510 Transactions. — MisceUaneous. 



building erected. The Provincial Grovernment of the day, of which Mr. F. 

 Stewart was Provincial Secretary and President of the Executive, proposed 

 in the session of that year a vote of £2,500 for the erection of a Museum 

 building. A plan was provisionally prepared by Mr. W. B. Mountfort, and, 

 as many of the opposition members had now seen that there was ample 

 material for exhibition, the seven moa skeletons already articulated being 

 the principal objects, their antagonism seemed to have at last been over- 

 come. J3ufc alas ! our hopes were again dashed to the ground, the proposed 

 vote having been negatived on July 4, 1867. However, during the same 

 session, on July 16, £200 were voted for further show-cases, and our hopes 

 were again renewed that in another year, when the rooms now at our dis- 

 posal might be full to overflowing, the members of the opposition who did 

 not wish to divert any jDublic money from roads and bridges and other 

 purely utilitarian objects would relent at last. 



So we went on working with renewed hope, the more so as further 

 excavations in Glenmark under my directions, in August of the same year, 

 were again very successful, so that our stock of moa bones became larger 

 still. Some more skeletons were now articulated, and a series of others, 

 more or less complete, were prepared for exchange with foreign countries. 

 In September two large collections were shipped to the Australian Museum 

 in Sydney, and to the Museum of Comparative Zoology in Cambridge, 

 United States of North America, and a month afterwards the former Mxiseum 

 sent fine and valuable return collections, consisting of skins, and some 

 mounted specimens of Australian mammals, birds, and reptiles, together 

 with others in spirits of wine, so that we became then possessed of a fair 

 representation of the Australian fauna. 



At last, on December 3rd of the same year, the Museum could be opened 

 to the public. The principal room as before stated was situated above 

 Bellamy's. At its southern end the seven moa skeletons were placed, whilst 

 in three high cases along the western and northern walls, the collection of 

 stuffed birds and mammals, the former mostly belonging to New Zealand, 

 were exhibited. On the eastern side of the room in desk-cases, unmounted 

 skins and other smaller objects were shown. The tower-room in the 

 north-eastern corner of the building contained the geological collections, 

 both from New Zealand and foreign countries. In the bow-window stood 

 the large desk-case containing the interesting and valuable specimens from 

 the New Zealand goldfields. The more westerly room was filled with table 

 cases, in which the collection of fossils, minerals, ores, recent shells, and 

 Echiuodermata, both New Zealand and foreign, had been placed. The 

 number of specimens all properly labelled amounted to 7,886, of which 

 4,312 were collected by me during the progress of the geological survey, 

 3,575 specimens having been obtained from foreign countries. 



