CHAIRMAN’S PREFACE. 5 
In the Art Gallery 110 additions have been made to the Per- 
manent Collection, either by gift or purchase. The first duty of 
the Committee, entrusted to it by the Council, is undoubtedly the 
care and safety of the very valuable Permanent Collection of Works 
of Art possessed by the City. It has been this consideration which 
has induced the Committee to spend a large sum during the past 
three years in the improvement of the ground floor rooms. The 
Curator refers in his Report to this work, and I may say it is the 
intention of the Committee to continue it. 
The Curator’s reference to the absence of any fund at the disposal 
of the Committee for the purchase of pictures, except the uncertain 
surplus of profit there may happen to be from the Autumn 
Exhibition, is a timely one. In other cities, and notably in 
Manchester, there is a fund annually voted by the City Council, 
and immediately available at any moment for the purchase of a 
Masterpiece of Art. When such an opportunity occurs there is sure 
to be keen competition, and the buyer who can first close the bargain 
is the one who gets it. In Liverpool the City Council has, during 
the past forty years, made no contribution at all towards its own 
_ Art Collection. Some alteration in the position of the City in 
the Art world as a possible purchaser is much to be desired, and 
the best way of securing it is now under consideration. 
The Entrance Halls of both the Art Gallery and the Museum 
require renovation; and the Committee hope during the present 
year to make a beginning with this and other much needed work 
on the various buildings in William Brown Street. 
During the year under review the Committee lost by death two 
much valued colleagues: Alderman J. N. Stolterfoht, who had 
rendered excellent service for eleven years as Chairman of the 
Libraries Sub-Committee ; and Professor Sir Rubert Boyce, F.R.S., 
whose wide experience and erudition were most helpful to the 
Committee in nearly all departments of their work. 
FRANK J. LESLIE, 
Chairman. 
