PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. LXXXIX 



with the necessity for a complete current survey of the coast. This 

 is most important, not only from a meteorological point of view, 

 but also from the views of harbors and navigation generally.' 

 " If looked upon in the light of insurance only, the comparatively 

 small expenditure for the complete investigation of the tides and 

 currents on the coast would appear to be amply justified. When 

 we know the forces of nature with which we have to contend, 

 we may with confidence enter upon the largest engineering schemes, 

 and be tolerably certain of success; but it is rash and unscientific 

 to attempt to coerce Nature instead of controlling her, and this 

 we are always liable to do unless the most complete data are at 

 our commands." 



Then, too, the question will have to be seriously considered 

 as to whether a permanent wireless meteorological station should 

 not be maintained at Macquarie Island, or some other suitable 

 sub-antarctic island, as already advocated. This would be a 

 stepping stone towards eventually establishing a meteorological 

 station in Antarctica. 



Next, there is an allied question which more immediately 

 concerns physical science, but which is also closely connected with 

 meteorology — that of the establishment of a solar physics obser- 

 vatory. This Association has pledged it^self to support this 

 proposal— perhaps second to none in importance at the present 

 moment in the field of Australasian scientific research. The scheme 

 has been most ably and zealously advocated by Mr. W. Geoffrey 

 Duflaeld, and is still being warmly supported by him, and at 

 present an active campaign in its interests is being conducted here 

 in Australia and New Zealand most energetically and unselfishly 

 by the daughter of a very distinguished British astronomer. Miss 

 Mary Proctor. It is of the greatest importance to science that 

 the sun be kept under observation for the whole 24 hours 

 of each day, but in the absence of such an observatory in Aus- 

 tralia there is a big blank in the daily observations represented 

 by the distance between India and California, no less than 150° 

 of longitude. Australia is in an ideal position, and possesses an 

 ideal climate for such an observatory. 



The total prime cost of such an observatory is estimated at 

 £10,000. 



The cost of conducting the observatory is estimated at about 

 £1,500 per annum for the earliest years, with probably an 

 expanding outlay as the work develops. 



1 Proc. Linn. Soc, New Series, Vol. XXXI. 



