ART GALLERY. 67 
After the Exhibition had been arranged, and considerable 
preliminary work had been done, the Liverpool Pageant was under- 
taken, and the Sub-Committee of that enterprise which was charged 
with the duty of arranging an Exhibition of Liverpool Antiquities 
applied for accommodation in the Art Gallery. It was proposed 
that certain rooms should be set apart for this purpose, and that the 
two Exhibitions should be held simultaneously and in combination. 
Thereafter, the Pageant Committee, finding it required all the 
available space, requested that the Art Exhibition should be 
postponed, and, very influential pressure being brought to bear on 
the Committee of the Historical Exhibition of Liverpool Art, it was 
felt that they must yield and hold their Exhibition in 1908. A 
payment of £100 was made by the Pageant Committee towards the 
expenses which had been incurred. The popularity of the Pageant 
Exhibition, which not only took the rooms, but the title of the 
Historical Exhibition of Liverpool Antiquities, seems to some extent 
to have discounted the public interest in the Exhibition, for, 
although it was a complete artistic-success, and greatly praised on all 
hands, the attendance (total 6,954) ‘was meagre. It, of course, 
attracted all connoisseurs, and undoubtedly prepared the way for a 
_much fuller appreciation of the work of Liverpool artists; and 
resulted in several gifts to the Permanent Collection. It further 
demonstrated that, in the future policy of the Art and Exhibitions 
Sub-Committee, the creation of an adequately representative Gallery 
of pictures and sculpture by local artists should be a leading 
- consideration. 
The extent of the Exhibition, and its exceptional character, 
involved a large outlay, even though the utmost economy was 
exercised, and ihe very great amount of executive work was done by 
the Art Gallery staff, without remuneration, although (as in the ease 
of previous special exhibitions) it involved the sacrifice of all their 
leisure for a considerable period. 
‘ It is respectfully suggested that the amount of the deficit be made 
a charge on the Library, &c., rate, as contemplated in the report of 
28th May, 1906, approved by the Committee and the Council. 
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