Sessional_Paper_1898 — Page 91

HONGKONG.

87

No. 98

REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE OBSERVATORY FOR 1897.

Laid before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Governor.

HONGKONG Observatory,

15th January, 1898.

SIR,-I have the honour to submit my annual report for 1897 to His Excellency the Governor. My thirteenth volume of "Observations and Researches" was published at the end of last year. My four- teenth volume is now ready. It contains the third edition of "The Law of Storms in the Far East," which was finished in 1896. The typhoons about which little was known in 1883, when the Obser- vatory was built, have since been so thoroughly investigated that they are now among the best under- stood atmospheric disturbances in the world, and it is almost certain that any amount of further investigation based on observations made here or on board vessels at sea would add nothing whatever to our knowledge. For further contributions to this branch of science we must now look to experi- ments made in physical laboratories in Europe and America and to analytical investigations based upon such experiments.

2. During my absence on leave during the summer and autumn Mr. F. G. FIGG acted for me, and I found everything in good order on my return. Mr. FIGG has investigated the typhoons of 1897, but has not met with any new facts. Although some of the typhoon-paths that occurred in 1897 are rare, they had occurred before. Early last year the Manager of the Eastern Extension, Australasia, and China Telegraph Company requested me to arrange a code for transmitting meteorological obser- vations and information about typhoons. In submitting a code, as desired, I explained that the cir- cumstances obtaining out here were such as to preclude any advantage being obtained from any code as far as the transmission of the observations was concerned. Later, during the autumn, the Manager adopted my views and arranged with Mr. FIGG's assistance a code for transmitting storm-warnings only. This code has been published by Mr. FiGG by order of the Government, and has been adopted by the Telegraph Company,

3. The comparison of the weather forecasts, issued daily about 11 a.m, with the weather sub- sequently experienced has been conducted on the same system as last year (Comp. Annual Report for 1896 § 5). We have:

Success 65 %, partial success 31 %, partial failure 3 %, total failure 4 %.

Following the method used in meteorological offices and taking the sum of total and partial success as a measure of success, and the sum of total and partial failure as a measure of failure, we find finally that :--

96% of the weather forecasts were successful.

4. At the beginning of February, 1897, the storm-signals, invented by Admiral FITZROY in 1861, were introduced in Hongkong, and the typhoon-gun was fired when the drum was hoisted.-On the 14th September at 9 p. the North Cone was hoisted. It was blowing N by E 5 at the time. The maximum wind force (11) was reported from Gap Rock on the 17th at 6 p. On the 18th at 5.30 a. the Cone was lowered.- -On the 5th October at 11.15 a. the North Cone was hoisted. It was blowing NE 4 at the time. The maximum wind force (7) was reported from Gap Rock at 11 p. on the same day. On the 6th at 2.25 p. the Cone was lowered.-On the 17th November at 11 a. the North Cone was hoisted. It was blowing NNE 2 at the time. The maximum wind force (8) was reported from Gap Rock at 2 p. on the same day. On the 18th at 6 a. the Cone was lowered. The Drum was added to the Cone and the gun fired on the 17th September at 2.30 p. At 5 p. on the same day the anemograph at the Observatory registered 56 miles.

5. In spite of the great advantages accruing from the adoption of the system of storm-signals in use in England and other countries, it has been decided to revert to the system in use here from 1884 to 1896 inclusive. This has been decided on the suggestion of the Committee of the Chamber of Commerce, who stated: "Those signals, having been in use for 13 years, were becoming gradually