542 Froceedings. 



include payments to the amount of £561 5s. 4d. on account of the expense of fitting 

 up the new Foreign Ethnographical Hall, which have been met by means of an 

 advance from the Investment Account. The cash balance in hand at the present 

 time amounts to £282. 



The position of the invested funds of the society must be regarded as satis- 

 factory. Such funds consist of those comprised under the headings Costley 

 Bequest, Museum Endowment Account, Mackechnie Bequest, Campbell Bequest, 

 and one or two minor divisions, and include all capital the annual income from 

 which can alone be used for the purposes of the society. The total of these funds 

 has been materially increased during the year by the sale of some endowments, and 

 now amounts to £21,457 18s. 5d., almost the whole of which is invested in specially 

 selected mortgages or Government debentures. 



Meetings. — Eight meetings have been held during the year, at which eleven 

 papers were read and discussed. 



Museum. — The attendance of visitors has been satisfactory, showing a slight 

 increase over the figures for last year. 



Since the establishment of a Municipal Art Gallery, and the association with it 

 of the Mackelvie Gallery, it had become evident that the growth and management 

 of art collections in Auckland would be most satisfactorily conducted by the City 

 Council. Similarly, the great expansion in recent years of the Maori collections 

 in the Museum clearly indicated the desirability of concentrating within the 

 Museum all the ethnographical collections of the city. It was therefore decided 

 to advocate a proposal to place the Russell collection of statues in the Art Gallery, 

 and the Grey Maori collection in the Museum. The matter was sympathetically 

 received by the City Council, and it was decided that the Russell collection should 

 be handed over to the city on deposit, and the Grey collection to the Museum, each 

 body retaining the actual ownership of its articles, and preserving the right of 

 withdrawal if circumstances should ever make such a course necessary. At a later 

 date the Council decided to grant a request by the City Council to deposit for 

 exhibition in the Old Colonists' Museum a series of 127 pictures, drawings, photo- 

 graphs, historical documents, sets of old newspapers, &c., bearing on the early 

 history of Auckland. 



As soon as the removal of the statues placed the hall at the disposal of the 

 Council it was decided to utilize it for the reception, in the first place, of the Grey 

 Maori collection, which under the agreement with the City Council must be kept 

 separate from the Maori collections belonging to the Museum, and, secondly, for 

 the display of the fine series of foreign ethnographical articles in the possession 

 of the Museum, a large proportion of which has never been exhibited. Much care 

 has been taken in designing the show-cases and other fittings required, and only 

 the best material and the best woxkmanship has been admitted. The total cost 

 has been about £600, which amount has been temporarily borrowed from the 

 invested funds of the society, with the understanding that it shall be returned in 

 instalments as rapidly as possible, regular interest being payable on the sum out- 

 standing. 



Many additions of importance have been made to the Museum during the year. 

 In the zoological department a special group has been prepared illustrating the 

 habits and mode of life of the North Island kiwi {AjJieryx mantclli). It includes 

 several excellent specimens of the adults of both sexes and of the young, together 

 with the nest and eggs. It represents a little glade in the Waitakerei Forest 

 at the base of a large rata-tree, around which the kiwis are arranged. Another con- 

 spicuous addition is a specimen of the round-snouted swordfish (Hisfiopfiorus 

 /icr.^rheHi), caught by Mr. Campbell off Cape Brett, and kindly presented by him. 

 to the Museum. A painted plaster cast has been prepared of the well-known frost- 

 fish (Lepidojm-- caudatus), based upon a remarkably fine specimen forwarded from 

 Mercury Bay by Mr. W. Bonella. Reference should also be made to a series of 

 nineteen skins of Chatham Island birds, purchased from Mr. S. Dannefaerd. 



The most important accession to the Maori collections is the huge carved gate- 

 way, over 21 ft. in height, of the ancient pa at Te Koutou, Lake Okataina, which 

 has been purchased from the Maori owners. So far as can be ascertained, it was 

 carved prior to 1820, and thus may possibly be well over a hundred years of age. 

 It is known to have been standing at the' time of Hongi's raid on the Rotorua 

 district in 1824. It was observed when the first missionaries reached Rotorua a 

 few years later, and a rough sketch of it is given in Terry's "New Zealand.'' 

 published in 1843. Other interesting additions are the stern-piece of an ancient 

 war-canoe, dug up near the bottom of a deep drainage-canal on the Hauraki Plains, 

 and presented by Mr. G. A. Hodge; a bone manaia. the figurehead of a small 

 river-canoe, and various other articles donated bv Mr. G. Graham; a carved 



