PROCEEDINGS FOR 1895 na 
this year, and the funds for both purposes were limited to the amount 
granted in former years for tidal observations only, it was necessary to 
curtail the total amount of work. It was only possible, therefore, to 
establish two additional stations for the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and the 
establishment of stations on the Atlantic coast had to be postponed. 
“ The stations most required for the gulf were in the Strait of Belle 
Isle and at Father Point’ The tide-gauge at Belle Isle is for tidal pur- 
poses a companion to the one on St. Paul Island ; as these command the 
two entrances by which the tides of the Gulf and River St. Lawrence 
enter from the Atlantic. It was also essential to have a tide-gauge in 
the Strait of Belle Isle this season, to furnish tidal data for the survey of 
the currents. The deep channel of 100 fathoms which runs into the 
mouth of the Lower St. Lawrence ends in the vicinity of Father Point ; 
and from there to Quebec the river is relatively shallow, and the tides 
are more liable to be affected by the winds. The range of the tide, which 
in the gulf is less than five feet, increases at Father Point to seventeen 
feet. It can thus be well observed, as all the fluctuations are so much 
amplified. This is also a meteorological observatory as well as the pilot 
station. It is thus a most important and suitable point for a tidal station. 
“Tn the Strait of Belle Isle the tide-gauge was erected on the west side 
of Forteau Bay. The shelter there is fairly good, as the bay is well 
within the strait, and it has also the advantage of being at the narrowest 
part. The chief difficulty is to avoid its destruction by ice in winter. 
The thickness of the ice along the shores of the strait is only limited by 
the depth of water in which it will float. Hence if a wharf were to be 
run out into six feet of water, it would be struck by blocks of six feet in 
thickness, and so on in proportion; and these blocks have often an im- 
petus from a heavy sea to help them in their work of destruction. The 
tishermen’s wharfs do not, therefore, extend into a greater depth than 
about three feet at low water ; and the tide-gauge was placed on a timber- 
crib filled with stone, set at the end of one of these wharts. 
€ Records. Tide-Tables. ete. 
“During the year, since last December, the record of the tide has 
been carried forward continuously at Quebec and Anticosti, and also at 
St. John, N.B., with the exception of six weeks during the alterations to 
the gauge. The interruption at St. Paul Island reduces the record there 
to five months. The new gauge in the Strait of Belle Isle has been in 
operation since August ; and it is hoped that the gauge at Father Point 
will shortly be in working order. 
“It would have been very desirable, had funds permitted, to have 
established a tide-gauge at Halifax this season to obtain the Atlantic 
tides for comparison, It was also ascertained that a record of the Halifax 
tides had been made during the years 1851 and 1852, and through the 
