Story: Physics, chemistry and mathematics

This is the Colonial Laboratory, in Sydney Street West, Wellington. This building was completed in 1905, when James Scott Maclaurin was analyst at the Mines Department. The Colonial Laboratory was originally set up in 1865, under the direction of James Hector, with William Skey as chemical analyst. The first Colonial Laboratory was attached to the Colonial Museum in Museum Street. Here the building is draped in mourning after the death of Premier Richard Seddon.