MUSEUM ACCESSIONS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 907, 26 February 1930, Page 7

MUSEUM ACCESSIONS

VALUABLE GIFT FROM DUNEDIN ETHNOLOGY ADDITIONS A valuable gift which will make a fine acquisition to the entomological collection in the War Memorial Museum was acknowledged yesterday afternoon by the council of the Auckland Institute and Museum, which will send its appreciation to the donor, Mr. C. Clark, the well-known Dunedin collector. Mr. Clark previously presented his collection of moths and butterflies, and is now giving practically the remainder of his entomological collection.

In his report to the council the. curator, Mr. Gilbert Archey, mentioned tho steady activities since the beginning of the year. Since the opening of the museum to December 31 there had been 70,116 visitors, 36,389 in January and 3,494 so far in February. Valuable Maori gifts had been made in the ethnogi-aphic department. The president, Mr. PI. E. Vaile, had given a beautifully made wooden bowl and a large tangiwai stone ear pendant, an old specimen from the Mohaka district; another historic greenstone pendant, formerly given by the natives to J udge J. PI. Macdonald, had been presented by his daughter, Miss Flora B. M. Macdonald. Mr. Barter had presented a fine greenstone adze; a lino kiekie mat had been given by Mr. W. B. Leyland, and other Maori implements had been given by Messrs. George A. Atkins, Geoffrey Nevill, H. W. Young and Frank Bowers. The Pacific ethnology section had received a most valuable accession in the very fine collection of weapons, ornaments, tools and implements from the Solomon Islands and Papua, presented by the Rev. A. PT. Voyce. MR. DAVIS’S INTEREST Mr. Moss Davis, of London, continued to give generous effect to his keen interest in the museum and has recently sent a collection of handsomely painted Sevres porcelain plates, a silver Armistice medal, a mediaeval church carving in stone, and interesting ivory carvings. Eastern and African daggers had been presented by Mr. J. Solem and Mr. W. R. Stuart; a model bark canoe (North American Indian) by Mr. C. S. Kelly; Persian brass trays, Mr. Basil Wood; Australian message sticks, Mr. J. Kenderdine; a neatly finished decorated model Battack house. Captain Plumphreys Davies; and a beautiful tortoiseshell fretwork breast ornament, by the Rev. Mr. Sinclair. Additions to the war collection were maps and photographs from Mr. N. B. Spencer, N.Z.R.8.; New Zealand War Seals, from Mr. A. Powell; and flags flown above the New Zealand Soldiers’ Clubs at Russell Square and at Salisbury, from Mrs. Chilton Button, through the Auckland Ex-service Women’s Association.

The geology collections have also received valuable additions of minerals and fossils from Mr. A. D. Mead; Miss Cranwell, Mr. F. G. Gibbs, of Nelson: the resident engineer at Arapuni, the superintendent of the State Collieries at Westport; Mr. A. H. Fletcher, Onekaka; the Waipu Railway and Colliery Co.; Mr. S. Strongman, Coromandel; Mr. J. L. Harrison Smith and the Cawtliron Institute. An important gift is that of the Vanadium Corporation of America, which generously responded to a suggestion made by Mr. J. A. Pond, by presenting a complete series of the vanadium, chromium and iron ores and products.

Among the botany accessions were a collection of seaweeds from Mr. R. M. Laing, F.N.Z. Inst, of Christchurch; and 70 sheets of New Zealand ferns, collected by the late Mr. Thomas Cranwell and presented by Mr. Thomas Bell. Mrs. G. Brownlee had lent a series of her water colours of New Zealand plants and flowers.

The zoology department had received a considerable collection of bird skins and other specimens from Mr. A. T. Pycroft, a collection of Western Pacific beetles from Mrs. R. M. Wilson: a Japanese swallow’s nest, edible, from Captain Humphreys Davies; an albino thrush from Mr. A. Lakeman; and a large kelp fish from Master John Crumpe, Deep Creek. The Rev. F. W. Worley had presented a collection of marine mollusca from the Nelson district, and the Auckland Zoological Park had. given several very interesting and rare species of foreign birds and mammals.