MUSEUM'S PROGRESS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 117, 20 May 1931, Page 11

MUSEUM'S PROGRESS.

ANNUAL SCHOOL ESSAY. VALUABLE ACCESSIONS. RELICS BOUGHT IN ENGLAND. The council of the Auckland Institute and Museum held its monthly meeting, at the Museum yesterday afternoon, the chairman, Mr. H. E. Vaile, occupying the chair. The director, Mr. Gilbert K. Archey, proposed that the sum of £100 be put aside for the creation of a trust fund to organise essay competitions in schools on the subject of natural history. That eum, providing about £6 annually, should be known as the Cheeseman Memorial Fund—a tribute by the council to the late Mr, T. F. Cheeseman, who for 50 years was intimately connectcd with the Museum. The proposal was approved, pending a report from the director. A vote of thanks was passed to Sir Cecil Leys and Mrs. Sehvyn Upton, who, hearing that a valuable collection oi New Zealand relics was being sold front the estate of Mr. J. H. Partington, the noted English ethnologist, cabled Home and secured the specimens for presentation to the Auckland Museum, lhc pieces include a remarkable flute and a couple of feather boxes, both done in bcautifully-carved wood, and also some fine Maori meres in bone and greenstone. Recent Accessions. Some excellent work in a kapok display has been done by Miss Cranwell, and Mr. R. A. Falla has placed 22 additional birds on exhibition, while he is also preparing a typical Antarctic scenj, constructed from cxpcricnce gained in his recent trip to the South. A number of Maori exhibits, a fine native painting from Bali, Java, and a series of specimens illustrating the kapok industry from Mr. 11. C. Abbott, have been received. A fine Maori skeleton brought back by Mr. F. C. Mappin's expedition has been mounted, and preparations are being made for the preserving of Mr. Hcwett's tiger sliark. Retirement of Mr. Vaile. Mr. H. E. Vaile took his leave of the council, after having filled the chair for five years. He received the thanks of the council from Mr. A. G. Lunn, and of the staff from Mr. Archey, who offered congratulations upon his being elected president for the ensuing year of the Auckland Savings Bank. -Mr. Vaile presented the board with a "parting gift," i in the form of a fine photographic survey of the buildings occupied by the Museum Institute since 18.32.

A large number of book? lias been received from Mr. John Kcnderd'me, who recently made a substantial gift to the Museum library. The extent of his gift may be realised by the fact that already over 1000 book/5 and pamphlets have been received from him, and there is promise of yet more to come. This is the largest accession the library lias ever had.