630 



1855-6. Another of its most active members, Mr. Whitridge 

 was also elected to the Board by the Society of Arts, so that 

 with three of its prominent members on the Executive of 

 the Institute, its interests would appear to be well protected. 



A delay arose in the erection of the building, and mean- 

 while the Institute continued to occupy the premises in 

 Green's Exchange and the Philosophical Society those in 

 White's Commercial Roora.s, King William Street. 



The new building was opened with great ceremony by 

 His Honor Sir Charles Cooper on January 29, 1861. The 

 room allotted to the Society was upstairs, immediately over 

 the library, with a south-easterly aspect. Its floor has re- 

 cently been removed to increase the shelving accommodation 

 for books. 



The Museum consisted chieflv of a mineraloo:ical col- 

 lection, and occupied a long narrow room running across the 

 upper story at the rear of the building. There it remained 

 under the curatorship of F. G. Waterhouse, naturalist in 

 McDouall Stuart's Expedition, for a period of twenty years. 

 During all these years, very little expansion was possible, 

 owing to the lack of space, and it was not until it was removed 

 to more commodious premises that any serious attempt to 

 form a zoological collection could be entertained. 



Incorporation with the S.A. Institute was certainly not 

 followed by the signal advantages hoped for by the Philo- 

 sophical Society. In many ways it proved a grievous dis- 

 appointment. 



In the first place, the limited accommodation afforded to 

 the long-desired Museum had to a great extent shorn that 

 institution of its utility. In no sense could it be regarded 

 as a collection representative of the natural history of the 

 colony, and it was therefore of little value as an attractive 

 and popular set-off to the technical aspect of the Society's 

 work. In this matter the Board was powerless to help, not 

 that it was lacking in sympathy, but merely because the build- 

 ing was altogether too small for the purposes. to which it had 

 been dedicated . 



Then, again, the Society had hoped to derive some finan- 

 cial advantage from the union. The Amending Act gave 

 the Board power to advance moneys to incorporated societies; 

 and the Consolidated Act of 1863 also gave it discretionary 

 power to make a grant to any Society so incorporated. 



In addition to the annual subsidy made by the Goveru- 

 jnent to the central institute, sums of varying amount were 

 also paid to it for allocation among affiliated country institutes. 

 It was clearly the intention of the Legislature, that the 

 Philosophical Society as an incorporated body should benefit 



