IV EOYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. 



Greenwich Observatory to Colonial Office. 

 Copy. EoYAL Observatory, Greenwich, 21st June, 1890. 



Sir, — With reference to your letter of the 20th instant, transmitting copy of a communication 

 from the Eoyal Society of Canada respecting the proposed determination of the loogitude of Montreal 

 by exchange of telegraphic signals with this Observatory, I beg that you will iuform Lord Knutsford 

 that personally I shall be hajipy to cooperate in the undertaking, but as funds would be required I 

 would suggest that the communication should be sent officially through the Admiralty. 



I may mention that I brought the question before the Board of Visitors of the Eoyal Observa- 

 toiy in my annual report (copy enclosed), and that the Board at their meeting on the Yth instant 

 passed the following resolution : — " This Board is of the opinion that the telegraphic determination of 

 longitude is a matter of very great importance, and that the necessary instrumental appliances should 

 be obtained in order that the Royal Observatory may efficiently take part in such determinations." 



I am, etc., 



W. H. M. Christie, 



Astronomer Royal. 

 The Under Secretary of State, Colonial Office. 



Admiralty to Colonial Office. 

 Copy. Admiralty, 18th December, 1890. 



Sir, — With reference to your letter of the 26th June last, forwarding copies of correspondence on 

 the subject of the cooperation of the Astronomer Royal with the Royal Society of Canada, for the pur- 

 pose of determining the exact longitude of Montreal, I am commanded by my Lords Commissioners of 

 the Admiralty to acquaint you that Her Majesty's Treasury has assented to the Royal Observatorj' 

 joining in the undertaking, and to the proposed expenditure of £350 for instruments and £300 for 

 operations connected with this work, which sums will be included under Vote C of Navy Estimates, 



1891-2. 



I am, etc., 



Evan MACGREaoE. 

 The Under Secretary of State, Colonial Office. 



On the receipt of this communication the Council of the Royal Society at once sent a memorial 

 to the Honourable the Minister of Marine, representing to him that it is of great importance that the 

 Dominion G-overnment should coiiperate with the Imperial authorities in aiding this desirable under- 

 taking. The Council, in the course of this memorial, dwelt on the following considerations, which 

 show the importance of the contemjilated work : — 



1. The geographical position of Montreal has been more accurately determined than that of any 

 other city or town in Canada, and the positions of other places in the Dominion have boon determined 

 by reference to it. But the position of Montreal itself, oi-, to speak more precisely, of McGill College 

 Observatoi-y, has been determined by reference to Harvard Observatory. Now doubt has been re 

 cently thrown on the accuracy of the result of the observations by which the longitude of Harvard 

 Observatory was obtained. This doubt, of course, affects the positions of all places determined by 

 reference to it — that is to say briefly, it affects the whole geography of the continent. As there are 

 better means available at present for observations and interchange of signals across the Atlantic than 



