MINUTES OF EVIDENCE. 



85 



service entrusted to them, and such a satisfactory result 

 as may reasonably be expected from their employment 

 in it, which instructions their Lordships have directed 

 them most implicitly and punctually to observe and 

 obey. 



" Conformably to your suggestions with regard to 

 the passage of these persons to the tirst objects of their 

 destination, my Lords have requested the Lords of the 

 Admiralty to direct that they may be provided with a 

 passage in ihe first Man of War whicli may sail for 

 Rio de Janeiro, and that they may be entered on the 

 ship's books for provisions, and be allowed to mess with 

 the warrant officer, and that they will direct the officer 

 commanding His Majesty's Naval Forces at Rio da 

 Janeiro to give any similar facilities which may occur 

 for their transport to the Cape of Good Hope. 



"My Lords have also requested the Earl Bathurst to 

 direct the Governor of the Cape of Good Hope to pro- 

 ride for the service of the collectors a waggon, a couple 

 of teams of oxen for their journeys, a Hottentot driver 

 and two or three more to attend the oxen, and also to 

 furnish the collectors with the usual order upon the 

 boors for boorspans of oxen, and if they should go 

 beyond the limits of the Colony, with an order to the 

 Landrost to give them the protection of a few boors, 

 which is termed a commando. 



"I have the honour to be, sir, your very faithful 

 and obedient servant, 



"(Signed) Geo. Haekisox. 



"The Right Honourable Sir Joseph Banks, Bart., 

 K.B., etc., etc." 



It can hardly be doubted that collections so made 

 were public property. Sir Joseph B&nks was, however, 

 allowed to retain the dried plants, and they form no 

 small part of the Banksian herbarium, which he created, 

 and of which amongst others the celebrated Robert 

 Brown was Curator. 



There is every reason to conclude that Sir Joseph 

 Banks intended his herbarium at his death to go to 

 Kew, and it is believed that the present Herbarium 

 House was purchased by the Crown for the purpose. In 

 view of the uncertainty which attended the fate of Kew 

 on the death of George HI., Sir Joseph Banks un- 

 doubtedly took the wisest course for the secure preseiva- 

 tion of his invaluable herbarium by bequeathing it to 

 the British Museum. 



In a memorandum addressed to the First Commis- 

 sioner of "Works on February 9th, 1899, which will no 

 doubt be accessible to the Committee, I have put 

 together what I have been able to ascertain with regard 

 to the Banksian Herbarium. By a codicil to his will 

 made January 21st, 1820, Sir Joseph Banks, as a con- 

 diitfon of an annuity to Robert Brown, stipulaited ""tliat 

 he assJsts the superintendent of the Royal Botanic 

 Gardens at Kew, as he also now does." In this and 

 other ways. Sir Joseph Banks attempted to provide for 

 the continuity of the botanical work of the establish- 

 ment after his death. 



There appears to have been a herbarium at Kew in- 

 dependently of the Banksian, and this Sir Joseph 

 Hooker informs me was also transferred to the British 

 Museum, under instructions from ilr. Brown. 



It appears from these facts that the Botanical De- 

 partment of the British Museum is really an offshoot 

 from Kew, and is largely based upon Kew work. 



At various times the Trustees have claimed as a right 

 the possession of all collections made at the public, and 

 apparently even in some cases at private, expense. On 

 the first occasion on which this was done the then 

 Director, Sir Joseph Hooker, was himself as President 

 of the Royal ' Society a Trustee, and the action of the 

 Trustees was taken without his being consulted. The 

 essential facts are set out in the following corre- 

 spondence : — 



'•4th July, 1874. 

 My Lords, — I have the honour, by direction of the 

 Trustees of the British Museum, to bring again under 

 the consideration of your Lordships the question of the 

 disposal of the specimens of Natural History which 

 have been, and may be collected during the scientific 

 expedition of H. M.S. "Challenger." 



On the 3rd of January, 1873, I had the honour to 

 make a representation to your Lordships on this sub- 



ject, and in reply to that representation Captain Hall, 

 by desire of your Lordships, forwarded to me, with a 

 letter dated the 10th of January, an extract from the 

 instructions given to Professor Wyville Thomson at 

 Director of the Scientific Civilian Expedition, H.JM-S. 

 " Challenger." 



From those instructions the Trustees learned that it 

 was to be understood that all Natural History or other 

 collections obtained during the expedition of H.M.S. 

 " Challenger " were to be considered as primarily tho 

 property of the Government, to be ultimately deposited 

 in the National Museum ; and that the Natural 

 History specimens sent to England from time to time 

 would be forwarded to the Secretary of the Admiralty 

 with recom.mendiations from Professor Thompson as to 

 their temporary disposal. Captain Hall's letter con- 

 cluded with the following words, " My Lords will take 

 care that a fair portion of all the collections which are 

 made shall be allotted to the British Museum." 



The Trustees find from the report on the Progress and 

 Condition of the Royal Gardens at Kew during the year 

 1873, presented by the Director to the First Commissioner 

 of H.M. "Works, "that the "Challenger" collections from 

 the Bermudas, Cape de Verde Islands, and Fernando 

 Noronha have been added to the Herbarium at Kew, and 

 they arc informed that these collections have been per- 

 manently incorporated with the dried plants there. 



Should this be the "case, it appears to the Trustees that 

 the instructions of the Government have not been carried 

 out in the spirit in which they were framed ; and that 

 the promise above cited, that a fair portion of all the 

 collections should be allotted to the British Museum has 

 been overlooked. 



It has been represented to the Trustees that the 

 Museum has sustained a serious loss in being deprived 

 since 1854 of the plants obtained in Government expedi- 

 tions. The last important Government collections of 

 dried plants received by the Museum were those made 

 during the expedition of the "Erebus" and "Terror" 

 under Sir James Ross. 



Six quarto volumes were published under the authority 

 of the Admiralty between the years 1844 and 1860, record- 

 ing the results of this expedition. 



The principal or study set of the plants described in 

 the first volume, with the original notes and drawings, 

 was handed over to the Museum in December, 1845. An 

 imperfect set of the plants, described in the second, third, 

 and fourth volumes, was delivered in February, 1847, and 

 May, 1854. None of the plants descTibed in the fifth and 

 sixth volumes have been delivered at the British 

 Museum. 



The Trustees are given to understand that since 1858 

 all the botanical collections made at the Government ex- 

 pense have been secured for the Royal Crardens at Kew, 

 and that the principal sets have been incorporated there, 

 the remainder having been distributed from Kew ("O 

 various Herbaria, chiefly to foreign countries, but not 

 a single specimen has been sent to the Brit'sh Museum. 

 The following are some of the more important collections 

 of which the Museum has, in the way above referred to, 

 been deprived : — 



The plants of the Niger Expedition, collected by 

 Barter. 



The plants of the Fernando Po, Cameroons, and 

 the Gaboon River, collected by Mann. 



The plants of Eastern Africa, collected by Kirk and 

 MeUer. 



The plants of Madagascar, collected by Meller. 



The plants of the Sinai Survey Expedition. 



The plants of China, Japan, etc., collected by 

 Wilford. 



Th° plants of the "West Indies, collected by Purdie. 



The plants of Captain Palliser's British North 

 American Exploring Expedition, collected by 

 Bourgeau. 



The plants of the British Columbia Expedition, 

 collected by Lyall, Wood, and Campbell. 



The plants of Captain Mayne's Expedition to the 



Straits of Magelhaens, collected by Cunningham. 



The plants of the exploring expedition to the Gulf 

 of Carpentaria, collected by Schomburgk. 



I am directed by the Trustees to ask the attention to 



Sir W. 1. 



Th iselton- 



Dyer, 



K.C.M.G., 

 F.R.S, 



29 Nov. 1900. 



