REPOKT OF THE COMMITTEE. 319 



About 22,250 persons have paid for admission during the past 

 year, being a decrease of upwards of 7,000, which diminution is 

 not easily explained, but may have been due to the finer weather 

 prevailing during the holidays, as the receipts have fallen off 

 chiefly at those periods. 



In the direction of increasing the membership the Committee 

 would suggest that it seems most desirable to make a direct 

 appeal to the numerous county gentlemen of Northumberland 

 and Durham, very few of whom appear on the present list of 

 subscribers. It could be pointed out that the advantages of 

 having a first-rate provincial museum, so conveniently situated 

 for the rural populations of both counties, is a matter of interest 

 to all influential persons and worthy of their permanent support, 

 especially as the Museum is a great source of interest to visitors 

 from the country and instruction to all the inhabitants of this 

 district. 



The work of the Society has been steadily and carefully carried 

 on in the Museum during the past year, and as fully as the 

 limited funds at the disposal of the Committee would permit. 

 Additional wall-cases have been furnished for the Ethnological 

 Room in order to exhibit the large collection of South Sea im- 

 plements and manufactures collected by the late Miss Julia Boyd, 

 of Moor House, Durham (presented, according to her wish, by 

 her executors to the Museum). In these and adjoining cases the 

 bulk of her collections have now been arranged. 'New bird- 

 cases have also been obtained and have been used for many of 

 the fine series of the rarer New Zealand birds collected by Miss 

 Boyd, as well as in carrying out the formation of a typical and 

 generic collection of foreign birds round the galleries of the Bird 

 Eoom. In this considerable progress has been made, but the 

 want of funds to provide a full set of cases will for a time at 

 least prevent the completion of the arrangement of this part of 

 the Museum collections. 



The legacy of £2,000 bequeathed by the late John Coppin, 

 Esq., of Bingfield, Northumberland, has been received and in- 

 vested in Tyne Improvement Commissioners' Stock at 4 per cent. 

 per annum. 



