471 



course such modifications and improvements as experience has sug- 

 gested. The instruments to be prepared at Kew, and the directors 

 of the three observatories to be instructed there. The system of 

 observation to be hourly ; Sundays, Christmas days, and Good Fri- 

 days excepted. The time to be employed to be mean astronomical 

 time at the station, both for magnetism and meteorology. The ob- 

 servatories to be maintained until five complete years of observation 

 are obtained. The number of term-days in each year to be reduced 

 from twelve to four. 



The public departments whose sanction will be required, are, the 

 Treasury for the expense, and the General Commanding in Chief for 

 the selection and appointment of the officers and non-commissioned 

 officers. In addition to the officer for each observatory, a fourth 

 officer will be required as an assistant to the General Superintendent, 

 in carrying on, under his direction, the details of correspondence 

 with the observatories. Total, four officers, twelve non-commis- 

 sioned officers, and three privates. 



2nd. With reference to our own Colonies. 



As soon as the sanction of Government has been obtained for the 

 observatories already named, the Governors of British Guiana, Mau- 

 ritius, and Melbourne may be written to, suggesting that a com- 

 munication should be addressed from each of those colonies to the 

 Secretary of State for the Colonies, expressing the desire which is 

 felt in the colony to participate in the proposed systematic researches, 

 stating what facilities can be afforded, and what portion of the ex- 

 pense can be borne by the colony itself, and requesting to be placed 

 in official communication with some suitable authority for the 

 preparation of instruments, and for furnishing such instructions and 

 advice as may be required. 



The accompanying letter from Lieutenant Governor Walker, of 

 British Guiana, to M. Sandeman (which has been just forwarded to 

 me), will show how ready that colony is to take its part, and that it 

 waits only for that measure of countenance and encouragement which 

 it reasonably expects, and ought to receive, from the mother country. 

 At Mauritius, a Meteorological Society, formed by the colonists 

 themselves, is most actively and usefully employed in tracing out, by 

 means of the logs of merchant vessels, the phenomena of the storms 

 by which navigation in that vicinity is troubled ; and is making most 



