318 NOTES AND COMMENTS [NOVEMBER 
infected even the Trustees, and their Report for the year 1898 puts 
the case as strongly as can be expected from so decorous a body. 
They “regret that for some years past the funds voted for the main- 
tenance of the museum have been inadequate. In 1892 the museum 
vote, leaving out of account special items, was £7201. In 1893 the 
trustees were compelled to submit to considerable reductions, rendered 
necessary by the financial pressure of the time, and they endeavoured 
to adapt their work to the rates allowed. They expected, however, 
that with returning prosperity, not only would former votes have been 
restored, but that some material consideration would have been given 
to the natural advancement of the institution.” This has not been the 
case, since the appropriation for 1898-99, although showing slight 
increase, was over £2000 less than that for 1892. “As regards 
members of the scientific staff, no steps have been taken towards 
restoring the salaries to the rates existing before the retrenchment of 
1893, although, in the public service generally, considerable increases 
have been granted to officers. In 1892 the vote for purchases was 
£1250; since 1893 only £200 a year have been allowed, including 
purchase of books as well as specimens.” Such a sum would be 
ridiculously small for a metropolitan museum, if assigned to books 
alone. “Consequently, many desirable specimens have been lost to 
the Museum, and therefore to the Colony, while no collecting, so 
necessary for maintenance as well as increase of the exhibits, has been 
done, and the Library has also fallen into arrears. The insufficiency 
of the funds provided for the Museum by the statutory endowment of 
£1000 per annum, together with the irregularity both in amounts 
and in detail of the Annual Votes of Parliament, supplementary to 
the endowment, prevent anything like an effective promotion of 
the interests of science in connection with the natural history of the 
Colony. As those interests have an important relationship to the 
development of the resources, and, consequently, to the future pros- 
perity of the community, the Trustees are exceedingly anxious to be 
placed in a better position for carrying out the purposes for which the 
Museum has been established.” 
With all this, needless to say, we heartily sympathise. We do 
not overlook the fact that last year a sum of £1500 was placed on 
the Estimates for certain much-needed repairs, or that on the Loan 
Estimates for 1898-99 a further sum of £13,500 has been voted for 
museum extension, the intention being to build the superstructure 
over the newly-erected workshops as a portion of the south wing. 
But we observe that “very great and unnecessary delay has arisen in 
the carrying out of the renovations,” and we emphasise the contention 
of Mr. Etheridge that, as the collections and the buildings grow, it is 
necessary to increase the staff, and to provide at least sufficient money 
for cases and for locks to them. The admirable work carried out by 
this excellently-administered museum has often been alluded to by us, 
