Sessional_Paper_1891 — Page 261

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No. 18

HONGKONG.

REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE OBSERVATORY FOR 1890.

Presented to the Legislative Council, by Command of His Excellency the Officer Administering the Government,

on the 5th June, 1891.

HONGKONG OBSERVATORY,

9th May, 1891.

91.

SIR, My sixth volume of observations was published last month. and I have the honour to submit herewith my seventh volume in manuscript as ordered by His Excellency the Governor. It contains the observations made in 1890.

2. Early last year His Excellency appointed a Commission to enquire into the working of this Observatory. The Commissioners held several meetings, visited the Observatory at my request, and then submitted a report.

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3. They strongly recommended a much larger annual expenditure and stated that "the increased staff that has been found to be essential would involve a greater outlay, and the annual cost cannot be estimated at under thirteen thousand dollars a year; or nearly twice the sum now spent.' They also stated that "to render the working of the Observatory properly effective, there should be three European Assistants at least, one of whom should have sufficient experience and knowledge to permit of his taking charge of the Observatory, when necessary; there should also be three Portuguese or Chinese clerks." They also stated that it would appear that a great deal of useful work is done at the Observatory, but that the beneficial outcome of this work is diminished by the inadequate sum that has been allowed to be spent yearly. The annual cost of the upkeep of the Observatory was originally estimated at ten thousand dollars, but only seven thousand dollars has been spent. An Observatory is essentially one of those Institutions on which, if thoroughly good results are to be obtained, a considerable sum of money must be spent."

." They also strongly recommended that "Euro- pean Assistants should be obtained from England as speedily as possible and that, in the meantime, temporary assistance should be locally obtained."

4. A lengthy memorandum from Major-General H. S. PALMER, R.E., who wrote the original report which subsequently led to the establishment of the Observatory, was appended to the Com- missioners' report.

5. The suggestions submitted by the Commission have not yet been carried out, but their report has been printed by order of the Governor, and they have thus in some sense had His Excellency's general approval. Whenever they are fully carried out, the working of this Observatory will be greatly improved and its immediate practical utility will be very much extended.

6. I have to record my appreciation of the great skill and invariable courtesy with which the Chairman of the Commission conducted the enquiry. It is proper to call attention to this as it does not appear from the printed evidence attached to the report. But the printed evidence is quite incom- plete and misleading. Many important remarks have been omitted by the reporter and my explana- tions are quite incorrectly put down or not entered at all. Had the circulation of the printed evidence not been limited it would have done much towards strengthening popular falacies concerning typhoons.

7. The Commission recommended the establishment of a branch Observatory at the Peak, and communication arranged with the Office of the Eastern Extension Telegraph Company, General PALMER reported in 1881, that he considered an anemograph on the top of the Peak to be required. At present an advance upon the knowledge of typhoons gained in the Observatory during the past seven years depends mainly upon observations made on the top of the Peak. We do not even know how far the present registers, kept by the signalmen, are to be trusted e.g. they show that the wind blows less strongly there during typhoons than it does at sea level. It would be interesting to have that point cleared up.

We have no right to say that the force of the wind is wrongly estimated. We do not know whether it is right or wrong. The Commission stated that "the true direction of the wind can be more easily recorded at that altitude, and the signs of an approaching typhoon more quickly noticed.” It would also be well to have a pluviograph working up there. That would supply certain informa- tion about rain-fall, which is very much required in Hongkong.