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E.^B

Guide-booh. —lt was mentioned in the last report that a new guide-book was required, and almost my first work was to prepare a new edition. The book was published on the 3rd September, and the total sales, of both editions, for the year number 79 copies. Sales. —The specimens of gold from local and Australian fields, stolen some years ago, were, when subsequently recovered, so mixed as to destroy their special value for Museum purposes. With your permission I therefore sold them, and realised the sum of £30 17s. 2d. Duplicate animals and birds, worthless for Museum uses, were also sold. Office and lAbrary. —New type and accessories having been purchased, the printing-press was made full use of, and, in addition to current requirements, new labels for the foreign birds are in course of preparation. As the library shelves had become greatly overcrowded, a new bookcase was obtained, and a commencement was made in cataloguing the books on the card system. Galleries. —The whole of the cases in the Foreign-bird Gallery were cleaned and repainted, and the wood tops are being, in part, replaced with glass to improve the lighting. In the Mammal Gallery, the marsupial case was rearranged, consequent on the receipt of new specimens from Australia. The Ethnological Gallery is being thoroughly overhauled, and the New Zealand Gallery will next receive attention. A new series of insects was placed in the New Zealand room, and two cabinets of foreign insects, received from Janson and Co., in the Bird Gallery. While the New Zealand higher vertebrates have received considerable care in the past, the collection of fishes is far from satisfactory, and during the coming year I hope to devote some attention to the subject. To this end collections will require to be made, and I beg to request that money available for the purchase of specimens may be placed at my disposal for equipment and expenses. I propose to prepare coloured casts, which I consider the best means of publicly exhibiting the fishes. Exhibition. —As the buildings of the New Zealand International Exhibition are so near to the Museum, I considered that there was small call for our collections to be disturbed. I fitted up two cases of exhibits, and, as a member of the natural history committee of the Exhibition, I devoted some time to its furtherance. lam hopeful of obtaining some of the cases, at the close of the Exhibition, for Museum purposes. Exchanges and Donations. —An important exchange was negotiated with the Australian Museum, marsupials and casts of venomous snakes being received. Tasmanian native implements, mammals, and birds were obtained from, the Victoria Museum, Launceston, Tasmania, and a fern-root pounder and fishing-net sinkers from the. New Plymouth Museum. The Museum collections have been enriched by the generosity of 64 donors, whose presentations were chiefly zoological specimens. In other departments may be mentioned : A Mauser and Martini-Henry rifle used in the Boer war, presented by the Defence Department; a cast of the stone kumara god, Rongo, from the Director of the Colonial Museum ; and a photograph of a picture of Captain Cook, R.N., forwarded by Mr. J. D. Enys, now of Cornwall, England. School of Art. Report of the Director (Mr. R. Herdman-Smith, A.M., F.S.A.M.) :— I have the honour to report that during the year 1906 the class entries numbered 1,009, against 887 of the previous year. Drawing and Painting. —lnstruction was given in drawing and painting from life, still-life, landscape from nature, and drawing from the antique. The life classes were considerably extended, and classes for illustrative purposes and the study of historical and modern costumes added, making a total of seven life classes per week. The landscape classes were continued throughout the year ; during unfavourable weather a life model was posed, for the purpose of studying the figure in relation to landscape painting. Design.— Lectures on the principles of ornament were delivered in the afternoon and evening, and also a series of lectures on the historic styles of ornament. The applied-design classes followed the lectures on the principles of ornament, and so enabled students to apply these principles to their individual crafts. This section of the school's work made an enormous advance on the previous year, being attended by over 50 students. Artistic Crafts. —Instruction was given in wood and stone carving, repousse, gesso, leather-work, and leaded light. . ■ Modelling. —Some creditable elementary work has been done in this section. It is to be regretted that art students throughout New Zealand show so little interest in this important subject. Modelling is undoubtedly the finest means of learning form, without a knowledge of which success in any form of art is unattainable. Architecture and Building Construction. —A most complete course was arranged in this section, including geometry, perspective, elementary and advanced building construction, quantity surveying, design, historic ornament, history of architecture, specification writing, and architectural design. A number of students took the complete course, extending over five evenings per week throughout the session. Some six students attended the day course throughout the year, and did excellent work. Painters' and Decorators' Work. —Classes in practical work were held twice a week, and instruction was given in writing, glass-embossing, graining and marbling, stencilling, and decorative painting. Most of the students attended the classes and lectures in design and principles of ornament. Carpentry and Joinery. —This class did excellent work in combination with the building-construc-tion section. Many students carried out their drawings executed in the building-construction classes, making models of portions of buildings to scale, and thereby testing the stability of the construction. Cabinet-making. —The work of this class was chiefly drawing out full-sized details of cabinets, making small perspective sketches and original designs, and executing in material the more difficult problems of the trade. The bulk of the students of this section attended the design and modelling classes.