SESSION 1906-1907. xlvii 



reading was required (at 9 a.m.), when the proportion of sky 

 covered by cloud (0-10) should be estimated. He knew from 

 experience that all the observations required for such a station 

 could be made in five minutes. Continuity was most important, 

 and he would urge upon the Corresponding Societies to endeavour 

 to ensure continuity of observation by getting any private 

 meteorological observatory which seemed likely to be dis- 

 continued transferred to some institution or public body. After 

 taking meteorological observations for twelve years at Watford 

 and for thirteen years at St. Albans, on removing from there to 

 return to "Watford, he transferred his own instruments to the 

 County Museum at St. Albans, instructing the caretaker of the 

 Museum how to take the observations, which he worked up and 

 published annually in the ' Transactions ' of his Society. As 

 the Climatological Station thus established was vested in the 

 Hertfordshire County Council, he hoped that it would be 

 permanent. 



Dr. J. E. Ashdale, of Rochdale, suggested that meteorological 

 Avork might be promoted by carrying out a meteorological 

 survey of the British Isles, each local Society being asked to 

 fill up a schedule stating what observations were being taken in 

 its own area, the insti'uments used, when and how verified, the 

 duration of the record, and where the results were published. 

 Attention should then be drawn to those districts where records 

 were non-existent or scanty, and an endeavour should be made to 

 make good the deficiencies. 



Mr. N. H. Martin, of Xewcastle-on-Tyne, said that meteoro- 

 logical observations should be undertaken by local scientific 

 Societies in order to secure their continitity over a long series of 

 years. He thought it was not so much the expense of fitting-up 

 a station as the tie to read the instruments punctually whicla 

 deterred private individuals from the work. 



Dr. Mill, in his reply, said that while at least thirty years 

 would be required in this country to determine the average 

 rainfall, a much shorter period would suffice for the less variable 

 climate of the tropics. The lists of meteorological stations 

 published annually by the Meteorological Office, the two 

 Meteorological Societies, and in his ' British Rainfall ' fairly 

 covered the ground, but it would be an advantage to have these 

 reduced to a single list indicating the nature of the work done 

 at each station. One daily reading of a rain-gauge, at 9 a.m., 

 was all that was asked for, but weekly or even monthly readings 

 were not without value in certain circumstances. 



Second Meeting. 



The Chairman, your Delegate, said that it might not be known 

 to all who were present that a Conference of Delegates of 

 Corresponding Societies met at York twenty-five years ago. 

 It was not recorded in the Reports of the British Association ; 



