to keep the collections in good order and condition, and to be 

 satisfied with those minor alterations and improvements that can still be carried out. 

 Among these may be mentioned the rearrangement of the collection of New Zealand 

 shells ; the working into their proper places of some additions that have been made 

 to the mounted series of New Zealand birds ; the mounting for exhibition of a con- 

 siderable number of articles presented to the Maori collection : and several changes in 

 the Foreign Ethnographical Hall. 



By far the m6st important donation made to the zoological department of the 

 Museum is a series of four skins of the larger North American mammals, presented by 

 Mr. James Dunning, of Remuera, who obtained them during a recent hunting expedition 

 to the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. There is a fine specimen of the moose, the largest 

 existing member of the deer family ; an unusually fine example of the Alaskan brown 

 bear (Ursiis middendorfii), the largest of all bears; a specimen of the black bear; 

 and one of the remarkable big-horn sheep, with its enormous spiral horns. It is 

 much to be regretted that there is not room in the Museum for the exhibition of 

 four such large and attractive animals. As it is, the skins have been properly 

 treated, and will be packed away until the erection of a new Museum makes it possible 

 to exhibit them. Among other additions belonging to this class, attention should be 

 directed to the gift made by Mrs. L. Moses of a handsome plate-glass show-case, 

 containing 300 species of foreign shells and thirty-five corals. Thanks are also due to 

 Mr. G. Henning and Mr. Hallyburton Johnstone for some mteresting specimens of 

 New Zealand birds. 



In the Maori Department special interest will be taken in the discovery by Messrs. 

 Hovell and Bell of an ancient Maori workshop near Katikati Harbour, apparently not 

 very far distant from the locality visited by Captain Gilbert Mair, and described by 

 him in the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute (vol. 35, p. 240). <An insiiection 

 made by the ciirator under the guidance of Mr. Hovell proved that the workshoji 

 covers quite a large area. The explorations made have resulted in the formation of 

 a large collection of stone adzes and other implements in various stages of manufacture, 

 together with numerous grindstones, borers, drill-points, &c. Mr. Hovell has set 

 aside for the Museum an extensive series of the articles obtained, with the object of 

 supjilying material for the construction of a special group illustrating the manufacture 

 of stone weapons by the Maoris. A portion of this material has already arrived m 

 Auckland, and the remainder will gradually follow. An illustrative group of the 

 character mentioned above, prepared according to modern methods, would form a 

 most interesting exhibit in the Maori Court of the new Museum. The Council have 

 tendered the cordial thanks of the institution to Mr. Hovell for his liberal action ; also 

 to his colleague, Mr. R. W. Bell, who has deposited his valuable Maori collection in 

 the Museum. 



Other noteworthy additions to the Maori Hall comprise an ancient historic taiaha 

 bearing the name of Rongotakitaki, and formerly the property of the Ngapuhi warrior 

 Kawhiti, presented by Mr. George Graham ; a fine greenstone tiki, a greenstone 

 poria, several stone adzes and fisTiing-weights, donated by Mr. D. Shanks, Mangatangi : 



