TRESlDEXTIAr, ADDRESS SECTION A. 29 



February. He may Ik- told that he ninst expect s]:)ells of ch-ought, 

 more especially tcnvards the middle of the season, but that thev 

 have been known to occur at any time during the season, and 

 that they may last anything from a fortnight to six weeks. If 

 these vague indications do not seem of any great use to him. he 

 can only be told that his questions suppose that we know 

 something definite about the conditions which govern 

 South African weather — conditions about which we know 

 very little and about which we shall go on knowing nothing 

 or next to nothing as long as the South African Governments 

 do not give us a central meteorological organisation that controls 

 observations over as large an area as possible, over the wliole of 

 the Southern continent if possible, for the laws that govern our 

 climate know of no political boundaries. The Indian 

 Meteorological Service for its monsoon forecasts has to study 

 the weather conditions not only of India, but also of Siberia, 

 Egypt, Mauritius, South Africa, and even of its antipodes. South 

 America. 



A start in the right direction was made by the Transvaal 

 Government after the War, and the Responsible Government 

 that succeeded intelligently promoted what had been begun 

 before. Are they going to extend to the rest of South Africa 

 the benefit of what they have done in the Transvaal now that 

 their sphere of influetice has extended over a large part of the 

 sub-continent? It is to be hoped that in this matter they break 

 away from the traditions of the former Governments, who 

 seemed to have looked upon the study of South African weather 

 as useless, or at most as a scientific hobby which had to be en- 

 couraged a little, apparently because the Governments of the old 

 world, for some unknown reason, chose to do so. Our cousins 

 across the North Atlantic have the reputation, merited or not, 

 of judging everyt^ing by its money-producing value. The 

 American Government maintains the most perfect meteorological 

 organisation in existence. It is one of the great departments 

 of the Federal Government. The Central Weather Bureau in 

 Washington, magnificently equipped, stafifed by a small army of 

 over 200 officials, controls some 200 meteorological offices witli 

 QOO auxiliary stations. Its staff of paid officials is over 1,600 

 strong, and is supplemented by several thousand voluntary 

 observers, who bring the numerical strength of the Bureau to 

 something over 7,000. In salaries alone the expenditure exceeds 

 £300,000 a year. At the same moment every morning — that is, 

 at 8 o'clock of the 75th Meridian time, which means 8 on the 

 east coast and 5 on the Pacific coast — observations are taken at 

 some 200 stations, and telegraphed at once to Washington. As 

 these messages are privileged messages on the wires, they are 

 all handed in at the Weather Bureau by half-past eight. The 

 data are classified and charted at once in half a dozen dift'erent 

 ways, and before half-past ten, as a rule, the forecasts for the 

 next twenty-four or thirty-six hours are made, and the daily 



