Auckland Institute. 491 



an ancient bone comb, presented by Mr. F. E. Stewart, per Cajotain Gilbert Mair; 

 a remarkably large and fine greenstone adze, with a series of six picked ordinary adzes, 

 contributed by Mr. C. Ansell. The Council have also to acknowledge, with many 

 thanks, the receipt of a cheque for £25 from Mr. Guthrie Smith, which, at his desire, has 

 been expended in the purchase of certain interesting Maori cai'vings from Rotorua. 

 A valuable and instructive addition is a life-size model of a Gilbert-Islander, wearing 

 a remarkable armour made of coconut sinnet, and carrying a long fighting-spear armed 

 with sharks' teeth. Complete sets of this armour, the use of wliich was confined to 

 a small part of Polynesia, are now rare and difficult to obtain. The Museum is thus 

 greatly indebted to Mr. A. J. Ellis for presenting the admirable specimen now in the 

 Museum. The model of the warrior was prepared in the Museum. 



In foreign ethnography the most important acquisition is a collection of Indian 

 swords, armour, art treasures, &c., comprising no less than eighty-nine articles. It 

 was originally formed between the years 1860 and 1890 by the late Mr. James E. Yates, 

 who at that time occupied an important position in the Indian Public Service. On 

 his retirement he emigrated to New Zealand, and died at Gisborne a few years ago. 

 The collection, which has considerable intrinsic value, is now presented to the Museum 

 by his daughters, in memory of their father. The importance of the gift has been 

 suitably acknowledged to the donors, and the collection has been placed on exhibition 

 in the entrance hall of the Museum. 



There has been received from the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington, 

 a welcome donation of eighteen watches and movements of eighteenth-century age. 

 These are part of a series of 1,500 antique watches presented to South Kensington by 

 the well-known collector Mr. Evan Roberts, with the stipulation that those specimens 

 not required for the national collection should be distributed among a number of selected 

 institutions. It is gratifying to find that the Auckland Museum has been chosen as 

 one of tlie participants. 



The thanks of the Museum are due to Dr. A. C. Purchas for an interesting collection 

 of sixteen* Egyj^tian antiquities, obtained by him while serving in Egypt with the 

 Medical Branch of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. It forms an appropriate 

 supplement to the collections obtained from the Cairo Museum some two or three years 

 ago. Some valuable suggestions made by Dr. Purchas respecting the extension of the 

 Egyptian collections in the Museum will be gladly acted upon when circumstances 

 permit. 



War Collections. — The Council have pleasure in announcing the receipt of a valuable 

 collection of between twenty and thirty guns, revolvers, pistols, &c., formed by the 

 late Mr. D. Evitt, for many years in business in Auckland as a gunsmith. It is now 

 presented to the Museum by his family as the " David Evitt Collection." The articles 

 date between the years 1750 and 1860, and will constitute an excellent introduction 

 to the war collection now being formed, particularly as it includes examples of the 

 well-known " Bro^\ii Bess " flint-lock gun and other types, which, from the reign of 

 William III for quite one hundred years, constituted the standard weapons of the 

 British Army. 



A considerable number of small collections have been received from returned 

 soldiers and others, and the following may be specially mentioned : Private J. M. 

 Griffen, N.Z.M.C, presents numerous articles obtained in Egypt, Salonica, and France ; 

 Major G. S. Chceseman contributes a varied assortment collected in Egyjjt, the Sinai 

 Peninsula, and Palestine ; Mr. J. D. Whitcombe presents the house flag of the German 

 trading-vessel " Elfrida." the last to navigate the South Pacific after the outbreak of 

 the war ; while Captain Boscawen donates several interesting articles obtained at 

 Gallipoli or in France, 



Since the last annual meeting there has been much correspondence with the Govern- 

 ment relative to the distribution of war trophies and war collections generally ; 

 and a deputation representing both the city and the Museum waited upon the 

 Premier on his return from Europe. The result has been to smooth away many 

 difficulties, and especially to afford more information as to the intentions of the 

 Government. So far as can be ascertained, no distribution of trophies will be made 

 until the whole of the material has arrived in the Dominion, and has been properly 

 examined and catalogued. This having been done, all those trophies positively 

 identified as having been captured by a particular unit of the Expeditionary Forces 

 will be sent to the nearest headquarter towTi of the regiment to wliich the unit belongs. 

 The remainder of the material, constituting by far the greater portion of the whole, 

 will be subject in the first instance to the selection of one sample of each kind of 

 trophy for the National Museum at Wellington. The remainder will be divided into 

 four parts, to be distributed mthin the four chief districts of the Dominion : and a 

 cUstinct promise has been given to the effect that the ^vishes of the local Museums 

 shall receive full consideration. In addition, it is stated that " long ago instructions 



