130 REPORT— 1888. 



examples of corresponding dates from various other parts of the world 

 placed in a parallel arrangement for easy comparison. 



The developments of the agriculture, the manufactures and the com- 

 merce of the district, will require to be exhibited in a distinct technological 

 department, which, if well ari-anged, will be to a large number of visitors 

 the most interesting and valuable part of the museum. 



The botanical department is perhaps the most difficult to deal with in 

 a public gallery. The herbarium in its usual form is scarcely available 

 for the general use of the public, while collections of seeds, woods, and 

 vegetable products, though of great value in themselves, give no insight 

 into plant life. The modelling of plant forms is now carried to great 

 perfection in decorative art. If typical plants of each order in the local 

 flora were exhibited in this way, with corresponding examples of remark- 

 able foreign species behind, and fossil forms in front, much interesting 

 instruction would be afforded, and the cost would not be excessive. 



Dried specimens of the whole local flora might well be exhibited in a 

 cabinet of very shallow glazed drawers which the public could draw out 

 but not remove. 



The glass jar as now used for zoological purposes might be effectively 

 applied to botanical specimens for the illustration of the life-history of 

 typical species. 



Provincial museums have made their collections hitherto in a very 

 unsystematic manner, by donation or purchase as opportunities occurred. 

 In order that the scientific statistics of the country may be thoroughly 

 investigated and made known as quickly as possible, a much more 

 business-like system of collection should be adopted. The district should 

 be divided into sections, and a paid collector appointed for each of them, 

 whose whole time should be occupied for several years in obtaining speci- 

 mens and records in every branch of science represented in the museum. 

 In nearly every part of the kingdom competent men could be found to 

 do this work for very moderate salaries. The necessary apparatus must be 

 provided for them, they would generally require some amount of instruc- 

 tion, and during the period of their operations a sufficient staff of assistants 

 must be employed at the museum to deal with the specimens brought in. 

 To carry out the work in this systematic manner, funds on a more liberal 

 scale than is now usual must be provided for the first few years, but the 

 value of the museum would be immensely enhanced, and when the local 

 collections were made tolerably complete the permanent income required 

 for maintenance would be very much less. 



Taking, as an example, a town of 100,000 inhabitants, the centre of a 

 district included within an average radius of ten miles, it may be roughly 

 estimated that the cost of erecting a building thoroughly suitable for a 

 museum, including the site and fittings, would not be less than 10,000Z., 

 and that during the first three years an annual income of 1,500L would 

 be required, with a permanent income thereafter of not less than 600L 

 For smaller towns or smaller districts the estimate might be considerably 

 less, but the penny rate authorised by the Public Libraries and Museums 

 Act is insufficient to support both library and museum in one town on a 

 satisfactory scale. 



Every well-appointed museum should contain, in addition to its public 

 galleries, an office for the curator, work rooms for the assistants, store 

 rooms, a students' room with table, microscope, books of reference, and 



