152 REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE. 



In the death of the late Curator, Mr, Richard Howse, your 

 Committee feel that almost the last link with the earlier 

 members of the Society has been severed. Mr. Howse had a 

 life-long acquaintance with the earlier founders of the Society, 

 and his name first appears among the list of Honorary 

 Curators in 1861. In 1862 he seems to have generally 

 superintended the re-arrangement of the collections, and in 

 1866 for the first time he appeared as the " General Curator " 

 of the Museum. In 1882, on the completion of the new 

 building, he was appointed the permanent Curator, and 

 thenceforth devoted the whole of his time and attention to 

 the work of the Society. He was one of the original members 

 of the Tyneside Naturalists' Field Club, and was the Editor 

 of the Natural History Transactions of the Society. He con- 

 tributed largely to the Transactions, and his position as a 

 naturalist was such that in his own special departments of 

 mineralogy and geology he was a recognised authority. 



The Committee felt the difficulty of filling Mr. Howse's post 

 as Curator, having regard to his general acquaintance with 

 nearly every branch of natural history; after much con- 

 sideration in selecting from amongst m.any candidates, they 

 have appointed Mr. E. Leonard Gill, B. Sc, late Assistant 

 Curator in the Owens College Museum, Manchester, to be the 

 Curator of the Museum, and have every confidence that his 

 appointment will fulfil their expectations. As will be seen 

 from the annexed epitome of Mr. Gill's first report to the 

 Committee on the present state of the collections, there is 

 much work to be done in connection with the preservation or 

 the present collections before he can turn his attention to 

 several other matters that are generally needed, and the 

 Committee sincerely trust that the members will not allow the 

 work of the Society to be crippled for lack of funds. 



From the Treasurer's account the financial year of the 

 Society has varied little from that of its preceding year, and 

 there is a balance of ^155 3s. gd. in hand. Your Committee 

 would however impress upon the Society that their present 

 income is only just sufficient to pay the ordinary maintenance 



