612 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



arrangements might be made for the pm-pose — an offer which was accepted 

 by the Provincial Government. A new Executive had in the meantime 

 taken the reins of the Government, of which Mr. W. Montgomery was the 

 head of the Executive, and Mr. E. Jollie, Provincial Secretary, who con- 

 sented to try again if they could not obtain a vote for the erection of a 

 proper museum. The Provincial Council having the year previous refused 

 a vote of £2,500 for a substantial building in stone, only the sum of £800 

 was placed on the estimates for a wooden building. 



That portion of the Provincial Council which looked upon museums, 

 libraries, and similar institutions as luxuries, in which the Province could 

 only indulge after more than ample provision had been made for roads and 

 bridges, demurred again, this time on the ground that the collections belong- 

 ing to the Province were now too valuable to be placed in a building of such 

 dangerous character, so the Executive seeing its way to carry the object in 

 view, at once raised the proposed vote to £1,200, promising at the same 

 time to erect a stone building, and carried the vote rather unexpectedly in 

 that form. And thus the accomphshment of such a desirable object, 

 towards which a great deal of energy had been expended, was at last 

 brought to a favourable termination. A further sum of £150 was voted for 

 show-cases, and during the same session I was appointed Director of the 

 Museum. 



If there had been a proper bridge leading into the park near Christ's 

 College, a piece of ground in the park would have been set aside for museum 

 purposes, but as it did not exist the only other desirable position available 

 was in the Public Domain. One or two members of the Domain Board, of 

 whom Mr. C. C. Bowen was principal spokesman, thought that the Museum 

 should not only be erected in the centre of the grass-plot near the chief 

 entrance of the garden, but that a plan for a more extensive museum build- 

 ing should at once be adopted, of which a small portion could be built with 

 the amount voted, and as new grants of money were obtained, further build- 

 ings would be added. Mr. E. Jollie, however, whose opinion was shared 

 by other members of the Domain Board, knowing, from his own experience, 

 with what trouble the vote for the building had been carried, firmly believed 

 that, at least for a considerable time to come, no more money for further 

 additions could be obtained. He therefore decided that the building should 

 be erected on a small triangular piece of grass-land in the north-eastern 

 corner of the domain, and that the small path leading to the nurseries 

 should not be disturbed. Of course this path had afterwards to be removed, 

 and, consequently, such a small matter decided, as it were, the position of 

 the present pile of buildings. Having been instructed that, as tbere would 

 be very little chance to obtain further grants, I should make the building as 



