640 



as time went on, and the restrictions which the limitations of 

 space placed upon the collection rendered it practically value- 

 less for natural history purposes. Not only was accommoda- 

 tion insufficient for Museum purposes, but pressing need for 

 expansion was also felt by the library and other departments 

 under control of the Board. Similar inconvenience was ex- 

 perienced by the incorporated Societies, and the Philosophical 

 Society, whose meetings were now open to the public, found 

 their room uncomfortably crowded, when any subject of 

 special interest was being discussed. 



It became almost painfully evident at the end of the 

 sixties that a new building was an urgent necessity, and in 

 1871 Parliament, without dissentient voices, expressed its 

 sympathy with the proposed enlargement. The Board recom- 

 mended the erection of a new building: to the east of the 

 Institute, to consist of two wings, of which the western one 

 was to be proceeded with first. 



Money was found by the Government for this purpos-e 

 and the foundations were duly laid down in 1873. There 

 seems, however, either to have been a lack of unanimity with 

 regard to the proposed scheme, or else a desire on the part of 

 the Government to delay public expenditure, for at this stage 

 building operations ceased and a Royal Commission was 

 appointed to inquire into the whole matter. 



The Commission favoured the idea of a Public Library 

 and Museum to replace the Institute, and recommended that 

 these should form two wings of a new building, to be erected 

 to the east of the latter. No att-empt was made to carry 

 out this recommendation until 1876, when it was discovered 

 that the foundations which had been laid three years pre- 

 viously were unsound. New ones were laid, but these were 

 again temporarily abandoned for tw^o years, when it was found 

 that they, too, had to be taken up and replaced. Tlie founda- 

 tion-stone of the present Public Library was ultimately laid 

 in 1879. 



This time the erection of the new building proceeded 

 rapidly and without further delay. The western wing (now 

 the Public Library) was sufficiently advanced for occupation 

 in 1882, and as the Institute rooms occupied by the Museum 

 were required for the new School of Design, the collection 

 was withdrawn from public view, and placed in the crypt and 

 two smaller rooms of the new wing in the early part of that 

 year. - 



Here it was submitted to a critical examination by Dr. 

 Haacke, the new Director. This gentleman on his arrival 

 stated his views very frankly as to what he considered the 

 S.A. Museum ought to be. "In the first instance," he says, 



