Report by Manager. 15 
been obtained by Mr. H. Travers, ten sets of which will be available for 
exchange as soon as they have been reported on by Baron Von Miieller, to 
whom a complete series has been sent in duplicate for this purpose. The only 
foreign collections of dried plants received during the past year, have been of 
Sandwich Island plants, from Dr. Hildebrand, and a collection of British 
Alge, prepared and presented by Mrs. J. E. Grey. 
The Herbarium now contains, in addition to the Colonial Flora, a very 
complete set of British flowering plants and ferns, also ferns of New Hebrides, 
Sandwich Islands, and Fijis. 
The chief desiderata necessary to make the Herbarium sufficiently com- 
plete for the New Zealand student, are the plants of Eastern Australia and 
Tasmania. 
For convenience of reference, a complete set of New Zealand and 
British plants is being mounted in books and placed in the library. 
Laboratory.—Analyses have been performed during the year by Mr. Skey, 
to the number of 285, making a total of 1,203 T entered in the 
‘Laboratory books. 
In addition to the analyses of minerals and ores of various kinds, a very 
large portion of the Analyst’s time is occupied with examinations of samples 
submitted by the Secretary of Customs, under the Distillation and Gold Duty 
Acts ; and the responsibility of the verification of standards, required under 
the Weights and Measures Act, is also performed for the Colony in connection 
with this department. 
During the past year, sixty lithographic plates have been prepared to 
illustrate the various publications issued by the department ; and about thirty- 
three original drawings made of objects of natural history and fossils, with a 
view to future publication. 
A general geological map of the Colony, on a scale of twelve miles to the 
inch, is also in progress. 
The small-scale geological map, referred to in last year’s report, has now 
been printed off and distributed, 150 copies having been sent to Professor 
Owen, at his request, for incorporation with a work which he is publishing on 
the Extinct Struthious Birds of New Zealand. 
The Geological Survey field work has been chiefly directed during the 
past season to the development of the coal deposits, in accordance with the 
Public Works Act ; the examination of the coal fields on the West Coast of 
Nelson having been undertaken by myself; those in the Southland District 
and in the North of Auckland by Captain Hutton ; while the coal deposits on 
the eastern side of the South Island, in Canterbury and Otago, have been 
examined by Dr. Haast. The chief practical results of the surveys have been 
published through the Public Works Department, but the extensive additions 
