A VALUABLE ACQUISITION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18171, 16 February 1921, Page 2

A VALUABLE ACQUISITION

EEHNOGRAi lIU CULLECaUN FOR UNIT EiiSJ i V AlUfcJ'.uAi. GENEROUS GIFT FROM Ail! JUSTICE CHAPMAN. The University Council luul placid before it at its meeting yesterday r.uarnoon particulars of a very valuable gilt that has just been made to it by Mr Justice Chapman and his fam.ly. Mr Justice Chapman has placed ut its disposal his extensive and most valuable ethnographic collection, the full significance of which may be gathered from the accompanying letter from Mr H. D. Skinner, assistant curator of the University Museum. Ihe council took the obvious course of accepting the gift with •hearty and grateful thanks to the generous donor. Mr Skinner’s letter to the registrar is as follows: — “1 have to inform you that his Honor Mr Justice Chairman has presented to the University his largo and very valuable ethnographic collection. The gift is subject to conditions, a copy of which is enclosed herewith. Judge Chapman requires that the Maori section of his collection sha'l be kept together in so far as is consistent with the scientific arrangement of the ethnographic department, but he places no restriction . whatever on the_ setting, out of the remainder of the collection. There is no difficulty in complying with these generous terms. I venture, however, to suggest a verbal alteration in paragraph 2, where ‘ethnographic department’ might be substituted for ‘Hocken wing.’ “Judge. Chapman’s collection is one of the most important private collections in New Zealand. The Maori section includes a large number of adzes, chisels, and other* stone implements, a great "variety of fishing tackle in stone and bone, a number of finished greenstone articles, and several pieces of worked soapstone, all from Centre Island and the shores of Foveaux Strait. Another section consists of similar pieces collected on the beaches about Dunedin, and there is also a considerable amount of material from other parts of New Zealand. A number of articles included in the gift have been figured in Hamilton’s ‘Maori Art’ and other publications, and many are of great scientific importance. Notable among these are three adzes found by Judge Chapman below the moa-bone bed at Shag River, adzc s which demonstrate that the first inhabitants of Otago were Polynesian at any rate in material culture. The greater part of the collection was found by Judge Chapman himself and by members of his family. “The foreign ethnographic section' in-, eludes a fine series of Australian aboriginal implements in stone and glass, an interesting collection of European stone age implements, and a number of fine pieces from the Western Pacific.^ “The Maori section of the University Museum now takes its place among the four most important Maori collections in existence.” The conditions of the gift are as follow: 1. The gift consists of the major part of the collection now in the possession of Mr Justice Chapman, collected largely by himself and bra family, ho having reserved thereout articles indicated to Mr H. D. Skinner, lecturer on c J.nology at the University. 2. Tlie Maori collection as to the major part is, jp far as is feasible and consistent with the proper arrangement of the general ethnological collections of the Museum, to be permanently placed for exhibition in the Ethnographic (Department in separate cases, the namo ol the donor being indicated. Such articles as are unsuitable for exhibition in this way are to be catalogued and distinctly marked when it is determined how they are to be distributed. 3. The exhibited articles are to be so arranged by a scientific expert as to show in series the steps in the manufacture of Maori implements and works of utility and so far as is feasible to show the locality from which they were obtained. 2. Should it be found necessary to in-, troduce objects from other sources into the special oases containing this collection, they are to be separately indicated, and the same course is to be observed in the event of objects from this collection being carried into other cases. 5. It is the desire of the owner that at an early date an adequate ethnographic catalogue of these, objects be prepared or included in a more general catalogue. Any descriptive catalogue • of these objects shall, if feasible, be submitted to the donor before publication. 6. The Australian objects are also to be distinctly indicated, though no condition is imposed as to their distribution. 7. The South Sea Island and European objects, not having been collected by the donor, may bo distributed according to the plan adopted by the Museum authorities. 8. These conditions are subject to be relaxed to a reasonable extent by the Museum authorities to suit the general order of the Museum.