3l6 REPORT ON MUSEUM WORK. 



of the staff, it may probably be said that the museum is being 

 administered on as efficient a plan as is possible with the 

 resources available. Progress is being made towards bringing 

 the collections into creditable order, and we are keeping up 

 also with the unavoidable incidental work. The position is 

 considerably improved, but I believe it is scarcely realised 

 how far we still are from being able to deal effectively with 

 the real demands of the institution. The progress is de- 

 plorably slow in view of the amount of work waiting to be 

 taken in hand in almost every section of the museum. Taking 

 up any piece of work at present implies neglecting others 

 which will probably in the judgment of someone be of more 

 importance than anything else. Valuable reference collections 

 must receive less attention than they need in order that some 

 of the worst defects in exhibited collections may be remedied. 

 It is difficult to get any comprehensive piece of work carried 

 through ; and much work that is most desirable cannot be 

 undertaken at all because it would involve the consumption of 

 too much time in consulting technical literature. 



I lately received the report of one of our principal provincial 

 museums. It is one of the best administered museums of 

 Britain and its collections are considerably more extensive 

 than ours, but in size it corresponds very closely with this 

 museum. Its income, however, is five times that of this 

 museum, and the report nevertheless consists largely in 

 an appeal for the decidedly increased support which is 

 essential if its natural development is not to be crippled. A 

 comparison with any other well organised museum, taking 

 account of relative size, would point to the same conclusion. 

 Under present conditions there is no prospect of the Society's 

 museum being brought into a state really compatible with its 

 size, importance, and traditions. The museum started with 

 many advantages in its favour — a fine building, some noted 

 collections, strong local interest. But large sections of it, 

 including the whole of the zoology and geology rooms and the 

 collection of rocks, have never been more than roughly planned 

 out, and the disproportion between the size of the museum 



