THE AUCKLAND MUSEUM.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 48, 25 February 1913, Page 9

THE AUCKLAND MUSEUM.

NEW MOA CASE. GUAQT FOR MLNJCIPAL SDPPOKT. CR.VMPBD FOR room - AyD The r Olln(i| f the AucUand Jns could be roughly stated it, a t Mr. Qrif- ■ fin h«i.n.onnwd or skinned eight mamSS; T? nt T d ° r P r^ arpd as skins ■>br,ut _~ birde. mounted and coloured 34 prepared 14 skins of fishes, and several reptiles and crusiacea In addition to thr ahove, numerous alroholi- had been put on oxln.ha,on. several casts of various objects in plaster or geUtine had been made. "hile many mhnographical specimens had Wn mounted for cxhrbrUon

Ihe most interesting addition to the zonlogieaJ portion of the collections is a sp.wial group illustrating the lif P hisMorv- of thf common shag or cormorant, in which an attempt has bepn mad« to show a small colony of the bird in its utmaJ breeding habiUt of the u-pper braihehps of the pohutukawa tree, the I nests. pßjss. young, and several examples ■of both sexes in the adult stage being shown, the painted background having been prepared by the well-known arti.-rt Mr. Kranett Watkins. '"It is hoped." n,ni thp report, -that this group will bp jollowed by others showing the mode of life and natural surroundings of several New Zealand hirds to -which special interest attaches. Mention may also he made of a series o f birds from Norfolk Island, obtained from .Mr. Roy Bell- a fine cassowary, presented by Mr. Vivian ■ several animals from tie Onehunga Zoo, from the owner (Mr. Bnyd) ; and a valuable collection of New Zealand and Eng Jish bird's eggs, presented by Mr H C Clark."

;-omo remarka-bly fine specimens of old Maori craftsmanship have also been added to the .-ollections during the year. When a public subscription was made at the beginning of last year to asisrst the Museum funds, it was'decided that a portion of the funds subscribed should be devoted to the purchase of a hill-sized moa skel-eton. and in preparing a restoration of the moa. Since then a fine model of the skeleton of Diaoniis m-aximus. one of the largest of the moas, lias been obtained from the woll-known dealer Mr. Damon-, and Mr. (irifiin is now engaged in preparing the restoration. Tt has been decided that the skeleton and the restoration shall h.> accompanied b> an ostrk-h and its skeleton, by an ad lit and a young emu. a-nd 'by two cassowaries. The entire group will •be enclosed in a plate-glass show-case, and should give an excellent idea of the size and aprpearanee of the moa, and its differences from its nearest living allies. It -will be several months, however, before tiie group will be ready to place in the Museum. I

lv the course of his remarks la.st night the retiring -president (Professor Segar) referred to the moa exhibit, and said that the addition of this case, which would 'be the largest in the Museum, would be tho last large, case for which, room could be found in the present building. This lack of room had become a question to- be faced, he added, as was the additional onr uf in-mflki"nt funds. At present the only nay of raising funds for purchases and development was by sending round the hat for subscriptions, [for the regular income of the Museum was only £1.100 at present, out of which maintenance, repairs, salaries, exigencies of expenditure, and development all had to came. i*o that it seemed to him that in the absence of liberal donation? or bequests the only way of advancing the value of the Museum was by an annual vot-e from the municipal funds. ""In fact, go out of New Zealand," said th-e president, "'and the Museum was one of the institutions maintained entirely out of municipal funds." He had noticed that in Dunedin recently the C'rty Council proposed an amraal vote towards museum maintenance-

The incoming president (MrC. J. Parr) said he recognised, and thought it should be generally recognised, that the Milium was a public institution, and a •puhlic asset, and as stHih could very fairly claim public support. It was not at all a baseless claim, m his opinion, that the citizens should help in the development of -tbeir Museum.