682276-1881-Observatory-Hongkong- — Page 4

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THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 3RD SEPTEMBER, 1881.

"The Staff required would be a Superintendent, with two or three assistants. The Committee "are not in a position to say what salaries would be required at Hongkong for such officials, but, the "subordinate duties being such as intelligent non-commissioned officers of the army have been before "found competent to perform, they need not be very high.

"The Committee would therefore venture to hope that the Colonial Office will be pleased to "forward this suggestion to the proper quarter, with such recommendations on the subject as they are "led to anticipate from the interest in the promotion of Science so frequently evinced by your

Department, and which Governor POPE HENNESSY is so well qualified to appreciate."

Mr. BLANFORD, who is Meteorological Reporter to the Government of India, stated, in the letter above referred to,

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"The results of the Meteorological system established by the Government of India have now

· demonstrated the fact that the monsoons of India are distinct in origin and goal from those of the China seas. Each region is characterized by features peculiar to it, and we have now accumulated a large amount of data relating to the Indian Monsoons which will receive a great extension so soon as the nautical logs now in course of extraction and tabulation in the London Meteorological Office 'shall be available for discussion. But, in the case of the China seas, our information is but little "advanced beyond the stage to which it was carried by Dové and Piddington. A first-class

observatory

has indeed been established by the Jesuit Fathers at Shanghai, and another is now in course of equipment at Manila. But much more than this is required for the study of the China "Monsoons; and the proposed observatory at Hongkong will be a most valuable addition to the

system."

In his reply to the Secretary of State, dated 20th November, 1879, Governor PoPE HENNESSY wrote,

"I have read with much interest Dr. WARREN DE LA RUE's letter enclosed in your despatch No. 105, of September last, suggesting on behalf of the Royal Society the establishment of an Observatory "in this Colony, more especially with reference to Meteorology and Terrestrial Magnetism. As you were good enough to say that I might consider this question when bringing the Finances of the "Colony before you, I have done so, and I venture earnestly to support Dr. DE LA RUE's suggestions, "on local as well as on Imperial grounds.

"Two years ago, in the first Estimates I prepared in Hongkong, I took the liberty of including a sum of $5,000 for an Observatory and Time Ball. Further consideration has convinced me that, "in addition to what may be necessary for securing an accurate Time Ball, we ought to have in this "Colony a thoroughly efficient means of recording such physical observations as Dr. DE LA RUE refers to. Furthermore, the clearness of the atmosphere at certain seasons would admit of a valuable record "being made of sun-spots. Incidentally, such questions as the tides and the varying temperature in "the seas surrounding Hongkong, the remarkable disintegration of the granite, which can be noticed "almost from day to day in the island and in British Kowloon, and certain extremely slight, but not unfrequently occurring, earthquake phenomena, would probably be deserving also of the attention of competent observers.

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"If, therefore, you will approve of my doing so, I shall be glad to submit to the Finance "Committee a vote of ten thousand dollars for a general scientific Observatory. I believe that such a vote would be cheerfully supported by the majority of the Legislative Council, and that there would "be no difficulty in including it in a supplementary Estimate for 1880.

It appears, therefore, that, in the proposal to establish this Observatory, three chief objects are aimed at, namely,-

To determine the Local Time by astronomical observations, and drop a Time-Ball daily.

To obtain series of Meteorological observations with instruments of the best kinds, and to acquire information relating to the Typhoons and Monsoons of the China sea.

To obtain series of observations in Terrestrial Magnetism, also with the best modern apparatus. I proceed to deal with these subjects, separately, in the above order.

I-Local Time.

The main purpose in dropping a Time-Ball is to enable the masters of the numerous sea-going vessels which come to Hongkong to ascertain the errors and rates of their standard time-keepers, without having recourse, as at present, to the practice of sending their chronometers ashore to be rated by the local watchmakers. Though this latter expedient is well known to be both clumsy and unsafe, yet, in ports not provided with a time-ball, it is practically the only one available to masters of merchant vessels, few of whom have the knowledge or leisure for the somewhat troublesome alternative of taking their own time-observations on shore with an artificial horizon and a hack chronometer. On the other hand, the errors and rates derivable from a time-ball accurately dropped are not only obtained with little trouble, but are of vastly greater value than those which depend on any process that involves very the movement of chronometers.