532 Proceedings. 



recent session of Parliament the matter was again revived, and warmly 

 advocated by the members for the City of Auckland and the Suburbs, with 

 the result that the Government consented to place a vote of £1,000 on the 

 supplementary estimate?. This was agreed to by Parliament, and the 

 Premier, in a recent interview with the Council, engaged that the money 

 would be at once made available for defraying the cost of an annexe to 

 the Maori Hall. Under these circumstances, the Council have arranged 

 for the erection of a hall 50 ft. square, to occupy the vacant space between 

 the Statue Hall and the Main Hall. One portion of the building will con- 

 tain the Maori carved house, Rangitihi, which has been in the possession 

 of the Museum for some time, but which for want of funds has not yet been 

 erected ; the remainder will form an exhibition gallery for ethnological 

 specimens. In structural details the new building will agree with the 

 Maori Hall, the walls and floor being of brick or concrete, and the 

 roof of iron and glass. The cost of erection will absorb the whole of the 

 grant, so that after its completion other arrangements will be required for 

 putting up the Maori house, and for the show-cases and other fittings 

 required for the exhibition gallery. But the acquisition of the building 

 alone will be a distinct advantage, and one upon which the Museum may 

 be safely congratulated. 



The chief additions made to the Museum during the year have been 

 in the ethnographical department. Special mention may be made of an 

 interesting series of Moriori stone weapons, purchased from Mr. R. 

 Shand, late of the Chatham Islands; of some Maori kites, kindly 

 obtained for the Museum by Mr. Elsdon Best, of Ruatahuna ; of a col- 

 lection of Australian stone weapons, forwarded in exchange by Jlr. 

 J. Williamson, of Victoria; and of a set of prehistoric flint implements 

 from Central Africa, presented by Colonel Seton-Karr. The Council have 

 frequently mentioned the slow progress made by the zoological side of 

 the Museum, so that they have some little satisfaction in stating that 

 there is every prospect of an important addition being made to this 

 department at no distant date. It will be in the recollection of members 

 that the late Mrs. Mackechnie bequeathed a sum of £500 to be expended, 

 at the discretion of her executor, in suitable additions to the Museum. 

 This gentleman has intimated his desire that the bequest should be ex- 

 pended in the purchase of stuffed groups of the larger animals, set up in 

 the best style of taxidermy, and protected by suitable plate-glass cases. 

 Preliminary inquiries are now being made, and it is hoped that an order 

 for the first of the groups will soon be taken in hand. 



Library. — The Council have but little to report under this head. 

 Few purchases of books have been made, but a considerable expenditure 

 has been incurred in binding the arrears of scientific journals=, publica- 

 tions of societies, &c. The usual exchanges and presentations from 

 foreign societies have been received, together with the magazines and 

 periodicals subscribed to by the Institute, a list of which will be found on 

 another page. The most important donation of books received consists 

 of forty-eight volumes of books dealing with the history of India, 

 formerly the property of the late Bishop Cowic, and presented to the 

 library in remembrance of him by his family. The Mackechnie bequest 

 of £2,000, the annual interest on which must be applied solely to the 

 purchase of books, has been duly paid over and invested. In the future 

 it will provide a regular fund for the augmentation of the library, and 

 will enable the Council to extend its usefulness in a manner which could 

 not be attempted with the slender funds to bo spared from the ordinary 

 revenue of the society. 



LiTTLK Barrier Island. — The management of the Little Barrier 

 Island as a reserve for the preservation of the avifauna of ISlew Zealand 

 still remains in the hands of the Institute, the Government contributing 



