4 REPORT OF THK COUNCIL 



circulation is faulty, owing to the additions made to the 

 building since the heating pipes were first installed. It is 

 therefore impossible at present to heat the museum evenly 

 throughout at one time. The only remedy is the laying of a 

 new main pipe from the boilers to the front of the building, 

 but as this could not be done at a less cost than about ^50 

 it has had to be given up for the present. It is, however, a 

 matter of considerable urgency, as a dry building is an 

 absolute necessity for the safe keeping of the collections. A 

 valuable collection of birds' eggs in the museum gives a great 

 deal of trouble every year through the growth of mould, and 

 this is owing to the fact that the room it is kept in cannot be 

 properly heated in the winter. While referring to this subject, 

 special mention must be made of the trouble taken by Mr. 

 Ernest Scott to investigate the working of the whole hot water 

 system and advise the Council in the matter. 



An addition has been made to the staff of the museum in 

 the appointment of an assistant to the curator. In several 

 recent reports reference has been made to the pressing need 

 of an increased staff to deal with the work of the museum. 

 This need has indeed been obvious from the first. In the 

 early years of the new museum the committee in their reports 

 dwelt repeatedly on the inadequacy of the Society's resources 

 to the task of maintaining and developing the fine institution 

 which had come into their possession, and the remedy which 

 they advocated, the raising of a substantial maintenance fund, 

 proved impossible to carry out. The museum has conse- 

 quently always been seriously understaffed ; not only have the 

 contemplated developments perforce remained for the most 

 part unattempted, but large arrears of the most necessary work 

 have steadily accumulated, so that, as the curator's reports 

 have shown year by year, the care and display of all the 

 collections in any satisfactory manner is out of the question. 

 Though fully alive to these facts, your Council have not 

 hitherto found it possible to deal with them in any funda- 

 mental way. This year, however, partly owing to the relief 

 afforded by the Publication Fund, it was thought that some- 



