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I am sorry to say that I cannot give any such information, as I am at present time of writing, in absolute ignorance as to whether the Hongkong Observatory, is or is not, in constant daily communication with stations situated around and within a radius of 50 miles of the waters of the Colony; as also with stations situated at far greater distances from the waters of the Colony, such as Cape Good Hope (Swatow); the South Cape of Formosa; Manila; Balabac Island; Saigon or Cape St. James; Tourane or Hue; Hoihow and Hai- phong.
As all atmospheric disturbances such as the typhoon of the 18th of September, have their origin in obedience to a law, by which differences of atmospheric pressure-existing at one and the same time between different localities, near or far apart are restored to a state of equilibrium......my mind is unable to conceive how the shipping community in the waters of the Colony of Hongkong, could be given a reasonable margin of warning within which to prepare for a gale of wind or a storm of far greater intensity, unless there was available to the Director of the Hongkong Observatory and his Assistants, an unfailing supply of ample daily meteorological data, from circles of stations such as I have enumerated.
To put this thought in another way:-If a body of troops marches into an enemy's country, and a camp is formed for the night, so that the soldiers may lay down and rest after the arduous duties of the day, the Officer in command-if he be a wise man-will have small groups of men stationed around the camp at varying distances, to give timely warning of the approach of the enemy. And the greater the number of those outposts; and the greater the facility with which they can communicate the intelligence of the approach of the enemy to those resting within the precincts of the camp......the greater will be the security of that camp, and of every soul that is resting or sleeping within it.
I beg that I may be kindly excused from attending the meeting of the Committee on Saturday next at 10 a.m., because of the projected sailing of the S.S. Kutsang, and because of the duties that I have to attend to at that time.
I have etc.,
ROBERT C. D. BRADLEY. Master S.S. “Kutsang,”
M. LIEBERT said:~~
I will first ask you to bear in mind that what I will say is in my private not in my official capacity, but at the same time, the French Navy to which I have belonged has lost during the typhoon of the 18th of September one unit and five men, of whom three were petty officers: so I feel that I have a certain right and that it is also my duty to speak on the matter. When I heard that an enquiry had been instituted by Government, I felt relieved of a certain amount of responsibility. At the same time it was publicly said when the enquiry was announced, that it was hoped in some quarters the Observatory would be exonerated. This decided me to ask the Commission to be heard by her, as I felt that the typhoon could be predicted much earlier than it had been, in two ways: 1st by taking note of the observations made by Zicawei and Manila-also by the local observa- tions of seafaring men. I have seen several dozens of typhoons either as a naval officer or in travelling about as a Consul and I felt on Sunday September 16th and Monday 17th that