H.—2l.

The registration of the negatives has been completed, there now being 9,227 recorded and filedaway, but new negative-storage cabinets are urgently required. During the past year 326 new negatives were produced and added to the recorded collection, and several hundreds of prints and enlargements have been made for various purposes. With the acquisition of a cinematograph camera attention has been paid to the production of educational films for use in Museum lectures, and a start has been made on a film in colour of the Red Admiral butterfly, while a film of Maori eeling activities is well on the way to completion. A film entitled " Maori Days " was received on permanent loan from the Tourist Department, and several films have been purchased. The collection of films useful for educational purposes now amounts to five. The projection equipment in the lecture hall on all occasions has given every satisfaction. Lectures to School-children. Lectures in the Museum lecture hall to children attending secondary schools were commenced in March, 1937, but after three lectures were given the course was suspended on account of the epidemic of infantile paralysis. The attendance was over six hundred, and the lectures were illustrated by specimens, slides, and films. In addition, a total of 125 children attended the Museum by arrangement and were given lecturettes on the exhibits. Here it may be recorded that numerous classes in charge of teachers have visited the Museum and have not required the direction of members of the staff. Press Reports. With a view to bringing the Museum and its activities more before the public, arrangements were made with the two local daily newspapers for the publication of articles written by members of the Museum Staff. Between 3rd September, 1936, and 31st March, 1937, fifty-six articles appeared. Chinese Art Exhibition. A loan exhibition of Chinese art, under the curatorship of Captain Humphreys-Davies, was held in the Museum during March and April, 1937, and attracted a large number of visitors. A grant of £200 towards the publication of a guide-book was promised by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and £300 was provided by the Government for general purposes. Exchange Exhibits. A system of exchange displays among the museums at Auckland, New Plymouth, Wanganui, Napier, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch, and Dunedin was inaugurated towards the end of last year by a committee of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, which supplied the show-cases and is paying the cost of transport for a period of three years. Art Galleries and Museums Association of Australia and New Zealand. A resolution that such an association be formed was passed by the Conference of Curators of Art Galleries and Museums held at Melbourne in May, 1936, and the Association was founded at a meeting of curators held at Auckland in January, 1937. ; Museums Conference. A conference of Museum and Art Gallery curators, organized by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and held in Melbourne in May, 1936, was attended by the Director. Meeting of the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science. The biannual meeting of this Association was held in Auckland in January, 1937, and was attended by the Director and Miss Sutherland. A paper on a new species of whale was read by the Director, and one on " Sustained Yield of Forestry in New Zealand " by Miss M. Sutherland. Attendance. The attendance by the public at the Museum and Art Gallery was very large for the first four weeks, the estimated total being 80,000. Subsequently, it is estimated that on an average there have been 3,000 visitors per week, making an estimated total of 170,000 for the first seven months that the building was open to the public. W. R. B. Oliver, Director.

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