MEETINGS OF SOCIETIES, I 79 



arranging and displaying them in the most interesting, instructive, and 

 attractive manner possible. All this required space, and space could 

 only be obtained by subdividing the collections and placing a large por- 

 tion of them in another building. What was, in his opinion, absolutely 

 necessary if they were to make any further advance, was the erection of 

 an additional hall in which they could place their ethnological collections 

 and, especially, their specimens of Maori workmanship. While speaking 

 of those Maori collections, he parenthetically mentioned the magnificent 

 collection deposited by Captain Gilbert Mair, and took the opportunity 

 of tendering to that gentleman the thanks of the Institute and of the 

 community. The Professor then went on to argue that no grand, 

 ornamental, permanent edifice was required, but one in which attention 

 was paid to the necessity for elasticity in the accommodation, for facility 

 of modification, so that additions and re-arrangements could be effected 

 without restriction. His experience with the University College had 

 impressed him with the superiority of temporary buildings for young 

 and growing institutions, because the expenditure of small sums from 

 time to time had resulted in the gradual adaptation of means to ends. 

 Of course, it was absolutely necessary that their collections should be 

 preserved, that the structure should be strong and fireproof. He found, 

 on the authority of his friend Mr. Bartley, that a building 1 03 feet long 

 and 50 feet wide could be erected on that particular site for £610. The 

 cost of fitting it up would be about £400, and the re-arrangement of the 

 exhibits now in the Museum would take about £200 more. This 

 would be £1200 in all, a sum well within their means. They had 

 recently received by the sale of a block of land on the Coromandel 

 peninsula a sum of £1000, with an agreement to pay two other 

 thousands at intervals of a year. This sum they did not actually need 

 for the maintenance of the Museum, as last year they had not only paid 

 all ordinary fixed expenses, but had spent £50 in providing cases and 

 otherwise improving the interior of the building. Thus they were well 

 able to afford the cost of a modest but substantial building, and he 

 trusted that ere long they would be able to place before the public such 

 a well-ordered and complete collection of Maori workmanship as befitted 

 Auckland, as befitted a city the history of which was so intermingled 

 with that of the natives. 



LINNEAN SOCIETY OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 



Sydney, April 29th, 1891.— Professor Haswell, M.A., D.Sc, 

 President, in the chair. 



New Member.— Mr. C. Hedley, F.L.S. 



Papers. — (1) "On the Occurrence of Barite (Barytes) in the 

 Hawkesbury Sandstone near Sydney," by H. G. Smith, Laboratory 

 Assistant, Technological Museum, Sydney. (Communicated by J. H. 

 Maiden). Few localities are recorded in which this mineral occurs in 

 sandstone ; and no mention of its having been previously recognised in 

 the Hawkesbury sandstones has been met with. It is usually found 

 associated with metallic ores, but is not so in this instance. The purity, 

 transparency, and brilliancy of the smaller crystals, together with their 

 location, gives special interest to the occurrence of the specimens herein 

 noted. 



