MUSEUM OF NATURE

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32703, 4 September 1971, Page 12

MUSEUM OF NATURE

E. R. WAITE—I Valuable contribution to marine biology

(Contributed by the Canterbury Museum)

Among the several curious omissions in a well-known three-volume reference work on New Zealand, published by the Government in 1966, is the absence of an entry for Edgar Ravenswoode Waite who, during the nine years he spent in New Zealand, made some valuable contributions to marine biology. Waite was bom in Leeds on May 5, 1866. Early in life he showed a keen interest in the natural sciences. He took a course in biology at Victoria University, Manchester. At the age of 22 he became sub-curator of the Leeds Museum, and by the time he was 25 he was senior curator, surely one of the youngest museum curators or directors to be appointed. His main interest at that time was in ornithology. Work on fishes In 1892 he left Britain to become assistant in zoology at the Australian Museum, during which time he studied mammals and reptiles, and in particular, fishes. In 1906 Waite came to the Canterbury Museum to succeed Captain F. W. Hutton as curator. He initiated the "Records of the Canterbury

Museum” the first number of which, published on April 25, 1907, contained a “List of the Fishes of New Zealand," corrected and expanded in No. 4, published in 1912. Because he was well known for this work on fishes, it was suggested by Mr Ayson, then chief inspector of fisheries, that Waite be appointed as official ichthyologist to the Nora Niven trawling expedition of 1907, the third trawling expedition undertaken by the New Zealand Government to investigate the commercial resources of the fishes in New Zealand and Chatham Island waters. The appointment was not made, but the Minister of Marine, Mr J. A. Millar, invited Mr Waite to accompany the expedition in his capacity as curator of the Canterbury Museum. This Waite did, being away for three months. The scientific results of this trip were recorded by Waite for the fishes, and by other writers for other orders, mollusca, algae, in Nos. 2 and 3 of the “Records.” Okarito whale When on February 17, 1908, it was learned in Christchurch that a very large whale had been stranded on an ocean beach, near Okarito, on the South Island West Coast, Mr Waite accompanied by Mr Sparkes, the museum taxidermist, set off at once. They went by-coach and

train to Hokitika, but the following 83 miles had to be done on horseback, over rain-swollen rivers, and took five days. The whale was six and a half miles northward of Okarito, near Commissioners Point. It was very large, measuring 87 feet in a straight line through the body and 99 feet, taken over the curvature of the body. The tail measured 21 feet across the flukes. The cutting. away of blubber etc and removal of the bones, was a long, unpleasant and arduous task. Their transport across the Okarito lagoon, and thence to the museum was much more difficult, in the primitive conditions of 1908, than it would be today. Mr Edgar Stead of Christchurch formed a small syndicate, and the sum of £4OO was raised, half of it by public donations, the other half by Stead and his friends. Mr Stead took part in the removal of the bones. In July 1908 they reached the museum; and the skeleton was mounted in the position it occupies today. This blue whale, a female, and one of the largest on record, is a lasting memorial to the initiative of Mr Waite and his helpers. It still attracts a great deal of public interest. The successive stages of its removal and erection are recorded in a series of photographs on display at the Canterbury Museum.—R.J.S.