HISTORICAL ANTIQUITIES.

Colonist, Volume LI, Issue 12469, 19 February 1909, Page 3

HISTORICAL ANTIQUITIES.

i _.;/:: ' ■ «r ;: ' ■•...■- •:■■ ■.-■■ ■••■■] [United Pbess Association.] '■ ■ ' ' - ' ■ ' ' 1 ".'■■; Wellington/ -Feb 'w;'-'"- 'i The Dominion Museum possesses % an almost priceless collection of green- ] stone ornamentSj including the splen- < did tiki,, about' eight inches in length,, j whicHitKe. .celebrated chief Honoi took < withhiin . to lEngland in 1819. .. It 'is \ undoubtedly of great antiquity and \ for so prized a possession it was almost j certain to have descended to its bipod ( thirsty owner from a line of ancestors, , with^ many other valuable specimens. . It is 'being. mounted qn cardboard 'of, a s quiet, hue, a. silver wire being -used so, j f that;-rust; cannot damage the^ 'green- ] stone. ; Then 'these highly interesting specimens! will have to be packed j away, until, they can be displayed; in. a i building where there is adequate pro- ■ vision for, ;their safety. ( Tnere have 'been several burglarious visits to the old museum, and it is not considered j a suitable: place for the . display of ] such valuable historical antiquities. * Only one or two bird skeletons are on J view in the Muse'umi but twenty £ thousand bones are stored there out ' of the public gaze ; including Mr A. i Hamilton's, collection of fossil birds, 1 probably the best extant. In a few < years- at most the public should; be i able to view all these picked -up treas- A ures, for .-.it" is proposed :; t0.. ; : build , .a: 1 Bulta.ble uprto-date Dominion Museum i at, the rear, qf the .qld /parliament: i Buildings. r \