XN000022-1972-11-07 — Page 6

6

-

Tuesday, November 7, 1972

EMERGENCY POWER SUPPLIES FOR ROYAL OBSERVATORY

More than half a million dollars is to be spent on the installation

of three emergency generators at the Royal Observatory headquarters and

at two of its other weather stations King's Park and Tate's Cairn.

The observatory's headquarters in Tsim Sha Tsui houses a great

variety of electronic equipment for measuring time, earthquakes, wind

speeds and receiving and despatching weather data.

"If we are to have an accurate picture of the weather conditions

at all times, it is essential that all the instruments should operate

without any interruption," a spokesman for the Royal Observatory said.

He recalled that during the blackout of the Kowloon peninsula

during Typhoon Rose in 1971, officers of the department had to work under

inadequate lighting, while the air conditioning, which helps to maintain a

constant temperature for certain instruments, had to be turned off

because of a need to conserve electricity.

"This was due mainly to the limited power capacity of the existing

emergency generator, which was installed some 13 years ago," he said.

"The installation of a 150 KW stand-by generator at the headquarters

means that disruption to our work during power failures will be cut to a

minimum."

/At