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To show that the School of Art is already making itself felt in art work, I may mention that in the list of working members of the Canterbury Society of Arts twenty-four out of a total of ' forty-seven members have been or are connected with the School of Art: several of these owe their art training wholly to our influence. Since my last annual statement, a class for drawing from the draped living model in connection with both the morning and evening classes has been commenced, in which good work is being done. The arrangements are however unsatisfactory. This, with several other questions in connection with the future successful working of the school, I have indicated in my memorandum of the 12th September, 1883, and would again bring under your notice. I have, &c, David Blaie, Art Master. The Chairman, Board of Governors, Canterbury College.

Annual Eepobt of the Dieectoe of the Canteebuey Museum. Sic, — Canterbury Museum, Christchurch, 4th July, 1884. I have the honour to submit to you, in accordance with your instructions, my fourteenth annual report on the progress and present state of the Canterbury Museum during the financial year 1883-84. Throughout the past financial year the Museum has been opened to the public every weekday except Monday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., from the Ist September to the 30th April, and on Sundays from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.; from the Ist of May to the 31st August, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on every weekday except Monday, and on Sundays from 2 p.m. to 4.30 p.m. On Mondays the Museum is not open till noon. Except the first week in the months of August, December, and April, when it is closed for cleaning purposes, the Museum, according to a former resolution of the Board of Governors, has been closed only on Good Friday and Easter and Christmas Days. It will be seen from the annexed statement (Appendix A) that the attendance of visitors to the Museum during the present financial year has been considerably larger than during the previous year, the total number being 90,514 (in the previous year 84,231). The weekday visitors numbered 58,809, and those on Sundays 31,705, giving an average for weekdays of 200, and for Sundays of 654 visitors. No complaints of any kind have reached me as to any disorderly conduct of the visitors, notwithstanding the large crowds that generally come to the Museum on Sunday afternoons. Though the staff is inadequate to the size of the Museum, proper order has been kept, to which the presence of a constable, kindly sent to the Museum on Sunday afternoons by the Inspector of Police, has doubtless greatly contributed. In my last year's annual report I divided the contents into various sections, and, with your permission, I will continue to do so this year. Natural History Museum. —Considerable additions have been made to the collection during the past year by presentations and exchanges. The Acclimatization Society in Christchurch (through their honorary secretary, Mr. S. C. Parr); Dr. W. L. Buller, F. 8.5., G.M.G.; Professor F. W. Hutton, F.G.S.; and Mr. T. H. Potts, F.L.S., amongst others have continued to enrich the Museum with valuable specimens whenever an opportunity occurred. Dr. yon Lendenfeld presented a large collection of Australian sponges, named. Captain Fairchild, of the steamer " Hinemoa," Mr. M. Studholme, of Waimate, and Messrs. George and Leo yon Haast, besides many others, made many valuable presentations. A collection of glass models of invertebrate animals, ordered from Mr. Leopold Blaschka, in Dresden, distinguished by their lifelike appearance and truthful resemblance to nature, were also added to the public collection. Work done. —ln the large case on the western part of the mammal room a series of seals, both foreign and of New Zealand and its dependencies, have been placed; a group of pigs was also put together, and is exhibited in the same room. A camel, giraffe, and Japanese deer were also mounted, and form conspicuous objects in that room, which, in order to show the specimens to more advantage, has been rearranged during this year. In the foreign birds gallery, five groups of birds, and a number of birds on separate stands,-have been added. The skeleton room, to give more space, has also been partly rearranged, and the following skeletons have been added to its contents, namely, those of the Platypus, Australian ant-eater, and Tasmanian tiger, as well as that of a Platanista. Also, a series of skeletons of birds, mostly of New Zealand) have been articulated. The skeleton of a ziphoid whale, obtained by the taxidermist during last winter on the sea-beach near Leithfield, is in a forward state of preparation, and will form a valuable exchange. A collection of sponges, both foreign and of New Zealand, has been placed in the showcases lately added in the mineralogical gallery. Paleontology. —The Director has continued to select from the foreign and New Zealand fossils, stratigraphically arranged, a lajge series for a collection zoologically arranged, as the want of such a collection both for the public and the students was seriously felt. In order to facilitate for the students an insight into the stratigraphical occurrence of the specimens exhibited, tickets with varied-coloured borders have been selected, so that at a glance their age can be ascertained. For Palseozoic fossils black has been selected, for Mesozoic blue, and for Kainozoic red. Dr. Buller has presented the skull of a parrot from a cave near Timaru ; and Dr. A. Krantz, of Bonn, and Professor Klipstein, of Giessen, have sent a series of fossils, of which a number were hitherto unrepresented in our collection. From Dr. Krantz a large series is shortly expected to fill up some important gaps in our zoological series. Ethnological and Antiquity Museum.- —Nothing of importance has arrived during this year from foreign countries. Some Maori objects were bought during the year, amongst which the carved stern-post of a canoe, and two balers with ancient shell and stone carvings, are the most interesting. Mr. George Gould has bought and presented a panoramic picture in oil painted by S. C. Farr in 1853, showing the state of Banks Peninsula in the first years of the Canterbury settlement. Coins