92 Address. [Feb. 



in India was the permanent introduction of the series of changes which 

 wei-e referred to in last year's address as being in part tried temporai'ily. 

 The following is a brief summary of these changes : — 



1st. — The substitution of 8 A. M. for 10 A. M. as the chief hour of 



observation in India. 

 27id. — The introduction of a uniform system of registering rainfall 

 throughout India and the adoption of the same hour, viz., 

 8 A. M., at all the revenue rainfall recording stations. 

 3rd. — Grreater prominence to observations during storms. This is 

 effected by assigning separate and special payments for these 

 observations, the amount being determined by the value of 

 the observations. 

 4:th. — Increased inspections by the emploj^ment of Native Inspectors. 

 Their services are especially utilized for inspection during 

 the hot weather and rains. They are also employed to 

 train new observers or observers imperfectly aquainted with 

 their work and to inspect any observatory, the observations 

 of which from some cause or other become vitiated by fre- 

 quent or constant error, the nature of which it is impossible 

 to determine by correspondence with the Superintendent. 

 bill. — The systematic and regular collection of meteorological data 

 respecting the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal from ships 

 entering the ports of Bombay and Calcutta, with a view to 

 the publication, for a period of two years at least, of daily 

 charts of the whole Indian land and sea area. 

 6th. — The occasional employment of European meteorologists to 

 discuss completed series of observations such as, for exam- 

 ple, forest rainfall data, for a number of years in order to 

 determine the influence of forests on rainfall &c. 

 These large changes necessitated a number of smaller changes in 

 the work and pay of observers and in the office establishments, but 

 these do not need further notice. 



The great majority of these changed were made permanently on the 

 1st of January 1889, and the remainder during the year. 



Another important advance was the commencement of the publica- 

 cation of a daily report and chart at Bombay for the use of the mer- 

 cantile and seafaring community of that port. This was urged on the 

 Government of India both by the Port Trust and the Chamber of Com- 

 merce in the year 1888. Both bodies were consulted as to whether they 

 would contribute to the increased expenditure. The Chamber of Com- 

 merce offered a liberal contribution as an experimental measure for one 

 year and the Bombay Government undertook to print the chart and 



