MUSEUM ACTIVITIES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 223, 20 September 1934, Page 11

MUSEUM ACTIVITIES.

INCREASE IN VISITORS. VALUABLE ACCESSIONS. A total of 110,307 persons had visited the Museum already this year, and 15,318 since last meeting of the council, stated the director, Mr. G. Afchey, in a report at the meeting of the council of the Institute and War Memorial Museum yesterday. Additions to the display included the exhibition of a very fine scries'of Persian, Indian and Greek silver coins, -presented by Mr. C. E. G. Tisdall, and various other additions in the anthropology liall, including that of the Chinese collection recently acquired, had involved considerable rearrangements in the cases of this hall. The major activity of the month had been the arrangement of the special exhibition of natural history and yachting in the Hanraki Gulf. This exhibition had been originally suggested by Mr. A. D. W. Powell, conchologjat, who had undertaken a great ileal of careful, detailed work, and had displayed a number of his own water colour paintings of the gulf. Contributions to the exhibition were made by Miss L. M. Cranwell, botanist, a display of seaweeds and marine plants; Mr. R. A. Falla, ornithologist, sea birds; Mr. Dover, paintings of native birds. At present a display of exhibits, prepared by the school children for the C'heeseman Memorial prizes, was in process of arrangement. - Next month, the Cheeseman Memorial spring flower show would bo held and, in connection with it, Miss Cranwell was arranging a special botanical week. Accessions To Date. "Accessions since the last meeting total 37, making a total of 330 to date for the vear," added the report. "Mr. jr. J. Fougere, of Papatoetoe, has presented a collection of Morion adzes and flaked blubber knives from the Chatham Islands. Mr. E. T. Frost has presented bone fish hook shanks from Doubtless Bay. Mr. E. Rugg has given a stone hammer, Mr. M. Sheeran a digging stick i or ko dug up at Maungatangi, and Mr. |C. Clarke a fernroot beater from North Auckland. In addition, we have been able to purchase an important collection of Maori articles, which includes a fine | series of cloaks, an old shell trumpet, pigeon snares, and a very fine carver's j mallet. We also secured two fine old I greenstone kaka-poria. An exceptionally large and beautifully finished stone adze from Southland was also purchased. . "Mrs. A. B. Roberton has presented to the ethnology department a collection of specimens from Melanesia and Polynesia. These include an exceptionally fine Nine Island paddle club. Old ethnographical specimens have also been deposited by the Offlcers' Club. The large Chinese collection for which Mr. H. E. Vaile and I were asked at the last meeting to negotiate, has been secured for a remarkably low figure."