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THE WEATHER.
↓
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
Bigelow, of the United States Weather Bureau, and he corroborated almost exactly this world wide barometric surge."
(Daily Press, December 24th.) Although perhaps not yet strictly true of
If the reader will take a pencil, dip one Hongkong, we may accept with interest and end in syrup, and slowly turn it round, satisfaction the dictum of WILLIAM J. S. backwards and forwards, as the syrup LOCKYER, Ph.D., F.R A.S., that
"the new
collects at the depressed end, we take it he meteorology—namely, World Meteorology' would get a good idea of the behaviour of the -bas dawned." A remarkably hot summer
world's atmosphere, as more technically de- at Home, and an early set in of a disagree-scribed above. It is not a wave of high and able winter, with snow early in November, low pressure travelling round the globe, but a has made "the weather" a topic in the huge to-and-fro swing, in which the air mail papers; and the periodicity of climatic partially deserts one hemisphere to mass on abnormalities has been noticed even by non- the other. It acts easterly and westerly, and is believed to be quite as important
"
may
experts. On the eve of a soaking-drizzly Christmas here, the subject of weather also be considered topical locally. What Dr. LOCKTEE means by "World Meteoro- logy is easily explained. Until a comparatively few years ago, meteorological institutions studied the changes and collecte data in their own immediate areas. They did very well, too, and their labour was not wasted; its results are valuable even to the science of "World Meteorology." now being synthesized. But their meteorology was- 28 Hongkong's is alleged to he-of the "parochial kind. Some of the more
+3
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as the changes hitherto observable between
the equator and the poles. Big things like droughts of continental scope may be con fidently foretold and timed when the
{December 29, 1906.
the mercy of its late suppliant, who seldom failed to rule it with a rod of iron.
We have seen how in the United States it has require a powerful effort on the part of the well-wishers to the constitution to preserve it from a similar catastrophe, and, though the outlook is momentarily clearer, a state of enervation like that that prevailed only a few years ago will not improbably become periodic. Even with all the supposed safeguards of universal uf- frage, the States owe to the energetic action of one man, their President, their pre- faire, and an enemy to the Constitu tion, hacked up by the arts of the disguised tyrant, might readily place the whole fabric in danger of dissolution.
sent exemption from the evils of laisser
Now experience has commenced to show
periodicity of this phenomenon has been that already the British constituencies are mastered. At present one motion, to-and-fro
growing limp under the action of the process included, is calculated to occupy on an
of "watering" which has been going on, average nearly four years. but a juster average will be possible in the future. The and that the individual power of the voter centre of the field varies naturally from its has been reduced to such insigni icance, circumferential parts, and as the intervals that be bas almost, if not quite, lost all anse of personal responsibility. A more do not appear to be of equal duration, nothing very definite in the way of forecasts dangerous position for the wellbeing of the can be expected till time has rermitted state could not be conceived. Now, if the admission of women to the polls were in thing for the moment is that such important ful for the state, this one objection of the more comprehensive study. The great
every other respect most desirable, ant use- forecasts are confidently predicted; the pro-weakening of the constituency would be phet himself and his advent is prophesied.
DEPRECIATION OF VOTES.
(Daily Press, December 25th.)
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gufficient to condemn. it in the eves of
enthusiastic of them realized that their own areas did not tell them all they needed to know, so they entered into mutual compicts with neighbouring countries for the ex- change of data This gave to meteorology a national or continental status. The
practical men. There is here no question of synthesist of "World Meteorology well
competency, nor of inequality between the herself knows to-day that even that was but a step
sexes; the influence of woman on the right road to complete usefulness, and
would be practically curtailed by the mans- the "World Meteorologist requires to
ure, inasmuch as she would gain the right know not only the occurrences of neigh. It is indicative of the disorganised condition at the expense of u still further dilation of Pro- bouring countries but of all the globe, even
of public feeling at home that neither the the individual power of the elector. to the extreme antipodal area. In this advocates nor the opponents of a measure bably the most effectual way of getting at the colony and neighbourhood the immediate which has been attracting or rather distract-real wishes of a constituency would be to need of the public is to be warned of approach. ing public attention to a degree far beyond select the individual voters by lot out of the ing storms, especially those of the reculiar its intrinsic importance, should have be- entire community. If, say, an overwatered typhoon type. In larger communities and thought themselves of looking at the constituency of 20,000 could be concentrated for even larger interests to be prepared for practical side of the matter. We allude to 1,000, or 500, the opinions of the whole the weather of to-morrow is not so important once inore to the recent clamour with would find clearer utterance than in the as to be prepared for the character of a regard to women suffrage. The principal present system where the weak solution is whole season ensuing. The wider meteorology danger in the present position of affairs is apt to be turned up by any chance wind that promises to tell whether next summer will not whether women should have votes or
inay blow over it. In such a c48a woman's be fine or wet, whether the next winter will not,the state will go on in much the same suffrages would be not only efficient, but he mild or severe. Dr. LOCKYER says 80.
way in either case, but that under the actually beneficial. In other assemblies But much patient observation, much cireful present scheme of representation and under where women have taken part, common er- recording, and much unselfish co-operation, the present conditions of quietude abroad, perience proves them to be, in the nature of is yet required. The buge atmospheric the English people seem to have lost all the case, as competent as their hushan-is or envelope of our glohe is subject, far beyond instinct of government whatever. In this brothers, and could we only procure a its contiguous strata with which we are respect the old Greeks were really in representative body of women their advent more or less familiar, to a peculiar oscilla-advance of our twentieth century agitators, at the polls would be hailed by the most tion and these oscillations are believed to inasmuch as the had learnt the lesson that irreconcilable of old time tories.
* concentrated essence " of a con- be periodic. The praiseworthy work of Mr. successful representation did not lie in the such a BLANFORD, & meteorologist employed by the multiplication of voters. It was, indeed, a stituency we might fairly presume that Indian Government, was responsible for well understood maxim, and one not seldom every individual voter would rise to a truer this important discovery. Dr. IoCKYER acted upon, that if a tyrant desired to conception of his own responsibility, and and Sir NORMAN LOOKYER followed up his obtain unhampered control of a city his that the House of Commons would be far comparison of barometric pressures in course was invariably to make the con-
more representative of public feeling tha India and Siberia, and as the result of stituency as numerous as possible; this he it can at present claim to be. It needs no collating the observations of 95 stations all did by professing to be an extreme democrat, abstruse array of facts and arguments to Bver the world, they found a regular anti- and pandering to the wishes of the prole prove that in the present overgrown con- podal see-saw. When the pressure in tariat. The men of thought and
stituencies, the appeal to reason must ever Australia, to give an illustration, is extra amongst the community, seeing that in any give way to the dictates of prejudice; and high, the pressure in the United Kingdom contest they would be submerged by the that this is practically acknowledged is is correspondingly low.
multitude of votes, and that individual shown in the way in which every application opinion was bound to be swamped in any to the country is carefully disguisel under case, as a rule refrained from the polls; specious cries intended, not to appeal to the and the tyrant was elected as chief magis reason, but to tickle the sensibilities. trate. Before the first burst of enthusiasm Neither party can plead not guilty of using which had brought him in at the head of such specious appeals. Nor is it to be the poll had become exhausted, it was easy denied that the House of Commons itself to persuade the proletariat that democracy has outgrown the limits of number when was in danger from the secret designs of important topics, especially when they their enemies, and procure the restriction involve affairs that concern the susceptí- of the votes to a favoured few in the con- bilities of the nation at large, cannot fidence of the would-be tyrant. The rest
be dispassionately or profitably discussed. followed as a matter of course, and the too Unfortunately the millenniam has not as easily gulled constituency found itself. yet arrived, so, of course, we muse content though the constitution was still to all ourselves in making the best of present outward appearance democratic, really at conditions. This does not, however, imply
In fact, it seemed that the Indian region was about the centre of one area, while the Argentine and Chili formed the centre of the antipodal region. By classifying the different types of pressure changes according as they resembled the two main and opposite types, namely, Bombay (India) and Cordoba (Argen. tine), it became possible to trace out a bonadary line separating these two large areas.
It was at once seen that each of the regions which Blanford and Hildebrandsson had pointed ont as behaving in a reverse manner to each other were situated on opposite sides of this boundary line, and should therefore exhibit opposite pressure changes, according to the nature of this`largo see-saW. A similar classification of mare types was undertaken by Professor
sense
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