13 



to provide a suitable building for both purposes, Sir 

 W. H. Wills offered, in a second communication 

 addressed to the Lord Mayor, that if £10,000 were 

 provided for Museum Extension on the site adjoining 

 the present building, he would provide for the com- 

 pletion of the scheme. This munificent offer was 

 gratefully accepted by the Council, who also accepted 

 a Report of the Joint Libraries and Museum Com- 

 mittees, recommending the requisite application to 

 Parliament, and placing the administration of the 

 proposed Art Gallery in the hands of the Museum 

 Committee. The way was thus prepared for the steps 

 that still remain to be carried out, in order that this 

 happy solution of the difficulty of providing adequate 

 Museum Extension might be surmounted, and at the 

 same time adding to the institutions of the City the 

 much-desired Art Gallery. 1 



THE LIBRARY. 



During the year the work of the Reference 

 Library has gone on satisfactorily, the total number 



1 Note. — At the Meeting of the Council on the nth December, 1900, it 

 was reported, that in accordance with the urgent request of the Docks Com- 

 mittee, the Joint Libraries and Museum Committee had agreed to postpone 

 for twelve months the application to Parliament for power to raise extra funds 

 for Art Gallery and Library purposes. This was desired in order that the poll 

 of the City on the Dock Extension scheme might be taken apart from any 

 other question. Sir William Henry Wills had expressed his concurrence in 

 this proposal, and the Council adopted the recommendation of the Joint 

 Committee. 



At the next meeting of the Council held 1st January, 1901, plans for the 

 proposed Museum Extension and Art Gallery were submitted by Sir W. H. 

 Wills for the approval of the Council, and the following resolution was 

 adopted:— "That the thanks of the Council be given to Sir William Henry 

 Wills for the drawings of the proposed Art Gallery and Museum Extension 

 now submitted, and that the same be approved." 



