A PRICELESS COLLECTION

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 22, 19 February 1909, Page 2

A PRICELESS COLLECTION

OF GREK.XSTO'XES. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, las I Night. The Dominion Museum possesses a:i almost priceless collection of greenstone ornaments, including the splendid tiki, about eight inches in length, which tlu> celebrated chief Hongi look with, him to England in 181!). It. U 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 quiet 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 safely. These have been several burglarious visits to the old Museum, and it is not considered a> suitable place for the display of sueli valuable 'historical antiquities. Only one or two bird skeletons are on view in the Museum, but twenty thousand bones arc stored there out of the public gaze, including Mr. A. Hamilton's collection of fossil birds, probably the licst extant. In a. few years at most the public should be able to view all these pnvked-up treasures, for it is proposed to build a suitable up-to-date Dominion Museum at the rear of the old Parliament Buildings.