Vll 



to the liberality of Parliament, and in their Eeport the following sums 

 were named as necessary to carry on the work of the Academy with 

 efficiency in its several departments : — 



"1. For the preparation of Scientific Reports on Irish Tides, Ter- £ s. d. 

 restrial Magnetism, Meteorology, &c, including costs of In- 

 struments and grants to observers, . 20000 



2 Salary to an Irish Scribe, including cataloguing and printing 



Irish Manuscripts, 200 0 0 



3. Salary to Museum Clerk, purchase of Antiquities, costs of 



making Casts, and Photographs to be exchanged with other 



collections, 200 0 0 



4. Salary to Library Clerk, with cost of Books and binding, . 200 0 0 



5. Printing and Illustrating the " Transactions" and " Proceed- 



ings," 200 0 0 



Total amount of required increase to present Annual! „ 1ftnn n 0 ,, 

 Grant of £500, ) * 1UUU 



Of this amount a sum of £200 was in 1 865 granted by the Govern- 

 ment, being that mentioned under No. 2, for ''the Salary of an Irish 

 Scribe, including cataloguing and printing Irish Manuscripts." The 

 Academy subsequently applied for the remaining sum of £800 ; and a 

 Deputation appointed by the Council waited on His Excellency the Mar- 

 quis of Abercorn, on the 6th of December, 1866, to solicit the support 

 of the Irish Government for the application. His Excellency acknow- 

 ledged the justice of the claim, and promised to give the application his 

 best support. Since then a letter has been received from the Lords of 

 the Treasury, stating, without giving any reason, that they are not pre- 

 pared to sanction any further increase in the Annual Grant to the Aca- 

 demy. The present grant, amounting to £700 per annum, is totally 

 insufficient for carrying on the work of the Academy. Even if it were 

 increased by the additional annual sum of £800 named by the Select 

 Committee, we should still require special Grants, to enable us to put 

 several of our Departments into proper condition, and make them im- 

 mediately available for the public. 



MUSEUM. 



The Parliamentary Committee state in their Eeport, that the Muse am 

 of the Academy is " the richest and most important in Europe in Celtic 

 Antiquities." The subject of Celtic Archseology, independently of its 

 national importance to Ireland, is one which is every day attracting 

 more and more attention at home and abroad ; and such a collection as 

 the Academy possesses can be best studied and appreciated in Ireland, 

 where alone there exists such traditional and manuscript information as 

 is essential to illustrate its historical and scientific value. This collec- 

 tion is now placed in different parts of the Academy's building, instead of 

 being, as has been proposed, arranged on a single floor. At present 

 the provisions for the custody of this valuable collection are so unsatis- 

 factory, that the Public cannot safely be permitted to inspect it ; and 

 the Council, with a view to its preservation, have felt themselves con- 



