TO 
The News Rooms are just as extensively used as ever, and are at 
times inconveniently crowded. There are no complaints to be made 
about the conduct of those who use them, except that we have not been 
entirely free from pilfering during the year. I am sorry to say that 
the majority of these petty thefts are of such a character as to indicate 
that they are not perpetrated by the most ignorant among the readers, 
and that the thieves, judging by the choice they make, must possess a 
considerable amount of literary discrimination and artistic taste. I am 
sure that offenders of this kind are a very small minority amongst those 
who use the Rooms, and that the great majority of our visitors are as 
anxious as we are ourselves that proper order in every way should be 
maintained. 
Important donations have been made to the Museum this year, 
as referred to in the Chairman’s Report. The Birds collection has 
been thoroughly overhauled and cleaned, and a portion of it placed on 
exhibition. The Committee hope to arrange for the bulk of the speci- 
mens it contains being lent to various Schools for teaching purposes, 
after the blanks in our own collection have been filled up. The dupli- 
cates received from the British Museum Trustees, which I was allowed 
to personally select, enabled us to complete as large a collection of 
typical Reptilia as we have space for. Our previous stock was carefully 
gone through, imperfect specimens destroyed, and uniform stoppered 
jars purchased. The whole collection has been properly labelled and 
placed in position, and when one or two English specimens have been 
obtained, which is only a matter of time, the Reptiles will be as complete 
a collection as the room at our disposal will permit. 
As in former years, I had the pleasure of attending the Annual 
Conference of the Library Association, held this year at Cardiff. The 
proceedings were interesting, and the discussions on Library work 
profitable, and not the least valuable feature was a complete exhibition 
of Library fittings and appliances. I had the honour of being elected for 
the fifth time a member of the Council of the Association. 
There has been, I am glad to say, no change in our staff during 
the past year, and I have once more to express my satisfaction with the 
