16 ACCOUNTS, ETC., OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



VIII. — General Progress at the Museum, Bloomsbury. 



It is a matter for regret that a further decline in the 

 number of visits to the Museum has to be recorded for the 

 year 190(j. The total number was 691,950, a fallincr off of 

 nearly 122,000 from the number in 1905. Nor has the 

 decline been confined to weekday visits, as it was in the 

 previous year. The 57,738 visits on Sundays were less by 

 4,369 than those in 1905. We must go back to the year 1900 

 with its 689,249 visits before finding a total to compare with 

 that of the year 1906. 



At the same time, it is an indication of a steady growth 

 of intelligent interest in the collections that, while the 

 numbers of visits decrease, the sale of Guide-books generally 

 tends to increase. 



The number of visits of students to the Reading Room 

 has also been reduced by 2,000, the total for the year being 

 212,997, as against 214,940 in 1905. The daily average was 702. 



The average numbers of persons in the room, counted at 

 the later hours of the afternoon, were : — 



4 P.M. 5 P.M. [ 6 P.M. 



349 256 172 



6.30 P.M. 

 119 



The number of visits of students to particular Depart- 

 ments in 1906 was 55,513, as against 57,557 in 1905. The 

 number of visits to the Newspaper Room decreased by 2,000 ; 

 while, as regards other fluctuations, there were 1,200 fewer 

 visits in the Sculpture Galleries, but 800 more in the Depart- 

 ment of Manuscripts, and nearly 1,100 more in the Department 

 of British and Mediaeval Antiquities. 



During the year effect has been given to the scheme of 

 the British Museum Extension which is projected to occupy 

 in the future the site of the lines of houses on the north, 

 east and west sides of the Museum, which were purchased 

 in 1895. A building to form a range of galleries connected 

 with the northern portion of the present Museum buildings 

 is now being erected upon the site of demolished houses 

 which formed the south side of Montague Place, under the 

 control of the First Commissioner of His Majesty's Works ; 

 Mr, John James Burnet, A.R.S.A., being the architect to 

 whom the work is entrusted. 



The building is to consist of a basement and a sub-ground 

 floor, for storage; a series of ground-floor galleries, for 

 expansion of the library ; a mezzanine to be arranged in 

 studies and students' rooms ; and a suite of exhibition 

 galleries on the upper floor. The means for the work are 

 provided from funds partly bequeathed by the late 

 Mr. Vincent Stuckey Lean and partly voted by Parliament. 



A first contract for the construction of the basement and 

 sub-ground floor was entered into in April, when work was 

 commenced. 



