HONGKONG.
337
No. 25
REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE OBSERVATORY FOR 1894.
Laid before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Governor.
HONGKONG OBSERVATORY,
23rd March, 1895.
SIR,-I have the honour to submit my annual report for 1891 to His Excellency the Governor. My tenth volume of observations and researches was published last summer and the eleventh volume is now being printed.
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2. In my last annual report I was able to state that "precedence urgency
had been granted by the Eastern Extension and Great Northern Telegraph Companies and also by the Chinese Telegraph Administration to our messages. I regret, however, to be unable to report any improvement in the time of receipt of these, and so far as the United Telegraph Companies are concerned the delay would thus appear to be beyond their control. With regard to the messages coming over the lines of the Chinese Telegraph Administration, the case is however different, as it is clearly established that the messages are handed in at their offices immediately and, therefore, it is certain that the delay occurs in transmission over their lines. But as the messages received through this channel pass over land lines communication will, of course, be more frequently interrupted. The tardy receipt or non-arrival of the observations interferes greatly with the prompt issue of weather intelligence, and the early or late issue of such must necessarily depend upon the time of receipt of the observations from the coast stations. With regard to the observations made at Anping (South Formosa) and Hoihow (Hainan), the messages are so seldom received in time that for the purpose of storm-warnings they are as a rule practically useless, and as both these stations are outposts, as regards local warnings, so to speak, the one to the east and the other to the west of the Colony, it is readily seen that the non-receipt of these observations is a very great loss. Last typhoon season the Hoihow observations would have been particularly valuable, had they been received, as many of the typhoons approached the immediate neighbourhood of that station, and there is no doubt that were the Hoihow observations received in time, the information the Observatory is able to give with regard to typhoons in the China Sea would be much improved. Unfortunately the irregularities and delay in the receipt of the messages are more frequent in the typhoon season than in the winter months, and this remark applies to all stations, Bolinao excepted.
3. The thanks of the Government are due to the Telegraph Companies for their kindness in continuing to forward the meteorological telegrams free of charge, and the staff of the Eastern Exten- sion Telegraph Company at Bolinao is to be especially thanked for their kind aid in making observa- tions at all times, but particularly during the typhoon season. During the past year their help has been invaluable in this respect and their observations during the passage of typhoon centres in the vicinity of the station enabled Mr. FIGG to indicate the subsequent movements of such typhoons in the China. Sea with accuracy. The staff of the same Company at Sharp Peak, near Foochow, also rendered valuable assistance on two or three occasions, and it would be a great improvement could the Telegraph Company be prevailed upon to allow the staff to forward observations regularly. No observations have been received from Foochow since the 10th September last, when the port was closed on account of the China-Japan war.
4. In my last annual report I stated that Victoria Peak and Gap Rock would shortly be placed in direct communication with the Observatory. This improvement has not yet been effected, and the wind observations made at Victoria Peak are often received too late for insertion in the China Coast Register, and latterly no observations have been received until about 2.30 p.m. and frequently later than this each day. This apparently arises to a great extent froin the roundabout method by which the observations are forwarded to the United Telegraph Offices in Queen's Road for transmission to the Observatory. The importance of the wind observations from Victoria Peak has frequently been insisted on by me, but their value is at once discounted through the delay in transmission.
5. The following table shows the times of observation at the various coast stations and the per. centage of days during the month of June last, when the morning or afternoon observations were received at the Observatory after 11 a. or 5 p. respectively. It is seen that on about two-thirds of