132 Dr Lauder Lindsay on the Place and Power of 
actively take up the matter themselves—aided by Government if 
possible, without Government assistance if necessary. Let a few 
friends of the movement convene a meeting, and pass a resolution 
that the establishment of a Provincial Museum is desirable, and I 
doubt not for a moment the practical heads and active hands of 
the colonists will soon find means of carrying their views into 
effect. All that is at first wanted is a room for storage; by and 
by another room fitted up with presses, shelves and drawers 
would be added. Iam told that there are buildings in Dunedin 
already existing which might easily afford the accommodation 
requisite; and I am given to understand, further, that such an 
appropriation or application of their space, or at least a portion 
thereof, would be quite consistent with the objects for which such 
buildings were erected. I refer to such a building as the Atheneum, 
which I think could not be devoted to a more legitimate use than 
that of a Provincial Museum, and which is at present, I am told, 
occupied as a merchant’s warehouse or store-place. What 
arrangement should be made with the proprietors of such a 
building, I leave it to you to decide. My acquaintance with its 
history, and my local knowledge, are such that I can venture no 
suggestions on this head. 
I look upon a competent Curator as the essential feature of a 
Museum, and, in your case, as its most expensive feature. With- 
out a curator to organize its machinery, and to keep that machinery 
smoothly in regular and constant action, I have no great faith 
in the stability or permanent usefulness of a Provincial Museum. 
Without such an officer, I do not see how you can satisfactorily 
start it. You must have some competent authority to name 
and to classify specimens—some enthusiast, with the necessary 
leisure and interest in his work to encourage the collection of 
objects of natural history, and the study of such sciences as 
geology, mineralogy, botany, and zoology. Unless you have 
already in the colony some naturalist, quite competent, in the 
first place, and quite willing, in the second, to give his whole 
services, either gratuitously or for suitable remuneration, as 
curator of the nascent Museum, you must—if you wish your 
Museum to hold a real position of usefulness—procure a suitable. 
person from home. However well qualified your colonial natu- 
ralists may be, I have met with nobody who could sacrifice the 
necessary time for so worthy an end; all are too much en- 
grossed with their own private affairs. I believe a properly 
selected head of your Museum wonld be an immense acquisition 
to your province. He would, in the first place, be at his post to 
receive specimens sent up from the country, and I feel certain he 
would soon succeed in inducing settlers in all parts of the colony 
to collect. He would name and arrange these specimens in 
