AUCKLAND MUNICIPAL HANDBOOK
ethnological point of view, is inestimable. The collection was presented to the City, in 1915, by Mr. H. E. Partridge, who was the patron of the artist.
The Russell Collection of Casts is also housed in the Gallery. They were presented to the Auckland Museum in 1878 by the late Thomas Russell, C.M.G. By an arrangement with the Council of the Museum and the City Council, the statuary has been deposited in the Art Gallery in exchange for the Sir George Grey collection of Maori curios, which has been transferred to the Museum. Neither body has relinquished the ownership of its collection.
The popular esteem in which the Art Gallery is held may be gauged by the attendance of visitors, which for the year ending 31st March, 1921, totalled 148,579 persons.
OLD COLONISTS' MUSEUM.
This museum, which occupies two large rooms on the top floor of the Library and Art Gallery building, was opened by Mr. J. H. Gunson, Mayor, on 22nd March, 1916. It contains a collection of pictures, maps, prints, documents (printed and manuscript), and objects illustrating the history and development of New Zealand, especially the Auckland Province and City. The arrangement of the pictures is chronological, beginning with the discovery of New Zealand by Tasman in 1642, its re-discovery by Captain Cook, and the subsequent stages it passed through from the days of the mission-
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