WELLINGTON MUSEUM.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13833, 19 February 1909, Page 6

WELLINGTON MUSEUM.

Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, Feb. 18. The Dominion Museum possesses an almost priceless collection of greenstone ornaments, including the splendid tiki, about eight inches in length, which the celebrated chief Hongi took with him to England in 1819. It is undoubtedly of great antiquity, for so prized a possession was almost certain to have descended to its bloodthirsty owner from a long line of ancestors. With many other valuable . specimens it is being mounted on cardboard of a qiiiet hue, silver wire being used so that rust cannot damage the greenstone. Then these highly interesting specimens will have to be packed away until they can be displayed in a building where there is adequate provision for their safety. There have be.en several burglarious visits to the old museum, and it is not considered a suitable place for the display of such valuable historical antiquities. Only one or two bird skeletons are on view in the museum, but twenty thousand bones are stored there out of the public gaze, including Mr A. Hamilton's collection of fossil birds, probably the best extant. In a few years r>t mo?t the public should be able to view all these packed-up treasures, for it is proposed to build a suitable Dominion museum at the rear of the old parliament buildings.