Wanganui Observatory.

TO BE FORMALLY OPENED ON

MONDAY

BY THE RIGHT HON. THE PREMIER,

The comimittee of the Wanganui Astronomical Society have decided! to formally open the new observatory in Cook's. Gardens on Monday next. The ceremony will fcike place immediately after thei opening of the Victoria Ward of the Hospital. Thle Right Hon. the Premier will officiate. It will be remembered that the", observatory was built to accommodate a 9£-inch Cooks achromatic telescope, which is one of the finest in the Southern; Hemisphere, far superior to * anything, of the kind in this colony. Tha telescope, witbh its' mountings; weighs about three tons and vests on piers of concrete weighing between fifty and sixty tons. The building, which was designed by Mr. A..Atkins, F.R.1.8.A., hon.: architect to the Society, from drawings supplied by Mr. J. T. Wand, the president of the 'Society, lias been built m a most) substantial manner by Messrs. Russell and Bignell. The "telescopo cost, in England, £500, and was generously brought out by. the Tyser Line : free of expense. The building," which) ■is covered by a 20-foot revolving ■dome, cost about £290. lib will thus be seen that, fhe Society's venture is one of no mean proportions. The possession of so fine an astronomical observatory, and so excellent a telescope, caminot fail to be ofi educational advantage to tlie community, and foi 1 this alone the Society is entitled to the hearty support of tlie publics k '