REPORT BY THE CURATOR OF MUSEUMS. 
I beg to furnish the Fifty-ninth Annual Report upon the 
CONDUCT and PROGRESS of the Museums. 
1.—GENERAL. 
Since 1896, a period of sixteen years, specimens of Natural 
History and of Ethnography, totalling over 100,000 specimens, 
have been added to the Collections, or an average of nearly 7,000 
additions per year. 
The visitors to the Museums during the year are as follows :— 
Total Visitors Rea Hee es Sie sie a 403,128 
Weekly Average it ae 138 ak tae 7,752 
Daily Average... tes ee Bee Be oa 1,544 
The attendance of School Children under the charge of teachers 
has continued, and the latter have availed themselves of the clause 
in the Education Code, whereby time devoted to instruction in 
_ Museums reckons as school attendance. School teachers make 
_ frequent use of the Museums theatre to give special lessons to their 
_ pupils—specimens being brought from the Museum cases for 
illustrating them. The specimens of various sections, especially 
those illustrating the ethnography of primitive peoples, have been 
_ in great request. Special lecture courses in geography, drawn up 
series of lantern slides has been drawn upon for further illustra- 
tions. Assistance has been given to advanced students preparing 
for University examinations in Liverpool and London, 
