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furnishing you with the desired particulars respecting 

 this Museum. 



The Institution was founded in 1855, and incor- 

 porated by Act of the Legislature in 1857. The Act 

 follows in the main the New South Wales Act No. II 

 of 1853, with the important difference, however, that 

 the latter makes provision (<|ject. 3) for the permanent 

 endowment of the Australian Museum. The South 

 African Museum was started by public subscription, 

 aided by an annual legislature grant ; but gradually it 

 became more and more dependent on the latter, and 

 at present numbers only between 50 and 60 subscri- 

 bers. The Trustees had until recently considerable 

 difficulty in managing with the scanty means at their 

 disposal ; but the present annual vote of £1,000 enables 

 them to retain the undivided services of a resident 

 Curator, (who is a Colonial Civil Servant, appointed 

 by the Government upon nomination by the Trustees), 

 and will, if continued, aiford provision for carrying 

 out many improvements in course of execution or pro- 

 jected. 



The building in which the South African Museum 

 is situated was erected for the purpose in 1859. It 

 also contains the South African Public Library ; which 

 is, however, a distinct Institution under entirely sepa- 

 rate management. The half devoted to the Museum con. 

 sists of one large apartment (90 by 40ft.&30ft.in height) 

 lighted from above by sky-lights, and containing two 

 galleries running along all its four sides. At one end 



