No. 1,397.
THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 7TH OCTOBER, 1893.
(Colonial Secretary to Secretary, Chamber of Commerce.j
SIR,
1047
COLONIAL SECRETARY'S OFFICE,
HONGKONG. 30th September, 1893.
With reference to my letter No. 1,233 of 23rd ultimo, I am directed to acquaint you, for the information of the Chamber of Commerce, that the gentlemen who were, on the recommendation of the Chamber, associated with Dr. DOBERCK in the Committee referred to therein have resigned their seats on the Committee. The Governor has accepted their resignations, and the Committee is therefore at an end.
The gentlemen, however, who are interested in the subject that the Committee was intended to enquire into, viz., "the system adopted at the Observatory of issuing meteorological reports and furnishing weather forecasts," will probably have no difficulty in formulating the improvements that they desire to be intro- duced into that system; and I am to state that if they will do so, His Excellency will have much pleasure in considering whether such alterations as may be proposed can be effected.
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your most obedient Servant,
The Secretary
to the CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.
G. T. M. O'BRIEN, Colonial Secretary.
H.K.O.
No. 91.
SIR,
(Dr. Doberck to Colonial Secretary.)
HONGKONG Observatory, 30th September, 1893.
I have the honour to enclose a copy of a letter which I have received from Cominander MILLER, R.N., Captain TILLETT and Captain G. C. ANDERSON, tender- ing their resignation from the Committee on the issue of meteorological reports and weather forecasts.
It was
2. Their resignation is apparently based on a dislike to having anybody sitting with them who understands the subject and all the local circumstances. nearly impossible for me to make them confine their remarks to the subject of the inquiry, and that I did to some extent do so, appears to have been a reason with them for resigning.
3. That the members knew nothing of the subject is proved by the fact that they did not finish the Committee and agree to a report in one sitting, as a Com- mittee consisting of meteorologists would have been able to do.
4. I was obliged to enter into rudimentary explanations to enable them to understand the first principles of issuing weather forecasts.
5. The appointment of Captain TILLETT on this Committee was unfortunate as his suggestion at a meeting of the British Mercantile Marine Officers' Association as to the issue of isobaric weather charts for the area between Shanghai and Cape Saint James, proves at once that he has no acquaintance with the subject, other- wise he must have been well aware, that the issue of such charts was impossible with the present limited number of stations. On the same occasion he practically advised mariners to manœuvre their vessels during the approach of a typhoon, as they had to do sixty years ago, and not to act on the rules founded on our present knowledge of the law of storms.
6. Some member or members of the Committee acted improperly in giving information after each sitting, directly or indirectly, to the newspapers, abusing the Government and myself.