14 
REPORT OF THE 
The Council received an application from the Committee of 
the Art Treasures Exhibition, which is to take place in 
Manchester during the approaching Spring and Summer, to 
contribute from the Museum such articles as might illustrate 
the progress of art, from the departure of the Romans to its 
revival after the Middle Ages. To this request the Council 
willingly acceded; and Mr. Waring, as the Agent of the 
Manchester Committee, visited York, and selected several 
objects which seemed suitable for the purpose of the Exhibi¬ 
tion. It is probable that some of the remains of Saxon art, 
in the Museum, may also be sent to Manchester. Every pre¬ 
caution will be taken to secure the safe conveyance and 
preservation of what is lent; and the Council feel persuaded 
that the members will not regret the temporary removal of 
some objects of interest from their collections, when they 
consider the important national purpose of the Exhibition, and 
the readiness with which works of art, of inestimable value, 
have been contributed by their possessors. 
The statement of the receipts at the gate will shew that 
they have recovered from the temporary diminution, caused by 
the war and the cessation of railway excursions. They exceed 
those of any previous year with the single exception of that in 
which the Royal Agricultural Society held its meeting in this 
city. At the suggestion of several members of the Society, 
the Council opened the Gardens, on Saturday afternoon, to the 
working classes, on the payment of a penny. The privilege 
has not been so extensively used as the Council hoped; but it 
has been attended with no inconvenience to the members of 
the Society, nor any injury to its grounds or collections. 
It has been customary to open both Gardens and Museum 
to the public, gratuitously, on Whit-Monday and Tuesday; 
but the Council propose this year, if approved by the members, 
to charge a penny for admission on those days.* They suggest 
this change, not from any desire to make it a source of income 
to the Society, but to render the privilege really more useful 
to the class for whose benefit it is designed. An entirely 
* It wall be seen by the Resolutions passed at the Annual Meeting, that this 
proposal was adopted with a modification. 
