REPORT. 



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The Committee have pleasure in reporting that the several departments 

 continue in a state of efficiency, and are fully appreciated by the public. 



The statistics given below afford the information necessary to under- 

 stand the working of the Institution and its results. 



Several circumstances of interest have occurred during the year. 



The New Rotunda Lecture Hall was opened on the 4th January. The 

 result has exceeded the most sanguine anticipations. The Hall is 

 calculated to contain 1,100 persons all comfortably seated, but on many 

 occasions this number has been far exceeded ; on several evenings nearly 

 2,000 have been packed within the area. The Hall has given general 

 satisfaction, and promises to add materially to the usefulness of the 

 Institution. 



Plans have been prepared for the extension of the Walker Art Gallery, 

 giving the additional space necessary to avoid the removal and replacing 

 of the permanent Gallery pictures annually, during the exhibition. The 

 cost of the new building will be about J12,000, towards which a grant 

 of ^6,000 has been made from the Corporate funds. 



It will be seen from the notice below that the recent Exhibition has, 

 with one exception to a trifling extent, been the most successful ever 

 held. 



The second volume of the Catalogue of the Reference Library has 

 been issued, containing 703 pages, including all the works received 

 during the ten years from 1871 to 1880. This has already been 

 appreciated as a great boon to students. The work has been very care- 

 fully prepared by Mr. Cowell, the Chief Librarian, and his assistants, 

 and contains a large fund of information besides the list of books. 



The Annexe to the Walker Art Gallery mentioned in the Report for 

 1881, for the reception of the Ethnographical Collection, has been opened, 

 and forms a very interesting department. The building will have to be 

 removed to allow the erection of the new portion of the Art Gallery, 

 but ample provision for the collection will be made in the new building. 



The facilities given by the extensive range of buildings for public 

 demonstrations have been availed of during the year. On Friday, July 



