"262 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION A. 



was transferred to Dr. (now Sir James) Hector, under whose skilful 

 manag-ement great, improvements were introduced. The principal 

 stations are supplied with mercurial Fortin barometers, dry and 

 wet bulb and self-registering maximum and minhnum thermo- 

 meters, solar and lerrestrial radiation thermometers, Robinson's 

 anemometers, and rain gauges. The height of every barometer 

 above sea-level has been ascertained, and every reading, as in the 

 -other colonies, is reduced to sea level and 32° Fahr. 



At present there are eight stations, viz., Te Aroha. Taranaki, 

 Russell, The Bluif, Wellington, Lincoln, Hokitiki, and Dunedin, 

 equipped as above, except Te Aroha, wliich has an aneroid ; and 

 seventy-nine rain stations. 



To facilitate the transmission of daily weather reports Sir James 

 Hector has prepared a series of isobaric maps, which fairly repre- 

 sents all the different types of weather. These maps are nnmbered 

 in consecutive order, and stereotyped copies are supplied to each 

 station, so that all that is necessary is for the head office to 

 telegraph to each office the number of the map to be posted up tor 

 the infoimation of the public. In the same manner typical maps 

 of the pressure in Australia have been prepared, with the assis- 

 tance of Mr. Russell, of Sydney. The reports from a few selected 

 stations, a brief description of the weather, and the number of the 

 map are daily exchanged between Wellington and Sydney (repre- 

 senting Australia) ; the New Zealand reports being transmitted by 

 telegraph to the head office in each of the other colonies. 



Spread throughout the colonies we have 357 meteorological 

 stations more or less completely equipped, and 2,575 rain gauges. 



In will be seen that, excepting the magnetic and meteorological 

 observatory at Hobart, established in 1841, which was an Imperial 

 institution, systematic observations under the auspices of the 

 Colonial Governments date, speaking approximately, from about 

 1858, a date which closely coincides with that given by Professor 

 Waldo (1860) as marking a definite epoch in the (ievelo])ment of 

 the modern science of meteoiology. The investigation of the law 

 of storms by Buys Ballot, Dove, and others, and the researches of 

 Ferrel, then just commenced, on the theory of atmospheric motions, 

 cleared the way to further advances ; and, later on, the utilisation 

 of ihe electric telegraph, which is to the meteorologist what the 

 telescope is to the astronomer, in extending his field of view OA^er 

 large areas of the earth's surface, enabled the observer to mark 

 and watch the birthplace of storms, track their course and rate of 

 translation. The same means informed him of the general distri- 

 bution of pressure, and, knowing the laws governing the circulation 

 of air currents round regions of high and low barometers, he soon 

 felt himself justified in issuing warnings of coming gales and the 

 probable state of the weather some hours in advance. He was no 

 longer confined to his own particular locality, laboriously compiling 

 statistics and studying local prognostics; he could look far around 



