E.—7.

6

held on the 31st July to consider the ways and means of suitably housing and caring for the collection in a building to be erected in connection with a hall about to be built by the Early Settlers' Association near the railway-station, alongside the new Public Art Gallery. With the Vice-Chancellor's approval 1 moved an amendment that the gift should be housed and exhibited in the Museum, provided that a wing could be added thereto. A committee was set up to discuss the question of site and other matters relating to the suitable means of exhibiting the collection, and, fortunately, I was put on that committee, which was otherwise in favour of the railway site. After several meetings of this committee, another imblic meeting of subscribers to the funds was held on the 31st August, at which a ballot was taken on the question of site, and the Museum site was negatived : Iml at this meeting a new suggestion was made that a building should be erected in the Triaugle. This trailing of a herring across the track enabled the supporters of the Museum site to refuse to accept the decision by ballot, and the committee resumed its investigation. Ultimately Dr. Hocken made known by letter his express wish that the collection should go to the Museum, and not to the railway site. Meanwhile the Government have been induced to promise a pound-for-pound subsidy on the money subscribed by the public up to the amount of £3,000. We had thus in sight a possible £6,000, and professional estimates as to cost lead us to believe that for this sum a wing, or at least a considerable portion of a wing, can be erected. A body of trustees was now appointed at a public meeting held on the 18th September—two representatives of each of the parties concerned—viz., the donor, the subscribers, the City Council, and the Government, of whom I was elected as one of the Government nominees. The trustees at first proposed to obtain from the University Council a lease of the ground required for the wing, but, on learning of the inability of this body to grant a lease, suggested that the gift should be transferred to the University Council, and at a public meeting held on the 27th March, 1907, the whole proposal was clearly put before the public, and all the parties concerned in the project agreed to the scheme. Since that date matters have moved slowly, and the present condition of affairs is that the University Council have accepted the responsibility of suitably housing and exhibiting this handsome gift of Dr. Hocken's. A deed of gift has been drawn up and is being executed, and it remains to obtain further subscriptions in order that the scheme shall be properly carried out. The fund, with the Government subsidy, amounts to £5,573, most of which is on deposit at the Bank of New Zealand. The plan is that the Hocken Wing, to be erected at the north end of this building, shall consist of three stories and a basement, with a frontage to King Street of 45 ft. and a depth of 80 ft. One of ihe stories will be occupied entirely by Dr. Hocken's i-ollcctioiis— books in one room, pictures, etc., in another —and the two other stories will be utilised for the exhibition of the natural history of New Zealand. 2. Structural Repairs. —During the year the Museum has at last been rendered watertight by the removal of the original wooden-framed skylights, and the substitution of modern metalframed lights, which effectively keep the rain out of the building. The roof was restated so far as was necessary to repair damage done in recent years by the continual traffic of workmen to effect temporary repairs to the roof, and 1 am glad to state that we are no longer obliged to cover with American cloth the eases in the upper gallery each night in fear of rain. All the external wood and metal work was painted, and internally a long-standing patch of plaster disfigured witli damp, which dated back to tlie time when the iron annexe was placed in position, was at last concealed by a coat of paint. The back entrance, together with the taxidermist's room, the lecture-room, and Biological Laboratory, were likewise renovated. •'!. The International Exhibition.. —As it was proposed to form a Natural History Court at the Christchurch Exhibition, I deemed it only suitable, as I intimated in my report of last year, that a collection of our native birds and fishes should be exhibited, as 1 found that neither of the other museums proposed to contribute. The Natural History Committee agreed to provide suitable eases, ami 1 forwarded a representative collection of these groups of animals, together with a selection of stuffed mammals and skeletons in illustration of the taxidermist's art, for it seemed proper that the work of Mr. Jennings, the best taxidermist in the colony, should find a place in the Court. I hoped that any expense incurred would be reimbursed by this sale of duplicate specimens, and with this object in view 1 obtained permission from the management to exhibit printed labels indicating the fact. But, as in other cases, the committee and the management did not seem to work together, and 1 found out, when visiting the Exhibition, that, through some misunderstanding, these notices had not been placed in the cases. Moreover, the collection was exhibited in such a position in one of the galleries that it was practically unseen. We had supposed that all New Zealand animals would have been placed in one Court of the Exhibition; but this was not the case, and, as a matter of fact, there was no Natural History Court in the sense the committee had proposed. I have received a diploma and been awarded a gold medal for the exhibit: An earthworm from Ecuador (Rhinodrilus ecuadoriensis) —Annals and Mag. Nat. Hist., 1892; description of three new species of earthworms—Proc. of Zool. Soc, 1892; a new English genus of aquatic Oligocholia (Sparganophilus) belonging to the family Rhinodrilidae—Q.J.M.Sc, xxxiv, 1892; description of a new species of moniligaster from India. I now regret that I agreed to exhibit, and that the risk and expense were incurred. The preparation of the specimens, the packing and the arrangement in the cases, repacking, and unpacking occupied the time of the taxidermist and an assistant for a considerable number of days, and cost a good deal of money, most of which, however, has been covered by the sale of a few duplicate birds to the Colonial Museum, and a few further sales will repay me the outlay. 4. A Collecting Trip. —ln February I received an invitation to accompany His Excellency the Governor on a visit to the outlying islands, both south and east. 1 took the opportunity of obtaining specimens of land invertebrates, especially earthworms, on the Bounty, Auckland, and Campbell Islands, as these are but rarely visited by people interested in the lower animals. Our stock of birds also received some additions, but the collection obtained nothing new. At His Excellency's request the taxidermist .accompanied me in order to prepare the skins on board; these were later forwarded to His Excellency.