54 Transactions. 



" 2, Arrangements for Description and Publication. 



" {a.) Certain well-known experts in tlie Australasian Colonics should be 

 approached as to their willingness to undertake the description of one or the 

 other of the groups of fossils, and as to the terms on which they would do 

 so, and also as to what they consider a fair and reasonable time in which 

 to do the work. 



■' (b.) A draft agreement should be drawn up by the Government or the 

 Department, setting forth, with the necessary blanks, what the expert con- 

 tracts to do on his side, and what remuneration he is to receive for the work, 

 and when and how he is to be paid. 



" In making the above suggestions I wish to point out that the pre- 

 liminary sorting and packing of the fossils is the most urgent matter, and 

 should be seen to at once. Unfortimately, the accommodation at the Museum 

 is at present quite insufficient for such work, and emphasizes the necessity 

 for the workshops at the back of the Museum, which I trust will be soon 

 iiuthorised. 



" However, as soon as the Government Analyst takes possession of his 

 new building, the rooms he vacates could be used with advantage for the 

 sorting. The Mines Department will no doubt give Mr. McKay what assist- 

 ance he requires for the purpose, and provide suitable boxes for the repacking 

 of the specimens. Directly the number is ascertained of the fossils to be 

 ■examined and described, the Government should appoint one or more persons 

 to interview the selected experts in Australia to arrange the terms and con- 

 ditions ; and I would suggest that, instead of visiting them separately, 

 they should be invited to meet in Sydney and discuss with the New Zealand 

 representatives a plan for the description and publication of the fossils, in 

 order to insure as much uniformity as possible for the various New Zealand 

 publications, and also that they should conform as far as possible to similar 

 publications by the Australian States. 



" I must call your attention to the extremely unsatisfactory result of 

 some transactions with the late Professor Tate, of Adelaide, as disclosed 

 by the file of correspondence in the office of the Museum. It seems that 

 a,t his request Professor Tate was intrusted with a large collection of Tertiary 

 fossils for description. The fossils have not been returned to the Museum, 

 and I have recently been informed that the fossils have passed into the 

 hands of a person who has sold or otherwise disposed of them.* 



" Professor Tate furnished a few notes on a part of the collection which 

 he received in 1890. It does not seem to me right that such a thing should 

 occur, although I am not now in charge of the collection of which the lost 

 specimens formed a part.f 



" I am, sir, your obedient servant, 



" A. Hamilton, Director." 



Since that time Mr. A. McKay and an assistant have been continuously 

 employed in the transfer of the specimens of rocks and fossils to new and 

 better boxes, and have checked every specimen as to locality, and a com- 

 plete record has been made. It is fortunate that this has been done, as 

 there is no one else now living who could have done it, and Mr. McKay, 



* This, 1 now learn, is incorrect. 



t Under the New Zealand Institute Act of 1903 the minerals and fossils in the 

 Museum passed into the control of the Mirffes Department. 



