70 COLONIAL MUSEUM. 



as the ladies call them,) let also the popular, colo- 

 nial and native names, be attached. The council 

 has liberally granted the sum of two hundred 

 pounds annually out of the colonial funds, for the 

 support of the museum ; a hundred and thirty 

 pounds of which is a salary to the collector and 

 stufFers of specimens of natural history for the 

 collection, and the remainder is expended for 

 cases, &c. ; but encouragement should be held 

 out for donations, as is usual in other public col- 

 lections.* At all events, the commencement of 

 the public museum is excellent ; and science, I 

 believe, is indebted for its institution to the 

 Honourable Alexander Macleay, colonial secre- 

 tary ; and may he see it attain an importance 

 which no one can enjoy or appreciate more than 

 himself, who has devoted the leisure moments of a 

 long and arduous life engaged in other impor- 

 tant occupations, to the study of the natural 

 sciences. 



* It would also be desirable to have the cases made in 

 such a manner, as to be opened if required, and a closer in- 

 spection of the specimens obtained, which is often requisite 

 for scientific examinations. ' To George Macleay, Esq. the 

 museum is indebted for many valuable species of birds, which 

 he had collected during his arduous journey in the exploration 

 of the course of the Murrumbidge river, in the expedition 

 luider Captain Start, 



