834 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION F, 
No. 17.—PROPOSAL FOR AN ETHNOLOGICAL BUREAU 
FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE STUDY OF 
THE ETHNOLOGY OF THE PACIFIC. 
By A. Hamizron, Dunedin, New Zealand. 
(Read Tuesday, January 11, 1898.) 
For the more convenient and thorough study of the ethnology of 
the Pacific, it is, I believe, desirable that this Association should 
take into consideration the advisability of establishing a Bureau 
of Ethnology for the special purpose of applying modern methods 
of scientific investigation to the due record of the races of the 
Pacific area. On all sides it is admitted that much has been lost 
that would have been of priceless value, and that many islands 
have been so affected by civilisation that it is hopeless to try to 
recover the traditions or customs of the original inhabitants. 
The demands of trade are, to a large extent, responsible for this 
derangement of the primitive culture. Private collectors and 
private enterprise in the islands are apt to do more harm than 
good unless controlled by scientific direction. Specimens collected 
have been largely selected for their showy or unique character, 
quite regardless of their ethnologic value. Thus it is with a view 
to a general control over the somewhat haphazard way in which 
our knowledge is being acquired that I suggest a central bureau. 
I may say at once that I do not propose to interfere with any 
existing institution or society, but only to aid and organise 
research on lines that will ensure the best results. 
Let us first see what has been done and how to utilise what 
has been done to the best advantage, 
Then what should be done, and how to do it. There are a host 
of observations made by voyagers from Cook downwards, by 
missionaries, traders, scientific travellers, and local residents in 
various parts of Polynesia. They are scattered up and down in 
thousands of pages of books of all sorts and sizes, and all degrees 
of dulness and dryness. To attempt to follow out a special 
subject demands access to a special library and a thorough 
preliminary knowledge of what to look for and where to find it. 
The observations of ethnological facts are recorded— 
(a) In book-form (separate publications). 
(>) In the transactions of learned societies. 
(c) In unpublished manuscripts in public and private col- 
lections. 
