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Q.-On that happening the general habit is for the two parts to travel in different directions?
A.-Yes.
Q. How long were you in Swatow?
A. I arrived 6 a.m. 18th and left 4 p.m. 19th. During that time only rain and moderate breeze during the morning of the 18th, the rest of the time fair.
Examined by Captain Sommerville:-
Q. When you were in Swatow did the threatening weather make you think bad weather was anywhere about?
A.—Yes; I thought so from the general appearance of the weather but there was no indication from the barometer.
Q.-As a captain of many years standing don't you place as much reliance upon the look of the weather as upon the indication from the barometer?
A. Yes I do. Especially so in the month of September because the North-East monsoon setting in North in that month has the effect of keeping the barometer high.
Q.-Would a telegram from Swatow describing the condition of the weather as you saw it on Tuesday morning 18th have assisted the Observatory here in giving earlier warning?
A.-I cannot say.
Q.-Have you ever known a typhoon to split at Breaker Point one half going towards Swatow and the other half towards Hongkong?
A.-No.
Q.-Then you think there was only one typhoon on the 18th ?
A.—I think that if the "Sado Maru" struck a typhoon in the Formosa Channel on that date there must have been two.
Q. Have you ever heard of two typhoons revolving so close together?
A.-No.
Examined by Sir Henry Berkeley :—
Q.-Was earlier warning than that given practicable? If not, why not?
A.—I am of opinion that the storm of the 18th was a small typhoon which formed not far from Hongkong and was travelling so rapidly that earlier warning was not practicable.
Captain HOOKER of The China Navigation Company's S.S. “Kwel Chow"-examined
by Lieut. Butterworth :-
Q.--You left Swatow on the 17th ?
A. Yes; at 4.45 p.m.
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