3 
mineralogical, and petrographical laboratories. The Victoria Memorial 
Museum building can be made to meet these needs only by increasing 
the size of the present building about 60 per cent. 
Tentative consideration of this matter has indicated that nearly 
SI ,000,000 would be required to enlarge the building sufficiently to meet 
requirements for the next twenty years or so. This is a formidable sum of 
money, but against it are to be offset certain considerable annual economies 
that would result. The Division of Mineralogy, which now occupies 
separate quarters about a mile away, could be housed in the Victoria 
Memorial Museum, and there would be a yearly saving of $10,000 to 
$12,000 for rent, heating, and other services. Much greater benefit would 
also be derived from the Division of Mineralogy if it were in the same 
building as the remainder of the Survey and Museum staff. There is 
also an annual outlay of from $3,000 to $5,000 for temporary construction 
in the Museum building largely due to cramped conditions and the conse- 
quent need for frequent changes. Most of this expenditure would not be 
needed if the building were enlarged. Averaging the annual saving at 
$15,000, it represents the interest at 5 per cent on a capital investment of 
$300,000; in other words, of the $1,000,000 required $300,000 might be 
regarded as a satisfactory financial investment. It should also be remem- 
bered that a very much larger investment has already been made towards a 
national museum, and that the additional amount wanted to make the 
difference between a well-equipped, efficient institution and one that is 
hampered by lack of accommodation would increase the return upon the 
total amount of money sunk in this enterprise. 
Any museum, and particularly a national museum, is an expression 
of the interest of its country in the cultural aspects of civilization, and 
can hardly, therefore, be regarded as an object of close economy. Com- 
pared with such sister institutions as the United States National Museum, 
the American Museum of Natural History, the Field Museum, or the 
Royal Ontario Museum at Toronto, the expenditure upon the National 
Museum of Canada so far has been small. The building of the American 
Museum of Natural History has already cost $10,786,306.48 and extensions 
are planned which will enlarge it to about three times its present size. 
The Royal Ontario Museum, supported by the province of Ontario, is 
already larger than the National Museum at Ottawa, although it has been 
in existence for less than twenty years; and further large additions are being 
planned. 
There is only one thing of importance needed now in order to develop 
a national museum that Canadians may regard with satisfaction — an 
addition of about 60 per cent to the present Victoria Memorial Museum 
building. It is a large requirement, but an essential one. It is quite 
apparent that the Government intended to support a national museum 
generously when, twenty years ago, the present building was erected at 
the foot of Metcalfe street, facing the Parliament buildings, and it is to be 
hoped and expected that this spacious policy will be continued. 
In any scheme for the improvement and beautification of the capital 
city the Museum is a feature quite as important as those already so gener- 
ously provided for, and it is to be hoped that it will be accorded, with them, 
the liberal financial support it deserves. 
