well ; books of which the interest is only ephemeral have been re- 

 turned, and those which it has been thought desirable to retain 

 have been purchased at an average of forty per cent, of their 

 original cost, and this after readers have had the advantage of 

 their use for six months or more. The Committee regard the ex- 

 l^eriment as distinctly successful, and it has earned the warm 

 approval of the readers of the better class of books. 



The Newsrooms, both at the Central Library and at the 

 Arboretum Branch, continue to be very largely used, and there is 

 no .serious complaint to be made of the conduct of the many 

 thousands who use them. 



In the Museum, the work of re-arrangement which has been 

 going on for many years, is now complete; the last section being 

 the arrangement and classification of our collection of the eggs of 

 British birds. In this the Committee have to acknowledge the 

 valuable help given by the Rev. H. C. Jourdain, one of the best of 

 living authorities on this branch of Natui-al History, while the 

 actual classification and arrangement has been done by one of their 

 own staft", Mr. George Pullen, who has done it carefully and well. 

 Some very valuable donations have been made to the Museum 

 during the past year of which a full list is appended to the Report. 



The Art Gailery continues to prosper, and interest in it has 

 been fully maintained. Here, again, the Committee have received 

 ■several valuable donations, and no doul)t we should have received 

 more had there been more room in which to display 

 them. The enlargement of the Galleries is a crying 



necessity, which becomes every year more acute, but the 

 Committee still hope that someone among their fellow- 

 citizens may be found able and willing to give them a 

 start in the matter. In the meantime, they can only wait and 

 hope. The Autumn and Spring Exhibitions both maintained the 

 standard of merit which has been hitherto set, and the Exhibition 

 opened just recently, is probably one of the best ever held in the 

 Gallery. For the Summer Exhibition, the Committee relied on the 

 attractions of their own Permanent Collection, which now contains 

 sixty-two pictures, beside a large number of framed engravings 



